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A Change of Heart
Ebook
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- Length: 384 pages
- Published: December 06, 2014
- Imprint: IVP Academic
- ISBN: 9780830880195
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Available at all major retailers!
Preaching's Best Books for Preachers
Best Theological Memoir from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Bookstore
How did one of the twentieth century's most celebrated liberals have such a dramaticchange of heart?
After growing up in the heart of rural Methodism in Oklahoma, Thomas Oden found Marx, Nietzsche and Freud storming into his imagination. He joined the post-World War II pacifist movement and became enamored with every aspect ofthe 1950s' ecumenical Student Christian Movement. Ten years before America's entry into the Vietnam war he admired Ho Chi Min as an agrarian patriot. For Oden, every turn was a left turn.
At Yale he earned his PhD under H. Richard Niebuhr andlater met with some of the most formidable minds of the era—enjoying conversations with Gadamer, Bultmann and Pannenberg as well as a lengthy discussion with Karl Barth at a makeshift office in his hospital room. While traveling with his family through Turkey, Syria and Israel, he attended Vatican II as an observer and got his first taste of ancient Christianity. And slowly, he stopped making left turns.
Oden's enthusiasms for pacifism, ecumenism and the interface between theology and psychotherapy were ambushed by varied shapes of reality. Yet it was a challenge from a Jewish scholar, his friend and mentor Will Herberg, that precipitated his most dramatic turn—back to the great minds of ancient Christianity. Later a meeting with then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Benedict XVI) planted the seeds for what became Oden's highly influential Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. This fascinating memoir walks us through not only his personal history but some of the most memorable chapters in twentieth-century theology.
"In a century when intellectuals abandoned the Christian faith in droves, one intellectual had the courage to embrace it. A movement liberal at forty, at eighty Tom Oden had become the champion of the classic Christian consensus. A Change of Heart tells the story of one of the twentieth century's most courageous intellectual and spiritual journeys."
Roberta Green Ahmanson
"Tom Oden is one of the most remarkable Christians of our time. This is the story of how he has lived through, contributed to and helped to overthrow several revolutions during his long and fruitful life. Deeply rooted in Wesleyan spiritual traditions, Oden shows us the meaning of grace in a human life—grace that shatters in order to restore and bring joy. Those of us who know and love this great theologian will be delighted to read the story of his pilgrimage thus far. The whole church willbe blessed by it."
Timothy George, founding dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University and general editor of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture
"Tom Oden's A Change of Heart chronicles his own odyssey through modernity back home to the fathers he never knew—until he read them, prayed with them and learned the riches of the timeless faith at their feet. This book invites readers to join him in this odyssey. As one who has been privileged to travel the last part with him, I can truly say they will not be disappointed in the journey Tom Oden is inviting them to undertake with him."
Joel C. Elowsky, associate professorof historical theology, Concordia Seminary St. Louis; research director, Center for Early African Christianity
"In this memoir Tom Oden explores his theological career with specific reference to his transition from Christian liberalism to evangelical Christianity. In the process he describes the many theological issues that dominated his era, focusing on the World Council of Churches as a lightning rod. Oden's view that theology should not be at the whim of every passing fashion, or that current affairs should not be the litmus test, deserves careful consideration even by those who disagree with him.Oden offers a touching description of the passing of his wife after a bout with cancer. The book is a record of an important theological voice of his generation, one that brings to focus the wide-ranging religious influences of the day."
Lamin Sanneh, D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity, Yale Divinity School
CONTENTS
Preface
Part 1: Early Years
1. The 1930s: Prairie Dawn
2. The 1940s: A World at War
3. The 1950s: Love and Learning
4. The 1960s: The Church of What's Happening Now
Part 2: ChangeOf Heart
5. The 1970s: The U-Turn
6. The 1980s: Charting the Course
Part 3: Homeward Bound
7. The 1990s: The Outpouring of Grace
8. The 2000s: A Time of Harvest
9. The 2010s: After EightDecades
Acknowledgments
Endnotes
Name Index
Subject Index
