[Dialogue] Organized to split mainline churches

[Terry Bergdall]

At 10:19 22/05/2004, you wrote:
>Yup, John Cock, this has been going on for sometime.  I've heard that Tom 
>Oden, once a liberal voice at Phillips in Oklahoma, went conservative and 
>is heading up IRD, and is a professor at Drew.  Someone else on the 
>dialogue may want to correct that.

As a high school church activist in the 1960s, I met on occasions with Tom 
Oden while he was at Phillips seeking his advice.  I have subsequently read 
some of his books over the years.  "Requiem: A Lament in Three Movements" 
was a kind of conservative outing for him.  His major thesis was that the 
"church" needs to stand for something and that Christian liberalism, 
especially in the seminaries of mainline denominations, has taken the 
position that anything goes -- and therefore ultimately stands for almost 
nothing.  At the time I read it, I found it challenging food for thought 
since it's a similar problem I have with many "new age" perspectives.  The 
Institute on Religion and Democracy, however, seems to be something worthy 
of our skepticism.  Tom Oden is Chairman of the Board.  See 
http://www.ird-renew.org/

Terry