Roger E. Olson

Must a Christian Believe in God? Is there a "Godless Christianity?" Over the years I've had many encounters with people claiming to be Christians who also say they either do not believe in God or are not sure whether they believe in God. And I've read several theologians who claim to be Christian who deny the existence/reality of God (that is, they deny "theistic realism"). Must a person believe in God to be Christian? Well, first, we have to parse the question and terms carefully. What … [Read more...]

A few months ago Abingdon Press (the United Methodist publisher) sent me the manuscript of a forthcoming (now published) book by my friend Don Thorsen who teaches theology at Azusa Pacific University. (Actually, he's also the Chair of the Department of Theology and Ethics at APU's Haggard Graduate School of Theology.) Don and I have been friends ever since we worked together on the editorial board of the Christian Scholar's Review in the 1990s. Don is a good Wesleyan theologian. The book, … [Read more...]

Is Doubt a Sign of Spiritual Weakness or What? (Two New Books about the Role of Doubt in Christian Living) When I was a kid growing up in church (how's that for a stereotypical opening of a paragraph?) a favorite saying of pastors and evangelists was "Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs!" As if doubt (and here "doubt" will always be about God and the truth of revelation) is something you overcome by sheer will power. And as if doubt is necessarily something negative to be shunned … [Read more...]

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Says Capitalism Needs Christianity According to an Associated Press report (published in a local newspaper Sept. 8), conservative United States Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia said in Houston, Texas ("at a religious library") that "he thinks Christian values are necessary for capitalism to succeed." One might be forgiven for thinking that's an astonishing admission for a conservative, neo-liberal, neo-conservative like Scalia to make and for a Supreme … [Read more...]

Changed Hymn Lyrics: Pet Peeve or Serious Concern? (And an Invitation to Nominate Worst Examples) There seems to be a trend toward changing hymn lyrics—especially when the lyrics contain words perceived as associated with war, violence, blood, conflict or gender inequality. Hymnal editors, worship leaders, performers all engage in this sometimes seeming freewheeling and cavalier altering of hymns, gospel songs and worship songs. Occasionally serious thought seems to have been put into the … [Read more...]

  Are Arminian Theology and Middle Knowledge Compatible? Very nice essay, Roger. You've put your finger on a key internal tension within Molinism. While Molinism is *officially* committed to a libertarian view of creaturely freedom (and thus soft determinists like Ware are *not* Molinists, even if they co-opt the label), such a view of freedom requires that middle knowledge counterfactuals of actual creatures be explanatorily *posterior* to actual creaturely free choices. Thus, if Adam … [Read more...]

Are Arminian Theology and Middle Knowledge Compatible? One of the most basic impulses of Arminianism is that God is not the author of sin and evil—even indirectly. On this virtually everyone knowledgeable about Arminian theology agrees. Divine determinism, the belief that God directly or indirectly determines all that happens according to a predetermined plan, was rejected by Arminius and has been rejected by all Arminians since him. I have demonstrated that in Arminian Theology: Myths and … [Read more...]

Modernity and Christianity: Like Oil and Water? Part 3 (and Final) In the previous two posts I’ve raised the question whether modernity, as a “blik” (a worldview perspective, lens through which reality is seen and interpreted), and Christianity are at all compatible. Can they be integrated? Can authentic Christianity be contextualized with modernity without terminal loss to one or both? Must one leave Christianity behind to be truly modern? Must one leave modernity behind to be truly … [Read more...]

Modernity and Christianity: Like Oil and Water? Part 2 In my immediately preceding post, part 1 of this series, I mentioned that I view modernity as a “blik”—a fundamental perspective, a way of seeing the world “as,” a world view. Of course, it is also a cultural “Zeitgeist,” a “spirit of the age,” a collection of socio-cultural habits shared by people and societies. I talked about how some Christians view Christianity and modernity as like oil and water—incapable of … [Read more...]

Modernity and Christianity: Like Oil and Water? Part 1 My immediately preceding post announced my forthcoming book about modern (and postmodern) theologies: The Journey of Modern Theology: From Reconstruction to Deconstruction (InterVarsity Press, 2013). A major thesis of the book is that virtually every Western (and some non-Western) theology since the early nineteenth century is influenced in some way by the modern mindset. Even those like Charles Hodge’s that resisted innovation and … [Read more...]