Roger E. Olson's Blog, page 77

A Series: Christian Theology–Answers to Questions: Four: Is Theology a “Science?”

A Series: Christian Theology—Answers to Questions: Four: On What Is Theology Based?   Does Christian theology (explained in earlier essays in this series) have a method? Here, of course, I’m asking about the process type of theology—the process of evaluating messages claimed to be Christian and constructing (or reconstructing) Christian doctrines. Christian theology in this […]

Are All “Christians” True Christians?

Are All “Christians” True Christians? Again I heard it. A student related how a non-Christian friend asked him how he could be a Christian when Christians were and are responsible for horrendous abuses and terrible evils. It would be pointless to ask the person “What abuses and evils?” because we all know that so-called Christians […]

A Series: Christian Theology–Answers to Questions: Three: Can God’s Existence Be Proved?

A Series: Christian Theology—Answers to Questions: Three: Can God’s Existence Be Proved?   Christian theology often begins with what is called “prolegomena”—“things that go before”—and that often includes some discussion of “natural theology”—what can be known about God before and apart from the special revelation Christians believe God has given in Jesus Christ, the Hebrew […]

I Interrupt This Series with a Sidebar about “Folk Religion”

I Interrupt This Series with a Sidebar about “Folk Religion” Actually, it’s not so much an interruption as a long footnote to my ongoing series about theology. Many have asked what I mean by “folk religion.” I first learned the concept from sociologist and historian of religion Robert Ellwood, author of many books especially about […]

A Series: Christian Theology–Answers to Questions: Two: Why Theology Is Necessary

A Series: Christian Theology—Answers to Questions: Two: Why Theology Is Necessary     Why is theology necessary? Simply put—because the Bible is not always as clear as we wish it were. There is an old Protestant adage that the Bible interprets itself. Some Protestants have believed that the Bible is “perspicuous”—capable of being understood correctly […]

A Series: Christian Theology–Answers to Questions: One: Why Theology?

A Series: Christian Theology—Answers to Questions: One: Why Theology? Here I introduce a new series on this blog. I am going to write a series of essays about basic questions Christian theology at least attempts to answer. Over my almost forty years of teaching Christian theology I have accumulated numerous questions that occur and re-occur. […]

Pentecostal Theology: A Brief Description

Pentecostal Theology: A Brief Description Roger E. Olson The modern Pentecostal Movement began during the first decade of the 20th century. Some who need a date for its birth choose 1906—the year of the “Azusa Street Revival” in Los Angeles. However, the movement has older roots and really became organized later as denominations and institutions […]

Has Science Buried God? John Lennox Says No

Has Science Buried God? John Lennox Says No Recently I found and viewed an interview on Youtube that constitutes one of the best examples of Christian apologetics I have ever heard or read. Please view and listen to it. It is part of a series called “Socrates in the City.” The title is “Has Science […]

A More Critical Look at Greg Boyd’s “Inspired Imperfection”

A More Critical Look at Greg Boyd’s “Inspired Imperfection” In my previous post I generally agreed with Greg’s account of the Bible as inspired in the whole (plenary inspiration) but not inerrant. I think that case can be made and Greg has at least pointed in one direction for doing that (viz., God’s condescension and […]

Greg Boyd’s New Book about the Bible

Greg Boyd’s New Book about the Bible First, this is not a traditional book review; it is simply my musings about Inspired Imperfection: How the Bible’s Problems Enhance Its Divine Authority (Fortress Press, 2020). Second, Greg is my friend, so I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt in all things. However, I […]