I did not expect that post to stir up so much interest!  Apparently I hit a nerve with many people.  Hopefully enough people will become outraged over false advertising that they will complain (e-mail is great for that!) and business and advertising professionals will become more honest in promoting their products. I have a colleague (who I also count as a friend) who teaches marketing/advertising (both, I think).  I know him to be a man of integrity who teaches his... Read more

Recently I’ve been wrestling with an issue brought up by Anabaptists (with whom I havetheological  sympathies).  Historically, Anabaptists discourage their own (and by extension all Christians they can influence) from working in certain vocations.  The military is, of course, the most obvious one.  But, mostly, Anabaptists do not work for governments at all.  Some exceptions are made for social work and teaching.  But any job that involves coercion is traditionally off limits for Anabaptists. Lately I’ve been wondering if a... Read more

Over the years I’ve heard many people who love novels decry the lack of good, popular fiction written from an evangelical Christian perspective.  There have been some (in the last few years) written from a generic Christian perspective: Gilead and Peace Like a River come to mind as excellent examples. But what popular novels have been written by evangelical Christians that reflect an evangelical worldview AND are well-written? Well, of course, The Shack comes to mind.  What else? I’m a... Read more

Below is the link to my interview with George P. Wood, Director of Ministerial Resourcing of the Assemblies of God. http://agtv.ag.org/meet-roger-olson Read more

Over the past year, some of my Calvinist interlocutors here have challenged my claim that a god who unconditionally elects only some to save and saves them irresistibly, thus condemning others to eternal damnation (double predestination), is not worthy of worship because he cannot be good in any meaning of “good.”  They have often offered illustrations and analogies.  The most recent one was of a man who unconditionally pays the fines of some inmates, setting them free, but does not... Read more

According to a report published by the Associate Baptist Press dated October 19, “SBC leader cites Calvinism as top challenge” in the Southern Baptist Convention.  This is hardly news; the Calvinist-non-Calvinist (really Arminian) controversy has been bubbling up among the conservatives who took over the SBC for years. However, according to this report, based on an interview Frank Page, CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, gave to the blog SBC Today on October 18, the controversy is reaching a critical... Read more

MinistryDirect.com has invited me to sit down for an interview via Skype for my new book, Against Calvinism. The interview is this Thursday (October 20) at 1:00 p.m. (Central) on MinistryDirect.com/live. If you’d like to ask questions about the book, email them to [email protected], tweet them using #MinistryDirect, or type them into the Facebook interaction tool on the live page. (You have to be logged into Facebook to do the last one.) I did a previous interview with MinistryDirect.com about... Read more

Several Calvinists who have posted comments here have suggested or outrightly claimed that Arminians have no exegesis of Romans 9.  In fact, SOME Calvinists make a habit of going around claiming that Arminians are weak on exegesis–period. I think some of this here was brought on my my comment–quoting John Wesley–that whatever Romans 9 means it can’t mean “that” (i.e., double predestination).  Actually, and I should have said this earlier, that was not Wesley’s only comment on Romans 9.  Scattered... Read more

A few people who “visit” here occasionally have accused me of being unwilling to engage with Calvinists in conversation or answer their questions.  That’s baloney, of course, and they make fools of themselves by showing they don’t keep up with things.  I have been engaged in a 20 year conversation with Calvinist theologian Michael Horton.  I have been a guest on his radio program (The White Horse Inn) and portions of our conversations have been published in Modern Reformation and... Read more

In The Bible Made Impossible Christian Smith does touch on narrative theology, but I think it may offer more (to an evangelical approach to the Bible that avoids some of the problems he discusses) than he suggests.  Here is my summary of narrative theology: Some Thoughts about Narrative Theology 1. Narrative theology focuses on the Bible as a whole (canonical interpretation) as a dramatic account of God’s activity; its main purpose is to identify God for us (i.e., God’s character).... Read more