Roger E. Olson's Blog, page 180

What Would Jesus Make of “Passion” (Conferences)? Guest Blog by Austin Fischer

What Would Jesus Make of Passion? by Austin Fischer (Teaching Pastor, The Vista Community Church, Belton/Temple, Texas)  Hooray Excellence!  At the moment I’m writing this, there are 60,000 college students gathered inside the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. They are singing worship songs, listening to sermons, and gathering what will no doubt be a massive offering [...]

A Plug for My Current Article on “Election” in Christianity Today

If you are able to, please read my article “Election Is for Everyone” in the current issue of Christianity Today and post your feedback here. There I call for Christians to emphasize more our common ground and less our differences. We all agree that salvation is solely God’s doing and not of works. We all [...]

Another Calvinist Misrepresentation of Arminianism

Another Calvinist Misrepresentation Arminianism As anyone knows who comes here regularly, I am a self-appointed defender of the truth about classical Arminianism. That often brings me into conflict with Calvinists who misrepresent it. Sometimes it brings me into conflict with fellow Arminians who do the same. Rarely, but occasionally, it brings me into conflict with [...]

How Secularized Has American Evangelical Christianity Become?

How Secularized Has American Evangelical Christianity Become? In a recent post here I talked about what I see as the secularization of evangelical Christianity in America. I gave some examples of its symptoms—that is, symptoms of secularization in American evangelical church life. I simply took for granted that secularization had long ago gripped and changed [...]

Have American Evangelicals Become Secularized? Some New Year’s Reflections on Changes during a Lifetime

Have American Evangelicals Become Secularized? Some New Year’s Reflections on Changes during a Lifetime Each year as New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day arrive I feel more ambivalent about them. I admit it; I even feel weary of them. They seem so anti-climactic after Thanksgiving and Christmas. And, unlike other holidays, they are, to [...]

A Letter from a Young Christian Reader of “Against Calvinism”

I recently received this e-mail letter. It’s the best recommendation of Against Calvinism I’ve read yet. I hope you, my faithful readers and blog visitors, will pass this good word around so that more people like this young Christian will read Against Calvinism to counter the arguments of their YYRM friends: “I purchased a copy [...]

Calvinism and the God-as-author analogy

One of my faithful visitors here pointed me to the following recent essay posted to the Desiring God blog by one Joe Rigney (professor at John Piper’s Bethlehem College and Seminary) entitled “Confronting the Problem(s) of Evil.” The link is: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-l... am not sure whether Rigney is the author of the essay; the “voice” is [...]

Karl Barth’s “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know….” Answer: Can Anyone Verify It?

Most Christians have heard it as a sermon illustration. I’ve heard and read many variations of the story. According to the story, Karl Barth was fielding questions from the audience after a lecture in Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University Chicago in 1962. A student stood and asked him if he could summarize [...]

End of the World or World without End?

Sometimes I wonder why so many people (but especially the media!) are fascinated, even obsessed, with the end of the world. Today, of course, is December 21–the date supposedly identified by an ancient Maya calendar as the end of the world. The build up to it has been years long. Some people have traveled the [...]

What Does “Supernatural” Mean? Can a Person Be Christian and NOT Believe in It?

What Does “Supernatural” Mean? Can a Person Be Christian and NOT Believe in It? Augustine said it about “time”: When you don’t ask me, I know what it is, but as soon as you ask me, I don’t know. When you don’t ask me what “supernatural” means I know; as soon as you ask me, [...]