Paleo-orthodoxy (from
Ancient Greekπαλαιός "ancient" and
Koine Greekὀρθοδοξία "correct belief") is a
ProtestantChristian theological movement in the United States which emerged in the late 20th and early 21st centuries and which focuses on the consensual understanding of the faith among the
ecumenical councils and
Church Fathers.[1][2] While it understands this consensus of the Church Fathers as
orthodoxy proper, it calls itself paleo-orthodoxy to distinguish itself from
neo-orthodoxy, a movement that was influential among Protestant churches in the mid-20th century.[3]
Background
Paleo-orthodoxy attempts to see the essentials of Christian theology in the consensus of the
Great Church before the schism between the
Orthodox Church and the
Catholic Church (the
East–West Schism of 1054) and before the separation of
Protestantism from the Roman Catholic Church (the
Protestant Reformation of 1517), described in the canon of
Vincent of Lérins as "Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus" ("What [is believed] everywhere, always and by everyone"). Adherents of paleo-orthodoxy often form part of the
Convergence Movement,[4] though paleo-orthodoxy is not exclusive to the movement. Paleo-orthodox Protestants have different interpretations of the early Church's teachings.[5]
^"The term paleo-orthodoxy is employed to make clear that we are not talking about
neo-orthodoxy. Paleo becomes a necessary prefix only because the term
orthodoxy has been preempted and to some degree tarnished by the modern tradition of neo-orthodoxy" (Thomas Oden, Requiem, p. 130)
Among Oden's works, either as writer or editor, in support of paleo-orthodoxy are:
Thomas Oden: Agenda for Theology, later re-published as After Modernity...What?,
ISBN0-310-75391-0
Thomas Oden, General editor: Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture that Oden describes as a multi-volume patristic commentary on Scripture by the fathers of the church spanning the era from Clement of Rome (fl. c. 95) to John of Damascus (c.645-c.749). –
"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from
the original(PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2015-03-20.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link) Detailed information about the set can be found at
the publisher.
Thomas Oden: John Wesley's Scriptural Christianity: A Plain Exposition of His Teaching on Christian Doctrine,
ISBN0-310-75321-X
Thomas Oden: Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry,
ISBN0-06-066353-7
Thomas Oden: The Rebirth of Orthodoxy: Signs of New Life in Christianity,
ISBN0-06-009785-X
Thomas Oden: Requiem: A Lament in Three Movements,
ISBN0-687-01160-4
Thomas Oden: Systematic Theology (three volumes... The Living God, The Word of Life and Life in the Spirit, republished in one volume as Classic Christianity)
Works by other authors:
Christopher Hall and Kenneth Tanner (eds.): Ancient & Postmodern Christianity: Paleo-Orthodoxy in the 21st Century (Essays In Honor of Thomas C. Oden),
ISBN0-8308-2654-8.
Christopher A. Hall: Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers
Colleen Carroll: The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy (
ISBN0-8294-1645-5)