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Turning Around the Mainline: How Renewal Movements Are Changing the Church
Today's mainline Protestant denominations are more theologically liberal than ever before. So it may come as a surprise that renewal movements are a growing trend, together crossing denominational lines to reshape worship and revitalize evangelicalism. Turning Around the Mainline brings together for the first time an introduction to the issues, themes, and documents of the mainline churches and renewal movements, and a practical case study of the most relevant issue of the day: the property rights of churches. For pastors, church leaders, and anyone wanting a better understanding of the changing dynamics of evangelicalism, this comprehensive study will articulate the worldviews of confessing Christians and survey the workings of the renewal movements to provide clarity, civil discourse, and charity in further dialogue.
272 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2006
About the author
Thomas C. Oden
161 books79 followersThomas C. Oden was Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology and Ethics at Drew University in New Jersey from 1980 until his retirement in 2004. He remained faculty emeritus until his death. He was the general editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and the Ancient Christian Doctrine series as well as the author of Classic Christianity, a revision of his three-volume systematic theology.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 5, 2016
More like a 2.5/5.
The best part of this book was Thomas Oden's impassioned plea for orthodox believers in mainline churches to remain and reform their communions. He declares “confessing Christians seek to maintain the unity of the church through discipline, not through division…Those who split off leave the patient in the hands of the euthanasia advocates, the Kevorkians of dying modernity. The Holy Spirit will not bless willful unnecessary divisiveness…It seems unthinkable to abandon, without further prayers for special grace, those historic communions by which so many have been baptized" (p. 27). He uses three analogies to understanding an orthodox believer's relationship to a church - that of marriage, that of business partner and that of repentant, humble participant at the communion table (p. 34). Oden thinks all analogies have some value, but it's the last one that is most fitting.
Elsewhere Oden addresses those who question why he chooses to remain a United Methodist despite the UMC's liberalizing trends and his own commitment to "paleo-orthodoxy." The above quote reveals that he is deeply committed to the church that baptized, spiritually-formed and ordained him and that if he and other faithful Christians leave the mainline in the clutches of liberal revisionists then they leave the sheep to the wolves. Oden is confident that the Holy Spirit will help renew and reorient the mainline back to the orthodox centre and in the book he lists the numerous groups and publications within the mainline churches (PCUSA, UMC, Episcopalian, ELCA, American Baptists USA, United Church of Christ, and United Church of Canada). He also gathers consensual documents from mainline churches that have been published by traditional voices within the mainline to demonstrate an impressive defence and commitment to orthodox beliefs regarding Christology, the Trinity (particularly the use of "Father" and "Son), sexual morality and other key issues in the life and mission of the church. This impressive array witnesses to the little-reported remnant of orthodox faithful within the mainline. Oden enthusiastically chronicles the ecumenism within the mainline that has united believers based on classic Christian doctrine beginning around 1994. Oden reveals an interesting facet in this convergence on pg. 206-07; according to Oden, the revivalist-evangelical stream of the mainline voluntarily consented to take a backseat to their orthodox-ecumenical partners (including figures such as Carl Braaten, Albert C. Outler and Oden himself) due to the distrust some in the mainline had of anything smacking of "evangelical" as being too "narrow-minded." Oden appears to misidentify some of these figure's denominational affiliation; Donald Bloesch TAUGHT at a Presbyterian seminary but he was a member of the United Church of Christ and Victor Shepherd is labelled a member of Canada's United Church despite being an ordained Presbyterian minister and an avid critic of the United Church.
Some portions of this book are dull and drab. The aforementioned consensual documents, while witnessing to orthodox resisters in the liberal mainline, are repetitive. Additionally, the last 50 pages are dedicated to how to handle church property disputes (within the UMC, but Oden says the same priniciples apply to all churches) when boards and/or laity are at odds with church bureaucrats. Oden repeatedly stresses the fundamental duty to stay true to the foundational documents and confessions of the church; those who depart from these foundational teachings are the ones in error and the ones who should be deprived of the use of church property. This section is a slog to get through, though I acknowledge its necessity (I think it shouldn't have been included in the book though).
I am appreciative that Oden included the United Church of Canada in this book (it is the most far-gone church of all the churches discussed; indeed, since "Turning Around the Mainline" was published in 2006, the United Church has had two openly gay, married Moderators, Gary Paterson from 2012-15 and current Moderator Jordan Cantwell) although I wish the Anglican Church of Canada had had more representation. At the same time, a lot has changed since 2006. The PCUSA moved to bless same-sex marriage in 2014 and the ECLA has blessed same-sex marriages since 2009. Tens of thousands of more conservative Presbyterians who had been in the PCUSA left to form the ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians in 2012 directly as a result of the PCUSA approving the ordination of practicing homosexuals. And of course, the debate over same-sex unions rent North American Anglicanism with the Anglican Church in North America forming in 2009. After all this, I would be interested in hearing Oden's prognostications for the future of the mainline.
At the same time, as a 2002 article by Jennifer McKinney and Roger Finke report in "Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion," Oden's enthusiasm for mainline revival and renewal is well-warranted. They report that "Thirty-four percent of the Methodist clergy under the age of 40 are involved in the ERMs [Evangelical Reform Movements], but only 21 percent over the age of 50 are involved…The young evangelical clergy are seeking to revive their congregations by freeing themselves from superiors committed to ‘progressive’ theology.” Perhaps once the liberal leadership in the mainline ages out of power or are toppled, more faithful, orthodox who declare with Erasmus (?) “I put up with this church, in the hope that one day it will become better, just as it is constrained to put up with me in the hope that I will become better" will be able to take the helm and steer their denominations away from the disasters of speculative theology, lax morality, Freudian obsession, and experimental worship and back to the harbour of their Lord.
The best part of this book was Thomas Oden's impassioned plea for orthodox believers in mainline churches to remain and reform their communions. He declares “confessing Christians seek to maintain the unity of the church through discipline, not through division…Those who split off leave the patient in the hands of the euthanasia advocates, the Kevorkians of dying modernity. The Holy Spirit will not bless willful unnecessary divisiveness…It seems unthinkable to abandon, without further prayers for special grace, those historic communions by which so many have been baptized" (p. 27). He uses three analogies to understanding an orthodox believer's relationship to a church - that of marriage, that of business partner and that of repentant, humble participant at the communion table (p. 34). Oden thinks all analogies have some value, but it's the last one that is most fitting.
Elsewhere Oden addresses those who question why he chooses to remain a United Methodist despite the UMC's liberalizing trends and his own commitment to "paleo-orthodoxy." The above quote reveals that he is deeply committed to the church that baptized, spiritually-formed and ordained him and that if he and other faithful Christians leave the mainline in the clutches of liberal revisionists then they leave the sheep to the wolves. Oden is confident that the Holy Spirit will help renew and reorient the mainline back to the orthodox centre and in the book he lists the numerous groups and publications within the mainline churches (PCUSA, UMC, Episcopalian, ELCA, American Baptists USA, United Church of Christ, and United Church of Canada). He also gathers consensual documents from mainline churches that have been published by traditional voices within the mainline to demonstrate an impressive defence and commitment to orthodox beliefs regarding Christology, the Trinity (particularly the use of "Father" and "Son), sexual morality and other key issues in the life and mission of the church. This impressive array witnesses to the little-reported remnant of orthodox faithful within the mainline. Oden enthusiastically chronicles the ecumenism within the mainline that has united believers based on classic Christian doctrine beginning around 1994. Oden reveals an interesting facet in this convergence on pg. 206-07; according to Oden, the revivalist-evangelical stream of the mainline voluntarily consented to take a backseat to their orthodox-ecumenical partners (including figures such as Carl Braaten, Albert C. Outler and Oden himself) due to the distrust some in the mainline had of anything smacking of "evangelical" as being too "narrow-minded." Oden appears to misidentify some of these figure's denominational affiliation; Donald Bloesch TAUGHT at a Presbyterian seminary but he was a member of the United Church of Christ and Victor Shepherd is labelled a member of Canada's United Church despite being an ordained Presbyterian minister and an avid critic of the United Church.
Some portions of this book are dull and drab. The aforementioned consensual documents, while witnessing to orthodox resisters in the liberal mainline, are repetitive. Additionally, the last 50 pages are dedicated to how to handle church property disputes (within the UMC, but Oden says the same priniciples apply to all churches) when boards and/or laity are at odds with church bureaucrats. Oden repeatedly stresses the fundamental duty to stay true to the foundational documents and confessions of the church; those who depart from these foundational teachings are the ones in error and the ones who should be deprived of the use of church property. This section is a slog to get through, though I acknowledge its necessity (I think it shouldn't have been included in the book though).
I am appreciative that Oden included the United Church of Canada in this book (it is the most far-gone church of all the churches discussed; indeed, since "Turning Around the Mainline" was published in 2006, the United Church has had two openly gay, married Moderators, Gary Paterson from 2012-15 and current Moderator Jordan Cantwell) although I wish the Anglican Church of Canada had had more representation. At the same time, a lot has changed since 2006. The PCUSA moved to bless same-sex marriage in 2014 and the ECLA has blessed same-sex marriages since 2009. Tens of thousands of more conservative Presbyterians who had been in the PCUSA left to form the ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians in 2012 directly as a result of the PCUSA approving the ordination of practicing homosexuals. And of course, the debate over same-sex unions rent North American Anglicanism with the Anglican Church in North America forming in 2009. After all this, I would be interested in hearing Oden's prognostications for the future of the mainline.
At the same time, as a 2002 article by Jennifer McKinney and Roger Finke report in "Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion," Oden's enthusiasm for mainline revival and renewal is well-warranted. They report that "Thirty-four percent of the Methodist clergy under the age of 40 are involved in the ERMs [Evangelical Reform Movements], but only 21 percent over the age of 50 are involved…The young evangelical clergy are seeking to revive their congregations by freeing themselves from superiors committed to ‘progressive’ theology.” Perhaps once the liberal leadership in the mainline ages out of power or are toppled, more faithful, orthodox who declare with Erasmus (?) “I put up with this church, in the hope that one day it will become better, just as it is constrained to put up with me in the hope that I will become better" will be able to take the helm and steer their denominations away from the disasters of speculative theology, lax morality, Freudian obsession, and experimental worship and back to the harbour of their Lord.
May 28, 2013
Really interesting. Would have enjoyed more stats etc. behind his findings.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews