Roger E. Olson's Blog, page 187

Needed: A New “Progressive Orthodoxy” for the 21st Century: Part Three (Final) of Series about Horace Bushnell

Needed: A New “Progressive Orthodoxy” for the 21st Century: Part Three (Final) of Series about Horace Bushnell In the first two installments of this three part series I talked about what Gary Dorrien calls Bushnell’s “liberal-leaning experiment in progressive orthodoxy” with special focus on the 19th century theologian’s theological method. Here I want to suggest [...]

Remembering the “Progressive Orthodoxy” of Horace Bushnell Part Two

Remembering the “Progessive Orthodoxy” of Horace Bushnell Part Two Bushnell was self-consciously a mediating theologian. He stood against the stream of New England Unitarianism and the accommodating liberalism while at the same time resisting the rigid orthodoxy and incipient fundamentalism of neo-Puritanism and the Princeton Theology (Alexander and Hodge). He strongly defended belief in the [...]

Remembering the “Progressive Orthodoxy” of Horace Bushnell Part One

Remembering the “Progessive Orthodoxy” of Horace Bushnell Part One One thing I like to do here is point readers back to neglected theologians. As a historical theologian I find many “new” proposals in theology are not that new. Often they echo theological ideas of the past even as their promoters advance them as new. There’s [...]

Saying goodbye to a mentor and friend

When I look back over my life and career, I can confidently say there was no more important influence on my theological development than Dr. Ralph Powell who passed away at age 96 on August 7 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was not a theological genius (in the usual sense of the term–a great [...]

What’s wrong with panentheism?

So What’s Wrong with Panentheism? Recently I suggested that Jonathan Edwards may have been guilty of panentheism. I won’t explain why again here; if you’re interested please go back and read that post. At least one commenter asked why that’s a problem in light of Paul’s quotation in Athens of a Greek poet. He referred [...]

A guest post (the biblical story of God and us that includes evolution) from a frequent visitor here

Homo Sapiens (Naturalis) and The Creator-servant’s Universe-The Revelation: The Biblical Story of God and Us in Brief By Bev Mitchell Homo Sapiens (Naturalis) Homo sapiens, the ones who know, the conscious ones, the self-conscious ones. We sense that we are on a journey, that we have a story and are in a story, that we [...]

Leithart’s Defending Constantine Revisited

A No Longer Preliminary (and Yet Not Final) Report on Leithart’s Defending Constantine A while back I posted a preliminary review of Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom by theologian Peter Leithart (InterVarsity Press, 2010). At that point I had read only half the book—up through Chapter 8 “Nicea [...]

Why is Jonathan Edwards considered so great?

I know. I’m almost committing blasphemy by questioning Jonathan Edwards’ greatness. I wouldn’t be doing it except there seems to be a kind of cult of Edwards’ veneration–especially among American evangelicals. It’s not limited to American evangelicals, of course. Lutheran theologian Robert Jenson called Edwards “America’s Theologian.” New books are published every year about Edwards. [...]

A Sermon: “Grace Works” Philippians 2:12-13

Grace Works Philippians 2:12-13 Roger E. Olson   No two verses in the Bible have been discussed and debated more than these together. Throughout Christian history, these two verses, this passage, has provided comfort and affliction to numerous Bible readers. Among the many biblical scholars, theologians and church leaders who have struggled with the passage [...]

Follow up to previous post about a sermon illustration: Arminianism, salvation and good works (response to C. Gordon Olson)

If you didn’t read my previous post about a sermon illustration and Arminianism, please go back and read that before reading this. I asked for feedback about the sermon illustration (Christopher Wren’s “deceptive pillars”) because I keep running into people who think that Arminianism includes good works as necessary for salvation. Here’s just one of [...]