“Young Fogeys”

“‘Young fogeys’ is the term that I affectionately give to young people who have been through the dark night of disillusionment of modern thought-forms and have joyously returned to classic Christianity. Young fogies are those who hold fast to ‘mere Christianity.’ Having entered in good faith into the disciplines of the modern academy and church—and having become disillusioned—they are again studying the texts of the ancient Christian tradition. These texts point to the Word of God revealed in history as attested by prophetic and apostolic witnesses whose testimonies have become authoritative scripture for a worldwide, multicultural, multigenerational community.

Young fogeys, determined to reshape institutions that have been bent out of shape, must constantly deflect mistaken epithets such as ‘reactionary’ and ‘fundamentalist’ thrown by those virtually ignorant of classic Christianity. They must learn to bear these burdens in a sound-bite world prone to misunderstand them. But they take heart in that Polycarp, Athanasius, and Jerome must have felt similarly misperceived.”

Thomas C. Oden, The Rebirth of Orthodoxy : Signs of New Life in Christianity