Roger E. Olson

You Might Still Be a Fundamentalist Even If…In January of this year (2017) I served on a panel at a session of the American Society of Church History’s annual, national meeting. The subject of the discussion was “The Future of Evangelicalism in America” which is also the title of a book edited and written by the panel’s participants. I was the only theologian on the panel as I was also the only theologian who authored a chapter in the book which was published in 2016 by the University of … [Read more...]

The Disappearing Difference between Rhetoric and ArgumentRecently (during and since the 2016 U.S. presidential election) there has been a lot of “chatter” about “facts.” Someone publicly labeled a public truth claim an “alternative fact.” This neologism created a great deal of consternation, controversy, and more than a little tittering.This event, or series of events, provoked me to think about truth claims, “facts,” and reality. Long before someone uttered the phrase “alternative fa … [Read more...]

Review of Greg Boyd’s Crucifixion of the Warrior GodHave you ever been perplexed about the Old Testament’s “texts of terror” including especially those in which God is reported to have commanded the merciless slaughter of not only men and animals but also non-combatant women and children? If you’re still perplexed and care enough about the problems these texts present for Christian theology (and Christianity’s reputation in a skeptical world), you need to read Crucifixion of the Warrior G … [Read more...]

Does Justice Require Inclusion and Diversity?The simple answer to the question that is the title of this blog post is “yes” and “no.” But my emphasis here is going to be on the “no” simply because I exist in a religious context where that is what needs to be said and heard.Some years ago my family played a (then) new board game called “Scruples.” The game involved attempting to guess what another player would do in certain specific and highly dilemma-creating ethical situations. The g … [Read more...]

Are So-Called “Non-denominational Churches” Really “Non-denoms?”There it was again. The same has happened to me numerous times over the past several years. Someone told me about a great new church in an affluent suburb of a major American metropolis. It is attracting thousands to its services and programs. And among its attractions is that it is “non-denominational.”This time I said what I thought: “I’ll bet it’s not really ‘non-denominational;’ at least not in the way you think. Let … [Read more...]