Thomas C. Oden

Thomas C. Oden Thomas C. Oden teaches theology and ethics at the Theology School, Drew University. He is arguably the preeminent theologian in the United Methodist Church today, and their most prolific writer.

Among diseases of the history of sin that continue to plague the church and resist its full growth are: the partisan spirit that would divide it, the heretical spirit that would lead it to distort or forget apostolic teaching, the antinomian spirit that turns Christian liberty into libertinism, the legalistic spirit that would turn grace into law, the naturalistic spirit that would treat grace as a determinant of nature. Despite these infirmities and challenges, which are permitted by a kind Providence to strengthen the church and enable it to grow stronger, the body lives on, the vine sends forth new shoots, the Spirit enlivens and heals, the Head continues to guide and order the whole organism (John 15:1-5; Col. 1:18). Excerpted from: Defending the Faith by Thomas C. Oden