A New Book (Or Revision of an Old Book) about Arminian Theology The back cover of Grace for All: The Arminian Dynamics of Salvation (Wipf & Stock, 2015) describes it as “an updated and revised version of Grace Unlimited, a 1975 collection of scholarly articles assembled by the late Clark H. Pinnock of McMaster Divinity College.” Terry L. Miethe, former dean of the Oxford Study Centre, says “I cannot think of a more dangerous unbiblical teaching than Calvinism! I recommend... Read more

Clearing Up Some Christian Confusions about “Doubt” Frederick Buechner famously wrote that “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.” Several Christian writers have extolled the virtues of doubt—even for Christian living. Two of them are the great English Methodist pastor and theologian Leslie Weatherhead in The Christian Agnostic (1965) and Gregory Boyd in The Benefit of the Doubt (2013). (I have reviewed Boyd’s book here earlier.) Paul Tillich, of course, famously claimed... Read more

“Progressive Evangelicals”: Where Are They Now? Recently I received two relatively new, very similar books (complimentary copies provided by publishers). Their similarity lies in the subject they both cover: “progressive evangelicals.” They focus on progressive (some would say “liberal”) evangelical social and political beliefs especially among younger evangelicals in the 1960s and 1970s (some before, some after). The two books are: The Moral Minority: The Evangelical Left in an Age of Conservatism by David R. Swartz (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012)... Read more

Two or three podcast interviews with me have “gone up” on the internet recently. On is an interview that happened at FaithLife/MobileEd (formerly Logos Software) in Bellingham, Washington when I was there in March. I’ve been notified that it is going up on iTunes and Sound Cl0ud. Here is the link: https://m.soundcloud.com/logos-bible-software/dr-roger-olsonhistory-of-theology-and-the-rise-of-christian-celebrities-within-the-church . However, I just discovered another interview podcast that I did at FaithLife that week in March. It is available on the web. It’s called “An Interview with... Read more

Why Hyper-Calvinism Is Consistent Calvinism I know, I know. I will be accused of being “uncharitable” simply for deconstructing Calvinism. Apparently what’s good for the goose is not good for the gander. I have at least twenty-five volumes about Calvinism by leading Calvinist theologians on my bookshelf (and these are only examples of contemporary Calvinism!). All contain attempted deconstructions of Arminianism—attempts to demonstrate its inner contradictions and its ultimate illegitimacy as biblical theology. I don’t consider that “uncharitable” so long... Read more

The Dialectic of “Nature and Grace” in Christian Theology I recently had opportunity to lead a group of post-seminary ministry residents (in residence at a large, urban church) in a day-long study and discussion of the relationship between “nature” and “grace” in the theologies of Athanasius, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas. My assignment (and theirs) was to rediscover these three great teachers of the church and ponder their significance for us, twenty-first century Protestant Christians. In preparation for our day of... Read more

I rarely comment here on world events, but this one has me excited and hopeful. The presidents of the United States and Cuba have met in Panama and pretty much sealed the deal (pending congressional approval) for a renewal of diplomatic relations between their two countries. Hopefully this will open the door to greater freedom of travel and trade between the countries. But most importantly, I believe it will pave the way toward greater freedom in Cuba–especially freedoms of religion... Read more

Only God Is an “End in Itself” (But That’s Not the Whole Story) I put “end in itself” in quotation marks to indicate a technical phrase; I am not implying that God is impersonal. “End in himself” would be more correct. But people often talk about something as an “end in itself” meaning “for its own sake.” “Art for art’s sake” is a motto of the National Endowment for the Arts. However, many people regard certain activities, products, persons, organizations,... Read more

Where Does Theology Really Matter? I recently had reason to re-read parts of Karl Barth’s final volume of Church Dogmatics (IV/4 “Fragment” on Baptism). In the middle of his critique of infant baptism he digresses into a complaint about how the churches don’t listen to their own theologians. He clearly didn’t expect his own Reformed denomination to adjust its belief or practice of baptism because of his devastating critique of infant baptism. One can almost hear the tears in Barth’s... Read more

Against the Political Misuses of Words Both the political and religious left and the political and religious right do it. It’s become the strategy of choice for ideologues who want to manipulate public opinion for a cause. It’s a sure sign of demagoguery and ought to be called out. Unfortunately, it’s become so common we take it for granted and are swayed by it even as we try to resist it. It’s powerful even as it’s so obviously wrong. That... Read more