Thomas C. Oden

Quotes

• “Theology is the study of God. The study of God is simply to be enjoyed for its own incomparable subject, the One most be...”
• “Neurotic guilt scans the horizons of the past relentlessly seeking out the most deplorable, hideous, and culpable acts w...”
• “early modern Christianity is often portrayed as an essentially European religion. This is regrettable because classic Ch...”
• “God loves us toughly enough not to allow us to be happy with our sins. The recollection of sin rightly brings misery of ...”
• “If God absolutely and pretemporally decrees that particular persons shall be saved and others damned, apart from any coo...”
• “There is a quality of lightness, easiness, and in some sense blatant unseriousness that pervades Classical Christianity'...”
• “Sins that have been completely absolved on one occasion sometimes on other occasions cannot be completely forgotten or s...”
• “Sins of ignorance or infirmity are to be admonished in a different way than intentional sins of malice of intention. The...”
• “The deeper irony is that the evidence of sin that are always found in and around the body of Christ may become indirect ...”
• “The moment of confession is not merely when one hears another pronounce the words: God forgives you, or 'in God's name I...”
• “While the memory of guilt is far from pleasant (like 'wormwood and gall'), it has the curative intent of restoring us in...”
• “A delicate balance is required: keep the penitent tautly close to the point of recognizing sin, and then allow the relie...”
• “God's holiness is not an unloving holiness, and God's love is not an unholy love. It is only by keeping these two primar...”
• “One trains the eye of confession most closely on what is hurting. If sin is present it will be aching. Confession begins...”
• “The confessor can nullify the exquisitely seasonable moment of confession by talking instead of listening. When he sees ...”
• “The faithful have no dread of using the traditional language of the church. Terms like incarnation and resurrection need...”
• “The Christ event did not in that sense CHANGE the will of God, but rather it more clearly expressed God's eternal will t...”