A Gentle and Quiet Spirit: Discover the Truth About These Misunderstood Qualities Book

Oden's classic text gets 5 stars for living up to what he sought to do...

"I am hoping to offer a classically grounded systematic pastoral theology that is not insufferably dull. I seek simply to bring the available wisdoms of the pastoral tradition into clear, sharp contemporary expression, pertinent to the practice of ministry today. That is why I intentionally quote very few modern writers and stress more heavily the most consensual patristic sources, weighing most heavily the eight doctors of the church."

The classically grounded nature of this text is its most unique and important offering. Today's church leaders do well to sit at the feet of an Augustine or an Ambrose not just to learn theology, but also the various avenues of pastoral ministry. The modern distinction between pastors laboring over practical matters on behalf of the Church and scholars laboring over theological matters on behalf of the Academy would be seen as a false and unnecessary dichotomy by the doctors of the church. Oden also succeeds at organizing the text in a rigorously systematic fashion and not writing in an "insufferably dull" manner.