Book attacking mainline seminaries raises ire - 'Requiem: A Lament in Three Movements' by theology professor Thomas Oden

Christian Century, March 1, 1995

Abingdon Press, the book publishing arm of the United Methodist Publishing House, has been criticized by denominational leaders and educators for releasing a book that accuses seminaries of promoting sexually permissive advocacy, political activism, and ultrafeminist hype." The 208-page book, Requiem: A Lament in Three Movements, was written by Thomas Oden, a professor of theology at United Methodist-related Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and a self-described "orthodox evangelical."

Oden's sweeping indictment of seminary education charges that ethics curricula have become the study of "political correctness," that the study of liturgy has become "an experiment in color, balloons, poetry and freedom," and that courses in pastoral care have become "a support group for the sexually alienated."

Publishing-house executives acknowledged that they have received widespread complaints from across the denomination about the decision to publish Oden's book. But two senior Abingdon executives called for intellectual diversity and defended their decision.

Robert K. Feaster, chief executive officer of Abingdon Press and the UMC's publisher, and Neil M. Alexander, editorial director of the press and the denomination's official book editor, declared in a joint statement that "Abingdon is fulfilling its responsibility of providing resources to be used in the `ongoing conversation' about matters important in the life of the Christian community.

"Requiem is unquestionably controversial," their statement reads, "in both its straightforward, sometimes strident, tone and in its provocative conclusions." Responding to charges that publication of Oden's book constitutes an endorsement of the author's critique, Feaster and Alexander said: "Discerning readers will recognize that Professor Oden speaks for himself. If some confuse publication with editorial endorsement, they neither understand the role of publishers nor are they familiar with the wide diversity of viewpoints in Abingdon Press books. As is the case with any book, the voice heard in Requiem is that of its author, not its editor or publisher."

Abingdon representatives also stress the need for open exchange of different points of view within a diverse Christian community: "We live in a time characterized by depths of feelings and sometimes discord that seem to pit different camps against each other. But suppression of debate about important issues is not conducive to true unity. Is the church to promote diversity of views only about matters that do not matter much?"

Feaster and Alexander point out that their publishing house's charter mandates the publication of resources that address issues before the church: "The state and future course of theological education and the wider ecumenical community is one of those issues. The substance of the positions taken by Professor Oden is for readers to debate, not for the publisher to arbitrate. The conversation should be about the merits of the author's arguments rather than his being provided a means to voice those arguments." Oden is described by Feaster and Alexander as a "well-known UM theologian teaching at a distinguished UM institution" who has been publishing with Abingdon Press for three decades.

Neal Fisher, president of United Methodist-related Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and the editor of an upcoming collection of essays that takes issue with Oden's views (also to be published by Abingdon), criticized the decision to publish Oden and called the book "grossly unfair." Said Fisher, "Any of us could find anecdotes for anything, but [Oden's] book doesn't wash as a picture of theological education." Fisher's book is titled Truth and Tradition: A Conversation About the Future of United Methodist Education. John Harnish of Nashville, Tennessee, an executive with the church's Division of Ordained Ministry, said he could accept Oden's book as a "personal lament or diatribe" but not as a "reasoned analysis of the life and work of the 13 United Methodist theological schools in general."