In a recent Touchstone journal article, “In ‘God’ We Trusted” (July/August, 2018, pp. 25-27), author D. Eric Schansberg wrote about religion in America during the 1950s. He began by citing Will Herberg’s classic 1955 book, Protestant, Catholic, Jew.
Seeing Herberg’s name got my attention. He was the Jewish scholar who was a friend and colleague of the late Thomas Oden, long-time Methodist professor at Drew School of Theology. Oden, one of our generation’s pre-eminent Wesleyan theologians, has written how he and Herberg, a faculty member at Drew for some 30 years, became friends during Oden’s first year as professor there in 1970. They shared frequent luncheons and conversations over tea.
Herberg challenged Oden one day saying, “Tom, if you are ever going to become a credible theologian instead of a know-it-all-pundit, you had best restart your life on firmer ground. You are not a theologian except in name only, even if you are paid to be one.”
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