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Thomas Jay Oord | |
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Born | November 10, 1965 |
Nationality | American |
Ecclesiastical career | |
Religion | Christianity |
Church | Church of the Nazarene |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Doctoral advisor | David Ray Griffin |
Academic work | |
Discipline | |
School or tradition | Open theism |
Institutions | Northwest Nazarene University |
Website | thomasjayoord |
Thomas Jay Oord (born 1965) is a theologian, philosopher, and multidisciplinary scholar who directs a doctoral program at Northwind Theological Seminary and the Center for Open and Relational Theology. He formerly taught for sixteen years as a tenured professor at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho and before that a philosophy professor at Eastern Nazarene College. Oord is the author or editor of more than thirty books and hundreds of articles. He is known for his contributions to research on love, open theism, process theism, open and relational theology, postmodernism, the relationship between religion and science, Wesleyan, holiness, Nazarene theology.
Born on November 10, 1965, and raised in Othello, Washington, Oord went from high school to attend Northwest Nazarene College, graduating in 1988. After serving as a pastor for several years in a church in Walla Walla, Washington, he enrolled at Nazarene Theological Seminary, graduating with a Master of Divinity. While in seminary, he was a pastor in Lenexa, Kansas. Oord then attended Claremont Graduate University, earning an MA and PhD in religion in 1999. While at Claremont, Oord was a pastor at the Bridge Church of the Nazarene in Bloomington, California. He then taught at Eastern Nazarene College before returning to his alma mater, Northwest Nazarene. As of 2020, Oord directs a doctoral program at Northwind Theological Seminary.
He argues that Christians should abandon the doctrine of creation ex nihilo. Oord points to the work of biblical scholars such as Jon D. Levenson, who points out that the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo does not appear in Genesis. Oord speculates that God created our particular universe billions of years ago from primordial chaos. This chaos, however, did not predate God, for God would have created the chaotic elements as well.[page needed] Oord suggests that God can create all things without creating from absolute nothingness.
Oord offers nine objections to creatio ex nihilo:
Oord was a tenured professor at NNU, where he had taught since 2002. He was asked to resign by the new president of NNU in 2014 before learning that he would be laid off at the end of the 2014–2015 school year. The reason cited by the president was declining enrollment in the theology program, but it was clear to other faculty and alumni that he was being dismissed because of theological positions that are not in the mainstream of the Nazarene culture, although compatible with the Wesleyan theological tradition. The president received a no-confidence vote of 77 percent in 2015 and then resigned, leaving Oord employed at a lower status and pay scale. A negotiated settlement and parting of ways was finally put into effect in 2018.
Oord is married and the couple has three daughters. He is an ordained elder within the Church of the Nazarene. and serves in a pastoral role at Real Life Community Church of the Nazarene, Nampa, ID.
Oord is an avid blogger. His writing addresses issues in popular culture, the academy, and the church.
As editor and contributor:
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Thomas Jay Oord has advocated an 'open theology' that 'embraces the hypothesis that God did not create the world out of absolutely nothing, i.e., ex nihilo. ' Matching Theology and Piety: An Evangelical Process Theology of Love', PhD dissertation (Claremont Graduate University, 1999), p. 284.[permanent dead link]