Oden was active in the Confessing Movement in America, particularly within the United Methodist Church, and he served on the board of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Dean Timothy George of the Beeson Divinity School called Oden "one of the most remarkable Christians of our time [who] has lived through, contributed to and helped overthrow several revolutions." Oden, had an Arminian theology. His book The Transforming Power of Grace presents one of the best expositions of Arminian theology according to Roger E. Olson. Here are some quotes of The Transforming Power of Grace highlighted by Olson: “God prepares the will and co-works with the prepared will. Insofar as grace precedes and prepares free will it is called prevenient. Insofar as grace accompanies and enables human willing to work with divine willing, it is called cooperating grace.” “Only when sinners are assisted by prevenient grace can they begin to yield their hearts to cooperation with subsequent forms of grace.” “The need for grace to prevene is great, for it was precisely when ‘you were dead in your transgressions and sins’ (Eph. 2:1) that ‘by grace you have been saved’ (eph. 2:8).” Olson notes that "By all accounts an orthodox, biblically serious, and evangelical theologian, Oden winsomely and biblically articulates the theology [...] that I call evangelical synergism [or Arminian soteriology]." Death He died on December 8, 2016, at the age of 85. Timothy George wrote in a tribute article after his death: Few theologians of the past 100 years can claim to have had tea and cookies with Rudolf Bultmann, discussed theology with Karl Barth at his hospital bed in Basel, had lunch with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, had an audience with Pope John Paul II, driven through Galilee in a Fiat with Avery Dulles in the passenger seat, and conferred with Coptic and Pentecostal theologians in Africa. Oden did all of these and much more. Along the way, he was both scorned and lionized, and he bore scars from some of the scrapes he was in. Works Oden wrote and edited many books, articles, essays, and speeches on a wide range of topics. The following list is limited to books. The Crisis of the World and the Word of God, 1962 Radical Obedience: The Ethics of Rudolf Bultmann, 1964 The Community of Celebration, 1964 Kerygma and Counseling, 1966 Contemporary Theology and Psychotherapy, 1967 The Structure of Awareness, 1969,1978 (Standard Book