Good News! A Wonderful Theological Book Gets a New Lease on Life Recently I’ve been listening (on my ipod) to a trilogy of novels by Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafon (The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel’s Game and The Prisoner of Heaven). One especially interesting feature of all three is the (Zafon-created) mythical “Cemetery of Forgotten Books” that lies mostly unknown in Barcelona, Spain. Only a few initiates know of its existence. The “cemetery” is a gothic labyrinth-library that... Read more

Some Musings about Worship as Gift and Task Before presenting my musings, let me issue a caveat that I always assume, but many people who visit here seem not to understand. These blog posts are my musings. I don’t regard them as carved in stone, deep theological conclusions such as I might publish in a book or even an article for, say, Christianity Today or Christian Century. Some people who come seem to expect me to provide proof for everything... Read more

Here is a link to an interview. Frank Viola is a well-known and influential “beyond evangelical” author: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frankviola/rogerolson/ Read more

When Did We Open The Pandora’s Box of Theological/Doctrinal Pluralism? Recently, as occasionally in the past, I’ve been reading a lot of liberation theology. Or perhaps it should be “liberation theologies.” I use that term somewhat loosely; not everything that usually comes under that category heading is regarded as such by its adherents. I’m not sure what better label covers all the diverse special interest theologies that claim an experience of oppression as one of, if not the major, source... Read more

Recently, in the last couple days, I’ve been in places where I have to listen to loud, canned, “Christmas” music. I didn’t have to strain to hear the words; they were loud and clear. In one well-known chain coffee shop I have heard dozens of “seasonal” songs but not one about Jesus–directly or indirectly. One song is about Santa Claus and contains the words “Santa brings us peace” and “Santa brings us all love.” There is no doubt that the... Read more

A while back I sparked a near flame war here (and in e-mails directly to me) by saying that I don’t consider myself a “feminist” because so much of what goes under that label is anti-male. But I also qualified that by admitting that much depends on what “feminism” means. What I meant was that, if I have time to explain what I mean by “feminism,” sure, then I can identify myself as a feminist. So what would I mean... Read more

A Movie Illustration of What’s Wrong with Calvinism Spoiler alert! If you intend to watch “Ruby Sparks” (a 2012 movie now on DVD) and you don’t want to know how it ends, stop reading now. I make no claim to being a movie critic. I know nothing about production values and often like movies critics hate. This one is probably not a very good movie—in terms of what critics like. It’s sappy, maudlin, unbelievable, etc. Nevertheless, my wife and I... Read more

Two questions will immediately arise, or at least arise upon close reflection, in the minds of thinking Christians. First, can creatures satisfy God? That is, can we, mere “worm”s that we are, add something to God’s own bliss and enjoyment of himself? Second, is “glorification,” something all Christians believe is at least an eschatological reality for sinners saved by God’s grace and mercy, at all possible in this life—before the resurrection and new heaven and new earth? Related to the... Read more

Picking up where the previous post left off: So what’s the alternative? What is “Christian humanism?” Let me begin with Scripture. Psalm 8—the biblical charter of Christian humanism. Speaking to God the Psalmist cries When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God,... Read more

A Christian Humanist Manifesto: God Is Most Satisfied with Us when We Are Most Glorified by Him Roger E. Olson             Few words provoke such a negative reaction among conservative Christians as “humanism.” Few single words so well summarize secular culture and its anthropocentrism as “humanism.” In the popular imagination, anyway, “humanism” evokes the impression of what media talking heads call “the indomitable human spirit” and conservative Christians call “man-centeredness.” By itself, however, without adjectival qualifications, “humanism” simply means belief... Read more