Roger E. Olson's Blog, page 137

What I Learned from the Responses to My Post about Mormonism

What I Learned from the Responses to my Post about Mormonism There were almost 200 responses to my blog post titled “Is Mormonism Christian?” I approved about half of them. Many were simply off topic, uncivil or too long for posting here. This blog is for civil, respectful, constructive dialogue, not preaching, flaming or advocacy. [Read More...]

A Plea for Patience

Due to the overwhelming number of responses to my posts about Mormonism I am having to moderate the discussion in several sessions over two days. Please be patient while I work through the comments and respond to some of them.  Today (Sunday, June 14) is a very busy day for me and I will not [Read More...]

Follow Up to My Post about Mormonism

I encourage everyone interested in contemporary Mormonism and its relationship with Christianity to read (on line) the following: “President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: ‘The Gift of Grace’” Deseret News/LDS Church News April 5, 2015. Google for it. I take it this sermon is a correction to Mormons who over emphasize works at the expense of grace [Read More...]

Is Mormonism Christian? (Long But Everyone Interested in Mormonism Should Read This)

Is Mormonism Christian? If you expect a simple, black-and-white answer to the question “Is Mormonism Christian?” you’ll be disappointed. I’m not going to offer that here. I will, however, offer my opinion about whether the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints is a Christian church. “Mormonism,” however, is less a clear and [Read More...]

“Men Adrift” and “The Weaker Sex”–Finally The Economist Agrees with Me!

“Men Adrift” and “The Weaker Sex”—Finally The Economist Agrees with Me! One of the reasons I reluctantly agreed to begin this blog (pushed into it by a good friend) was to have a public space to express my frustrations about the “decline of men” (and especially of boys) in American society and the reluctance of [Read More...]

Follow Up to My Post about Marriage

This is an addendum to my immediately preceding post regarding marriage. Many people apparently did not grasp the whole proposal–especially people who said my proposal is already the case. Every church I know fully recognizes as covenant marriage (marriage of two people in God’s sight) what I am calling civil unions performed by government officials [Read More...]

Some Thoughts (and a Proposal) about the Religion and Marriage Issue

Some Thoughts (and a Proposal) about the Religion and Marriage Issue It seems to me the next step in separation of church and state is one religious organizations should take. They should be proactive. Take the proverbial ball into their own court and decide and announce, very publically, that only they will decide for themselves [Read More...]

The Absurdity of “Higher Criticism” of the Gospels…

The Absurdity of “Higher Criticism” of the Gospels as Illustrated in a Novel Before anything else, let me say that I do not reject all “biblical criticism.” In fact, in one sense, “criticism” simply means “scholarly study” of something. “Literary criticism” is the scholarly study of literature. In other words, the very mention of “critical [Read More...]

Arminius’s Reformed Doctrine of Justification

Arminius’s Reformed Doctrine of Justification This should be read ONLY in light of my previous post here “Arminian Doctrine of Justification Again Disputed” (May 28, 2015). There I expressed dismay at the continuing Reformed misrepresentation of Arminius’s and classical Arminians’ doctrine of justification—as closer to a Catholic understanding than to a classical Protestant and Reformed [Read More...]

Arminian Doctrine of Justification Again Disputed

Occasionally I’m asked to look at something on the internet about Arminian theology. It seems that, once again, a conservative Reformed scholar is challenging Arminian theology–as closer to Catholic doctrine than to Reformation doctrine. The issue this time, as often, is “justification.” The accusation is that Arminius and the Remonstrants denied the classical Reformed doctrine [Read More...]