Trinity Means Love: A Sermon to a Seminary Community Ephesians 1 Roger E. Olson I love ironies.  Except when I’m caught in one.  For a long time I’ve advised seminary students not to preach on the Trinity.  Imagine my surprise, then, when I was “invited” to preach the first in a series of community gatherings for worship sermons on a new hymn written especially for the seminary where I teach: “Give Us Courage” together with Ephesians 1 and the invitation... Read more

Announcements about Two of My Books and about a Forthcoming Book I recently received a new printing of my book Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities (InterVarsity Press). The only thing new is the jacket including a new cover and new picture of me (on the back flap). Ironically, the picture on the cover is still of the Synod of Dort (1618-1619) at which Arminians (Remonstrants) were condemned and exiled from the Netherlands (then known as the United Provinces). A note... Read more

“Let’s Talk about Jesus” Our Prophet, Priest and King Recently here someone chided me for not talking about Jesus enough. Well, in my own defense, my whole and entire reason for criticizing Calvinism (as well as other wrong theologies) is Jesus. Jesus as God incarnate, the perfect and yet understandable revelation of God, God’s character and will, forms the foundation and center of my whole theology. I thought I had made that clear, but apparently not explicitly enough for him.... Read more

A Rare, Good Television “Sitcom”: “Grinder” (Fox TV) Holds Up a Mirror that Should Make Us Ashamed (Or at Least Embarrassed) Yes, I know, someone will tell me I watch too much television. My only defenses? First, I still accomplish quite a lot! (Try arguing with me about that and I’ll show you my curriculum vitae.) Second, it helps me keep in touch with popular culture. Students watch television. Just the other evening, in a class on “modern theology,” a... Read more

Getting to the Bottom of Thinking: There Is No “View from Nowhere” (And an Illustration from Differing Beliefs about God) When I encounter disagreement about which I care, I attempt to “dig down” to rock bottom presuppositions and work up from there. Often, disagreements over philosophical-theological issues have to do with presuppositions. Many years ago I began to think about philosophical-theological (and I might add social-political and ethical) disagreements in terms of governing, even driving, presuppositions. One of my own... Read more

“Should A Christian Ever Act As If God Does Not Exist? (With A View toward Faith-Learning Integration)” Samford University Holley-Hull Lecture October 8, 2015 Roger E. Olson About two years ago I became acquainted with sociologist of religion Peter Berger who is a distinguished visiting professor at Baylor University. Of course I have known of Berger for many years and was actually a bit surprised when he called me and invited me to lunch. He was on campus teaching a... Read more

Why I Still Call Myself “Evangelical” In Spite of Everything or Evangelicalism Is Dead; Long Live Evangelicalism Roger E. Olson Prelude: This is the talk I would have given had I been invited to speak at the 2001 conference “Pilgrims on the Sawdust Trail” which I attended at Beeson Divinity School. It’s a bit updated, but essentially the same as what I would have said there and then. I gave it in chapel/convocation at Samford University as part of the... Read more

I delivered this talk at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama as part of the annual Holley-Hull Lecture Series on Wednesday, October 7. (The other lectures were at Samford University.)   A Relational View of God’s Sovereignty Roger E. Olson My office phone rang and I answered it. A stern voice said “Is this Roger Olson?” who which I confessed. The man introduced himself as pastor of Baptist church in the state, implying that he was a constituent of... Read more

Outrageous “Justification” of Shooting of Black Child in Cleveland, Ohio According to an Associated Press news report by Mitch Stacy (Sunday, October 11, 2015) two consultants to the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Prosecutor’s office have declared the November, 2014 shooting of twelve year old African-American boy Tamir Rice by a “rookie patrolman” “justified.” I saw the video of this shooting on network television news—several times. I’m sure if you search for it on the internet you can see it for yourself.... Read more

This is a talk I gave to a group of outstanding students at Samford University October 7 (2015)–part of the Holley-Hull Lecture series I delivered there that week. I will post other lectures of the series over the next week. Why (High) Calvinism Is Impossible In one of his sermons against Calvinism, Methodist founder John Wesley famously remarked about the Calvinist interpretation of Romans 9 that “Whatever it means, it cannot mean that.” I think many people, especially committed Calvinists,... Read more