What is Paleo-Orthodoxy?

Paleo-orthodoxy sounds like a strange term indeed. It is a combination of two words: (1) "paleo" which means "old" or "ancient" and (2) "orthodox" which means "correct belief." Combine "paleo" and "orthodox" and you get the short, simple definition: ancient, correct belief.

Thomas C. Oden is the prominent theologian associated with paleo-orthodoxy. According to him, the term refers to the common faith of the ancient ecumenical church; i.e. the universal faith of the Church that existed before the East-West Schism of 1054 AD.

Wikipedia describes it as "a Protestant Christian theological movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries which focuses on the consensual understanding of the faith among the Ecumenical councils and Church Fathers...Paleo-orthodoxy sees the essentials of Christian theology in the consensus of the old church before the schism between the Orthodox Church and the Roman-Catholic Church (the East-West Schism of 1054) and before the separation of Protestantism from the 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").

So what is paleo-orthodoxy? It is a fairly modern theological movement among certain Protestant Christians, who seek to learn theology from the historical ecumenical consensus of the Church prior to the East-West Schism of 1054 AD.

Another term closely related to paleo-orthodoxy is classic Christianity or classical Christianity. Pocket Scroll is an informative blog that offers an excellent post that attempts to answer the question - "What is Classical Christianity?" The post is worth reading.

The Canon in the Church

"It is good to know that the church has a Bible, or put another way, that the church's Scripture guides its life. I find the deepest understanding of Holy Writ neither in a closet reading by myself, nor in public meditation with only those of my heritage, but in conversation with the saints of the church in every era and region. Listening to the theologians of the Great Church struggle with Scripture in their commentaries or hearing Aquinas wrestle with the Gospels by quoting earlier theologians provides a kind of conversation that does not appear elsewhere. Knowing the church's interpretations of Scripture in each age deepens our sense of biblical truth.

"The bright future for Christian communities is the recognition that the canon stands within the church. Yet we must remember that we do not read from within a neutral public square where all of us know the internationally accepted terms of a single logic or sense of persuasion, where we all accept the proper assumptions that every human makes. We read the New Testament from within the church - too often from only a particular denominational view - and try to live in the world so that people will ask us about our hope. Christians in my heritage have often been moved by the modern tales in which Bible translations were left behind when missionaries were killed. By reading them in their languages, the natives converted. The more common story, however, is that we must embody Scripture in the church within the world. To do that we need to critically study the resources of the Great Church: many bishops, councils, creeds, and ethical canons.

"The Bible in use is what we seek, not preliminary senses of how it must be defended to the point of making it almost impossible to decipher except within our own narrow traditions. The precious reality is the canon in the church, studied by common folk and scholars alike, but understood best by believing Christians from any country or denomination who in the Spirit attempt to live out its truth. We worship and serve Jesus. And we read the Bible from within the community of faith."

Frederick W. Norris, "The Canon of Scripture in the Church," in The Free Church & the Early Church: Bridging the Historical and Theological Divide, ed. D.H. Williams (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), pp. 3-25. Amazon

Rev. Dr. Frederick W. Norris, Professor of World Christianity, Emeritus, Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Johnson City, TN (Christian Church)

Servants of Reconciliation

"Reconciled in the eucharist, the members of the body of Christ are called to be servants of reconciliation among men and women and witnesses of the joy of resurrection. As Jesus went out to publicans and sinners and had table-fellowship with them during his earthly ministry, so Christians are called in the eucharist to be in solidarity with the outcast and to become signs of the love of Christ who lived and sacrificed himself for all and now gives himself in the eucharist."

Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry; World Council of Churches, Geneva, 1982

The Classic Consensual Teaching of Grace

When Thomas Oden sat down to write a book on the doctrine of grace, he was bent on resisting the temptation to quote modern writers on the subject. Rather, he was resolved to focus on early consensual assent to the teaching of grace. Therefore, his book contains more citations from earlier sources than later. But, as he says,

"Not because of an antiquarian nostalgia for that which is older, but because antiquity is a criterion of authentic memory in any historical testimony, and because the most ancient attesters have had longer to shape the ecumenical tradition of lay consent."

Oden reaches back into the history of the Church and draws upon the ecumenical consensus regarding grace. In short, he utilizes the Vincentian rule. In the introduction of his book he says,

"I seek quite simply to express the one mind of the believing church which has been ever attentive to that apostolic teaching to which consent has been given by Christian believers everywhere (ubique), always (semper), and by all (omnibus). This is what is meant by the Vincentian method, after Vincent of Lerins, who offered this rule for judging any claim to ecumenical teaching: By the threefold test of ecumenicity, antiquity, and general lay consent, the believing community may distinguish between true and false teaching."

The Transforming Power of Grace lets you hear from the communion of saints regarding grace. It focuses on the ancient Christian tradition - the faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all. That is the primary reason I bought the book. I wanted to learn about grace - not from a select few but from the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.