Roger E. Olson's Blog, page 154

A Philosophical Historical Novel about Evil: The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell

A Philosophical Historical Novel about Evil: The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell I am usually reading one historical novel and listening to another one on my ipod. I like ones that include philosophical and theological themes. But they are somewhat rare. And I like to read/listen to books about World War 2 and the Holocaust [Read More...]

Thanks for your patience…

For some reason Disqus (the program Patheos blogs use for discussion) is not showing any pending comments for my review, approval and response. I have attempted to post one of my own and it isn’t showing up as “pending.” So it seems something is wrong with the program. I have contacted Patheos and asked them [Read More...]

How American Evangelical Christianity Has Changed…

How American Evangelical Christianity Has Changed During My Lifetime The “American Christianity” I will talk about here is specifically evangelical Christianity. But I use that category broadly to include numerous denominations and organizations. They all used to look to Billy Graham for unofficial leadership—leadership by example. I grew up in the “thick” of American evangelicalism. [Read More...]

How Should a Church Decide Whether to “Welcome and Affirm?”

How Should a Church Decide Whether to “Welcome and Affirm?” In my immediately preceding post I asked whether men and women tend to approach the controversy over whether to welcome and affirm practicing gays into churches as full members and leaders differently and, if so, why. Here I will offer some thoughts about how a [Read More...]

Are Women More Inclined toward Inclusiveness than Men?

Are Women More Inclined toward Inclusiveness than Men? Note: If you decide to comment, please stick to the question—which is not whether gays and lesbians should be permitted to marry, be ordained to the ministry, etc. The one question here is whether women are, overall and in general, more likely than men to move in [Read More...]

Is This the Best of All Possible Worlds? What I Would Think If I Were a Calvinist

Is This the Best of All Possible Worlds? What I Would Think If I Were a Calvinist Most Calvinists I know believe in meticulous providence. Some have claimed here recently that a Calvinist does not have to believe in meticulous providence (that God plans, ordains and governs all that happens without exception). However, as I [Read More...]

Should a Theologian’s Life Affect How We Regard His/Her Theology?

Should a Theologian’s Life Affect How We Regard His/Her Theology? Over the decades of studying and teaching about not only the theologies of Christian theologians past and present but also their biographies I’ve run into a common question. How should we relate their lives to their theologies? To be specific, if there’s something negative in [Read More...]

Am I a Man or What?

Am I a Man or What? Daily we are bombarded by the media with images of what makes a “man.” Sometimes they are neutral characteristics, but often they are characteristics that could be divided into two categories—sinister and stupid. This is June and that means it’s the one month of the year when it’s okay [Read More...]

Subterranean Theology (Part 2)

Subterranean Theology (Part 2) At the end of Part 1 (immediately preceding blog post) I asked: “When a difference in theology is rooted in subterraneanism, is there any way forward toward settling which is right and which is wrong (if that’s important)? Are any common criteria for evaluating subterranean perspectives on pre-biblical issues?” Of course, [Read More...]

Subterranean Theology (Part 1)

Subterranean Theology (Part 1) Lately I’ve become interested in exploring what I call “subterranean theology.” So what is that? Subterranean theology is presuppositions that lie beneath the explicit methods and doctrines of someone’s theology; it/they condition explicit, “above ground” theology often without being seen or acknowledged. Of course, I realize I’m not the first to [Read More...]