Embarrassed by the Supernatural? Some years ago Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon published an article in Christian Century that some believe launched the “postliberal” movement in Christian theology. The article’s title was “Embarrassed by God’s Presence.” (CC January 30, 1985) Hauerwas and Willimon accused “mainline” Protestant churches and theologies of conducting business as if God does not exist. This was, of course, hyperbole and intended to get attention, but the grain of truth in it raised many Christians’ consciousness about... Read more

I don’t usually use this blog to reminisce or talk about my personal experiences or memories, but for some reason I feel led to do that today. “I feel led to…” comes from my Pentecostal background. I was raised in what we called “the Full Gospel” from birth until seminary. I reluctantly resigned from my spiritual “home” almost immediately after graduating from seminary at age 26. I felt spiritually adrift for a long time. Occasionally I experience what the Germans... Read more

Adam Hamilton is founding pastor of the largest United Methodist congregation in the U.S. Church of the Resurrection (Leawood, KS) has twenty-one thousand members and is growing. Yesterday (Friday, April 24, 2015) I spent much of the day with Adam at his church (in suburban Kansas City). He graciously agreed to interview me for a DVD Abingdon Press is creating for the leader’s guide to go along with my forthcoming book Counterfeit Christianity (Abingdon’s assigned title, not my preferred title).... Read more

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