Thomas Oden
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Change Of Heart
$38.99Add to cartHow did one of the twentieth century’s most celebrated liberals have such a dramatic change 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 of the 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 and later 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.
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Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture Set
$1,500.00Add to cartThis unique thirty-volume series from general editor Thomas C. Oden–now in paperback for the first time–offers you the opportunity to study for yourself key writings of the early church fathers. Arranged canonically and employing the RSV, each volume allows the living voices of the church in its formative centuries to speak as they engage the sacred page of Scripture.
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Encyclopedia Of Ancient Christianity 1-3
$600.99Add to cartPreface To The Second English Edition
Preface To The Second Italian Edition (2006)
Preface To The First Italian Edition (1983)
A Note On Using The Encyclopedia
List Of Contributors
Biblical Abbreviations
Bibliographical Abbreviations
Volume 1 Entries A-E
Volume 2 Entries F-O
Volume 3 Entries P-ZAdditional Info
This 3-volume encyclopedia, produced by the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, comprises 3,220 entries by a team of 266 scholars from 26 countries, covering 8 centuries of the Christian church and addressing such topics as archaeology, art and architecture, biography, culture, doctrine, ecclesiology, geography, history, philosophy, and theology. The Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity includes: Unparalleled, comprehensive coverage of persons, places and ideas from ancient Christianity, including:cultural currentsevents and movementsphilosophyiconography and architecturearchaeologytexts and translations theological terms doctrines liturgy spirituality monasticism Christian sects heresies controversies councils A-Z coverage from “Aaron (iconography)” to “Zosimus, pope”3,220 articles by 266 contributors from 26 countries (and representing a variety of Christian traditionsChronological coverage extending from Christian origins to Bede (d. 735) in the West and John of Damascus (d. ca. 749) in the Greek EastDetailed emphasis on the first 4 centuries of Christian historyGeographical coverage includingNorth AfricaMauretaniaNumidiaAfrica Proconsularis ByzacenaLibyaEgyptNubiaEthiopiaAsiaAdiabeneArmeniaBithynia & PontusGeorgiaCappadociaLycia and PamphyliaPhrygiaSyriaMesopotamiaArabiaPalestinePersiaChinaEuropeGaulSpain & PortugalItalyGermanyBritain and IrelandScotlandPannoniaDalmatiaMacedoniaMoesiaThraceCyprusCreteUpdates and expands on previous Italian and English-language editions with the addition of more than 500 articles, including the following 30 articles exclusive to this new English-language edition:apostolic seeCapuaCarmen de synodo TicinensiChinacosmopolitanismdeathdiakonia/diaconateDialogi de sancta Trinitate IV-Vdoorkeeper (porter)dynamis/energeiaeternityforgivenessfreedom/free willgoodHierotheusincubatioinfinity/infinitudelibelli miraculorumloveMara bar Serapion (letter of)oikeiosisold agepresanctifiedSerapeion (Serapeum)subdeaconTheosebiaTriumphus Christi heroicusTychonunityVirgo ParensExtensive cross-referencing for ease in exploring related articlesHelpful bibliographies, including primary sources (texts, critical editions, translations) and key secondary sources (books and journal articles)Translated from Nuovo dizionario patristico e di antichita cristiane (2006-2008), produced by the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, the world’s foremost center for partristic studies, under the direction of Professor Angelo Di BerardinoUpdates and expand -
1-2 Timothy And Titus
$32.00Add to cartPlanned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.
Thomas Oden provides a modern commentary on the pastoral letters grounded in the classical, consensual tradition of interpretation. Oden uses the best and most accurate research concerning the historical, literary, and philological aspects of the pastoral letters. He addresses tough issues: the role of women in worship, problems of the rich and poor, the relation between servants and masters, policies concerning support of elderly widows, and how to handle church disruptions.
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John Wesleys Teachings Volume 1 (Revised)
$22.99Add to cartJohn Wesley’s Teaching is the first systematic exposition of John Wesley’s theology that is also faithful to Wesley’s own writings. Wesley was a prolific writer and commentator on Scripture—his collected works fill eighteen volumes—and yet it is commonly held that he was not systematic or consistent in his theology and teachings.
On the contrary, Thomas C. Oden demonstrates that Wesley displayed a remarkable degree of internal consistency over sixty years of preaching and ministry. This series of 4 volumes is a text-by-text guide to John Wesley’s teaching. It introduces Wesley’s thought on the basic tenets of Christian teaching: God, providence, and man (volume 1), Christ and salvation (volume 2), the practice of pastoral care (volume 3), and issues of ethics and society (volume 4).
In everyday modern English, Oden clarifies Wesley’s explicit intent and communicates his meaning clearly to a contemporary audience. Both lay and professional readers will find this series useful for devotional reading, moral reflection, sermon preparation, and for referencing Wesley’s opinions on a broad range of pressing issues of contemporary society.
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John Wesleys Teachings 2
$22.99Add to cartJohn Wesley’s Teaching is the first systematic exposition of John Wesley’s theology that is also faithful to Wesley’s own writings. Wesley was a prolific writer and commentator on Scripture—his collected works fill eighteen volumes—and yet it is commonly held that he was not systematic or consistent in his theology and teachings. On the contrary, Thomas C. Oden demonstrates that Wesley displayed a remarkable degree of internal consistency over sixty years of preaching and ministry. This series of 4 volumes is a text-by-text guide to John Wesley’s teaching. It introduces Wesley’s thought on the basic tenets of Christian teaching: God, providence, and man (volume 1), Christ and salvation (volume 2), the practice of pastoral care (volume 3), and issues of ethics and society (volume 4). In everyday modern English, Oden clarifies Wesley’s explicit intent and communicates his meaning clearly to a contemporary audience. Both lay and professional readers will find this series useful for devotional reading, moral reflection, sermon preparation, and for referencing Wesley’s opinions on a broad range of pressing issues of contemporary society.
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African Memory Of Mark
$35.99Add to cartPreface: Not For Africans Alone
Part 1: The African Memory Of St. Mark
Part 2: The Identity Of The Biblical Mark Viewed From African Tradition
Part 3: Mark In Africa
Part 4: Mark In The Historical Record
Part 5: The Ubiquity Of Mark
ConclusionAdditional Info
We often regard the author of the Gospel of Mark as an obscure figure about whom we know little. Many would be surprised to learn how much fuller a picture of Mark exists within widespread African tradition, tradition that holds that Mark himself was from North Africa, that he founded the church in Alexandria, that he was an eyewitness to the Last Supper and Pentecost, that he was related not only to Barnabas but to Peter as well and accompanied him on many of his travels.In this provocative reassessment of early church tradition, Thomas C. Oden begins with the palette of New Testament evidence and adds to it the range of colors from traditional African sources, including synaxaries (compilations of short biographies of saints to be read on feast days), archaeological sites, non-Western historical documents and ancient churches.
The result is a fresh and illuminating portrait of Mark, one that is deeply rooted in African memory and seldom viewed appreciatively in the West.
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How Africa Shaped The Christian Mind
$25.99Add to cartIntroduction
Toward A Half Billion African Christians
An Epic Story
Out Of Africa
The Pivotal Place Of Africa On The Ancient Map
Two Rivers: The Nile And The Medjerda–Seedbed Of Early Christian Thought
Affirming Oral And Written Traditions
Self-Effacement And The Recovery Of Dignity
The Missing Link: The Early African Written Intellectual Tradition Forgotten
Why Africa Has Seemed To The West To Lack Intellectual History
InterludePart One: The African Seedbed Of Western Christianity
1 A Forgotten Story
Who Can Tell It?
Pilgrimage Sites Neglected
Under Sands: The Burial Of Ancient Christian Texts And Basilicas
2 Seven Ways Africa Shaped The Christian Mind
How The Western Idea Of A University Was Born In The Crucible Of Africa
How Christian Exegesis Of Scripture First Matured In Africa
How African Sources Shaped Early Christian Dogma
How Early Ecumenical Decision Making Followed African Conciliar Patterns
How The African Desert Gave Birth To Worldwide Monasticism
How Christian Neoplatonism Emerged In Africa
How Rhetorical And Dialectical Skills Were Refined In Africa And Introduced To Europe
Interlude: Harnack?s Folly
Overview
3 Defining Africa
Establishing The Indigenous Depth Of Early African Christianity
The Stereotyping Of Hellenism As Non-African
Scientific Inquiry Into The Ethnicity Of Early African Christian Writers
The Purveyors Of Myopia
The African-Priority Hypothesis Requires Textual Demonstration
The South-to-North Hypothesis
A Case In Point: The Circuitous Path From Africa To Ireland To Europe And Then Back To Africa
A Caveat Against Afrocentric Exaggeration
4 One Faith, Two Africas
The Hazards Of Bridge Building
The Challenge Of Reconciliation Of Black Africa And North Africa
Overcoming The Ingrained Lack Of Awareness
The Roots Of The Term Africa
Excommunicating The North
Arguing For African Unity
Defining “Early African Christianity” As A Descriptive Category Of A Period Of History
How African Is The Nile Valley?
5 Temptations
The Emerging Task Of Historical Inquiry
The Catholic Limits Of Afrocentrism
The Inflexible Habit Of Ignoring African Sources
The Cost Of The Forgetfulness
Overlooking African Voices Already Present In Scripture
How Protestants Can Celebrate The Apostolic Charisma Of The Copts
The Christian Ancestry Of AfricaPart Two: African Orthodox Recovery
6 The Opportunity For Retrieval
Surviving Modernity
The Steadiness Of African Orthodoxy
The New AfricanAdditional Info
Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage? Theologian Thomas C. Oden offers a portrait that challenges prevailing notions of the intellectual development of Christianity from its early roots to its modern expressions. The pattern, he suggests, is not from north to south from Europe to Africa, but the other way around. He then makes an impassioned plea to uncover the hard data and study in depth the vital role that early African Christians played in developing the modern university, maturing Christian exegesis of Scripture, shaping early Christian dogma, modeling conciliar patterns of ecumenical decision-making, stimulating early monasticism, developing Neoplatonism, and refining rhetorical and dialectical skills. He calls for a wide-ranging research project to fill out the picture he sketches. It will require, he says, a generation of disciplined investigation, combining intensive language study with a risk-taking commitment to uncover the truth in potentially unreceptive environments. Oden envisions a dedicated consortium of scholars linked by computer technology and a common commitment that will seek to shape not only the scholar’s understanding but the ordinary African Christian’s self-perception. -
Incomplete Commentary On Matthew 2
$70.99Add to cartAbbreviations
General Introduction
Translator’s Introduction
Incomplete Commentary On Matthew (Opus Impefectum)Additional Info
In the translator’s introduction to this volume, James Kellerman relates the following story: As Thomas Aquinas was approaching Paris, a fellow traveler pointed out the lovely buildings gracing that city. Aquinas was impressed, to be sure, but he sighed and stated that he would rather have the complete Incomplete Commentary on Matthew than to be mayor of Paris itself. Thomas’s affection for the work attests its great popularity during the Middle Ages, despite its significant missing parts–everything beyond the end of Matthew 25, with further gaps of Matthew 8:11–10:15 and 13:14–18:35. Although there are gaps, what remains is quite lengthy, so much so that we offer the work in two volumes, comprising fifty-four homilies. While the early-fifth-century author displays a few Arian propensities in a handful of passages, for the most part the commentary is moral in nature and therefore orthodox and generic. The unknown author, who for several centuries was thought to be John Chrysostom, follows the allegorizing method of the Alexandrians, but not by overlooking the literal meaning. His passion, above all, is to set forth the meaning of Matthew’s Gospel for his readers. Here, for the first time, this ancient work is made available in English, ably translated by James A. Kellerman and edited by Thomas C. Oden. -
Incomplete Commentary On Matthew Opus Imperfectum 1
$70.99Add to cartDespite some gaps in coverage, the Incomplete Commentary on Matthew has long been prized for its early and lengthy exposition of the Gospel of Matthew. Thomas Aquinas noted that he would rather have a complete copy of the Incomplete Commentary on Matthew than to be mayor of Paris. The commentary, which is of sufficient length to require 2 volumes in translation, is offered here for the first time in English translation and is designed for pastors, teachers, students and lay people interested in the early church’s interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel.
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1 Faith
$20.99Add to cartIVP Print And Demand Title
Is the evangelical church drifting away from the unity Christ desires as we fragment into ever-smaller divisions? Packer and Oden believe a significant theological consensus still holds us together. Here they examine 16 theological themes in light of over 75 key statements of faith—from the 1974 Lausanne Covenant to the Amsterdam Declaration of 2000.
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Apocrypha : The Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture
$75.99Add to cartThis last volume of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture offers commentary from the early church fathers on the deuterocanonical books of the Bible, with insights that will be of great benefit to preachers and teachers alike.
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Ancient Christian Devotional Lectionary Cycle C
$24.99Add to cartTable Of Contents
Introduction
Devotionals
Ancient Christian Commentary Citations
Prayer Citations
Biographical Sketches
Index Of Names And SourcesAdditional Info
A follow-up to the previous Ancient Christian Devotional, which follows lectionary cycle A, this devotional guide follows lectionary cycle C, which begins in Advent 2009. This guide to prayer and reflection combines excerpts from the writings of the church fathers as found in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture with a simple structure for daily or weekly reading and prayer. -
Psalms 1-50
$75.99Add to cartTable Of Contents
General Introduction
A Guide To Using This Commentary
Abbreviations
Introduction To Psalms 1-50
Commentary On Psalms 1-50
Appendix: Early Christian Writers And The Documents Cited
Biographical Sketches
Timeline Of Writers Of The Patristic Period
Bibliography Of Works In Original Languages
Bibliography Of Works In English Translation
Author/Writings Index
Subject Index
Scripture IndexAdditional Info
The Psalms have long served a vital role in the individual and corporate lives of Christians, expressing the full range of human emotions, including some that we are ashamed to admit. The Psalms reverberate with joy, groan in pain, whimper with sadness, grumble in disappointment and rage with anger.The church fathers employed the Psalms widely. In liturgy they used them both as hymns and as Scripture readings. Within them they found pointers to Jesus both as Son of God and as Messiah. They also employed the Psalms widely as support for other New Testament teachings, as counsel on morals and as forms for prayer.
But the church fathers found more than pastoral insight in the Psalms. They found apologetic and doctrinal insight as well, as is attested by the more than sixty-five authors and more than 160 works excerpted in this commentary. provided more than pastoral
Especially noteworthy among the Greek-speaking authors cited are Hippolytus, Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, Athanasius, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, Didymus the Blind, Evagrius of Pontus, Diodore of Tarsus, John Chrysostom, Asterius the Homilist, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyr, Cyril of Alexandria and Hesychius of Jerusalem. Among noteworthy Latin authors we find Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose of Milan, Jerome, Augustine, Arnobius the Younger and Cassiodorus.
Readers of these selections, some of which appear here for the first time in English, will glean from a rich treasury of deep devotion and profound theological reflection.
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1-2 Kings-Esther
$75.99Add to cartMarco Conti edits this excellent collection of commentary from the church fathers on 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. Includes Greek and Syriac commentators who set before you a table of delights and theological insights, some in English for the very first time.
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Doctrinal Standards In The Wesleyan Tradition (Revised)
$35.99Add to cartThe history of Wesleyan family of churches doctrines
What are our core beliefs? Doctrinal Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition, Revised Edition, narrates the history of the formation of Wesleyan doctrines, describing how they were transplanted from the British Isles to North American, how they became constitutionally protected in Wesleyan-rooted churches.
The first edition of this book affected the outcome of the 1988 General Conference of The United Methodist Church as the delegates decided many then-disputed doctrinal issues. This revised edition addresses the continuing hunger for more precise and useful information on the doctrinal traditions of mainline Protestantism. Hence the arguments have been updated with more than 400 changes.
Included are doctrinal statements for the Evangelical United Bethren, Free Methodist, Methodist Protestant, Wesleyan, Nazarene, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Christian Methodist Episcopal, and African Methodist Episcopal Churches; as well as an outline syllabus of a Course on the Articles of Religion.
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Good Works Reader A Print On Demand Title
$37.99Add to cartOften claimed as one of the sparks that ignited the Reformation, the place of “works” in the Christian life continues to be hotly debated. In this helpful volume, distinguished theologian Thomas Oden draws together Christian teaching on this subject from across the centuries to provide a comprehensive witness on this essential topic.
The Good Works Reader seeks to make faith active in love. To complete this task, Oden listens to the timeless teaching of the patristic writers, the theologians who defined orthodoxy in the first five centuries after Christ. His listening extends not only to the well-known fathers such as Augustine, Irenaeus, and Eusebius, but also to lesser-known yet important fathers such as Oecumenius, Pseudo-Basil, and Peter Chrysologus. Oden presents a side-by-side collection of the fathers’ teaching on treatment of the poor, the outcast, and the imprisoned, and an extensive discussion of the necessity of practical action.
The second volume in Oden’s Classic Christian Readers set, The Good Works Reader will serve as an essential resource for Christians from all traditions who seek to balance the ancient tension between faith and works in their own lives.
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Mark : New Testament 2
$75.99Add to cartIn this Ancient Christian Commentary on Mark, the insights of Augustine of Hippo and Clement of Alexandria, Ephrem the Syrian and Cyril of Jerusalem join in a polyphony of interpretive voices of the Eastern and Western church from the second century to the seventh. St. Mark’s Gospel displays the evocative power of its story, parables and passion as it ignites a brilliant exhibit of theological insight and pastoral wisdom.
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Isaiah 1-39 : Old Testament 10
$75.99Add to cartEdited by Steven A. McKinion, this volume of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture offers readers access to materials ranging from East to West and from the first through the eighth centuries, some appearing in English translation for the first time. Within this treasure house are riches to illumine the mind and fire the heart
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12 Prophets : Old Testament 14
$75.99Add to cartIn this rich and vital resource edited by Alberto Ferreiro you will find excerpts, some translated here into English for the first time, from more than thirty church fathers, ranging in time from Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (late first and early second centuries) to Gregory the Great, Braulio of Saragossa and Bede the Venerable (late sixth to early eighth centuries). Geographically the sources range from the great Cappadocians–Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa–John Chrysostom, Ephrem the Syrian and Hippolytus in the East to Ambrose, Augustine, Cyprian and Tertullian in the West and Origen, Cyril and Pachomius in Egypt.
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Justification Reader
$19.50Add to cartOden uses a broad brush to paint his narrowly focused subject—salvation by grace through faith. Athanasius, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Basil, Jerome, and Augustine are just some of the figures Oden cites—church fathers whose teachings were restated nearly verbatim by 16th-century Reformers. An accessible and detailed search for the core of this theological linchpin.
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Transforming Power Of Grace
$27.99Add to cartHow does an infinite God relate to finite human beings? How does the death of Jesus Christ bring about human salvation? How are Christians able to actively address the world’s ills while maintaining their citizenship in the kingdom of God?
These are questions the church grapples with today, as it always has. Yet, according to Thomas C. Oden, contemporary theology has neglected the church’s traditional answer to these questions: the doctrine of grace. All too often modern theologians either ignore the doctrine of grace or relate it to the achievement of a particular political agenda. Oden asserts that only by reclaiming the centrality of grace–defined as God’s self-giving through Jesus Christ in personal encounter with the individual human will–can Christian theology be true to the gospel.
In order to reclaim the doctrine of grace, the author reaches back, beyond the fragmentation of theology that took place during and after the Enlightenment. He draws upon the ecumenical consensus held by early Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant theologians, councils, and creeds regarding this cardinal Christian doctrine. By adducing this ancient unity, Oden challenges modern assumptions concerning the sources and methods of the theological enterprise and calls contemporary Christians to discern what their forebears in the faith knew to be essential to the gospel: that to be a Christian is to be formed, nurtured, and upheld solely by divine grace.
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1-2 Timothy And Titus
$45.00Add to cartThis new volume in the tremendously helpful Interpretation series seeks to open the three pastoral epistles to thematic preaching. The theme? Like Paul’s in the three letters, it is how laypeople and clergy can care for the church. Oden tackles the role of women in worship, problems of the rich and poor, the handling of church disruptions, and other contemporary issues.
