Essentials of Christian Thought Book Discussion Begins Here I begin our discussion of my book Essentials of Christian Thought: Seeing Reality through the Biblical Story. Zondervan gave the book its title. The title I wanted was Narrative Biblical Metaphysics: Seeing Reality through the Biblical Story. The origin of the book lies in this blog. I blogged about the project of integrating faith and learning in Christian educational institutions. I taught theology in three Christian universities over thirty-five years. I still... Read more

Between Jesus and John Wayne Not very long ago I reviewed a book by a professor at Calvin University titled Jesus and John Wayne. You can look up that review in the archives of this blog or just “Google” it. Although I don’t remember if the author mentioned this song, I accidentally ran across it on Youtube: Jesus and John Wayne (or Between Jesus and John Wayne). According to sources I have found, the song was written by Bill and... Read more

Karl Barth in a Youtube Documentary Not about Him The great Swiss theologian Karl Barth has often been described as a modern “church father.” That is to compare him in terms of greatness of thought and influence to such Christian theologians as Saint Augustine. I have studied the theology (or theologies) of Barth for many years and he is one of my favorite Christian theologians. I have written about him here before. Imagine my surprise to catch a glimpse of... Read more

Proof that Something Is Seriously Amiss in America’s Universities According to news reports, ones on TV news network prime time programs, showing three presidents of major Ivy League universities speaking at a congressional hearing, something is terribly amiss in American universities. A congresswoman asked the three female presidents of major universities whether calling for genocide of Jews by employees or students constitutes free speech or whether such should be grounds for firing or expulsion. The three presidents repeatedly would not... Read more

Is Donald Trump “Orange Jesus?” According to a forthcoming book by former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, at least one influential Republican member of congress referred to Donald Trump as “orange Jesus.” So far I have not read or heard of any reliable refutation of that. On MSNBC Lawrence O’Donnell has labeled that “blasphemy.” I’m a long-time and fairly educated and influential Christian theologian, so I should know what constitutes blasphemy. But I don’t. The dictionary definitions of the word blasphemy... Read more

Announcing a New Book Discussion Beginning on Monday, December 18, God willing, I will begin discussion here of The Essentials of Christian Thought: Seeing Reality through the Biblical Story (Zondervan, 2017). I am the author. Here are two recommendations of the book of which I am especially proud: “Olson offers his readers a timely and powerful defense of a distinctively Christian metaphysics and teases out its implications for theology, apologetics, and cultural dialogue. It is a rich and rewarding read... Read more

Are American Christians Persecuted? According to some new reports, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representative, Mike Johnson, one of the highest officials in the country, recently commented that American Christians are persecuted. Naturally, this drew negative responses from some left-leaning commentators. One was a woman who wrote a column about Johnson’s claim for the Religious News Service. I read it in The Anabaptist World. Mike Johnson is a conservative Christian, probably, almost certainly, a self-identified evangelical in both... Read more

An Even Stranger Thing… The Youtube documentary shocked me and shook me to the core of my being. Why have I never head of this before? To see and hear what I heard and saw go to this Youtube video: “The Rise of the Crisis Actor Conspiracy Movement.” Have I been living under a rock or have I had my head in this sand? Before watching this video I had no idea such people or their ideas existed. But I... Read more

How Do You Know You’re Not Brainwashed? First, let’s define two words. What do I mean by “know?” Well, really just the usual sense of the word except I exclude absolute, total, incorrigible certainty. I don’t think that’s humanly possible. The mind can always possibly be shaken by new experiences. So by “know” I mean have “proper confidence”—knowledge beyond a reasonable doubt. Second, what do I mean by “brainwashed?” It’s a word with a large element of subjectivity. Here, however,... Read more

The Upside-Down Kingdom, Chapter 12: Successful Failure There’s much in this chapter to “talk” about. But I’d like to focus on one main point: the meaning of “bearing one’s cross.” As I read Kraybill’s explanation, I was reminded of John Howard Yoder’s discussion of this in The Politics of Jesus. According to both Kraybill and Yoder, “bearing one’s cross” does NOT mean putting up with suffering, mental or physical. Bearing one’s cross is about sacrificing one’s own pleasure and personal... Read more