Roger E. Olson's Blog, page 9

What Is “Knowledge?”

I have here before discussed my views about truth, certainty, and doubt. I will now tackle “knowledge.” What counts as knowledge? When can I claim that I know something? The question has interested philosophers for centuries and millennia. It’s a crucial aspect of the branch of philosophy called “epistemology.” I once worked for an evangelist […]

Is Doubt a Threat—or a Tool—for Christian Faith?

  Christian Thoughts about Doubt Frederick Buechner famously wrote that “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.” Several Christian writers have extolled the virtues of doubt—even for Christian living. Two of them are the great English Methodist pastor and theologian Leslie Weatherhead in The Christian Agnostic (1965) […]

Christian Thoughts about Doubt

Frederick Buechner famously wrote that “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.” Several Christian writers have extolled the virtues of doubt—even for Christian living. Two of them are the great English Methodist pastor and theologian Leslie Weatherhead in The Christian Agnostic (1965) and Gregory Boyd in The […]

A New Book Discussion: Living Out of Control

Beginning on Monday, May 19 I will launch a new book discussion here. The chosen book is Living Out of Control: Political and Personal Faith in Waning Christendom by theologian Rodney Clapp (Fortress Press, 2025). It’s a relatively small book (135 pages) and easy to read. It packs a punch—about white American Christian nationalism. According […]

How to Grow a Church (In America Now)

Here is my recipe for growing a church. It is based on my own observations all over the U.S. First, make your church nondenominational; hide its denominational affiliation or make sure it doesn’t have one. (I have searched many “plain label churches”) for their denominational affiliations and found them on their web sites—often very well […]

Evangelical Fear of One-World Rule Still Echoes Today

Another Evangelical Anxiety My recent post here was about white American evangelical anxieties of the 1950s through at least the 1970s. My thesis is that these anxieties of the past entered into white American evangelical DNA and are still there even if not as clearly recognized or expressed as such. Another white American evangelical anxiety […]

Another Evangelical Anxiety

My recent post here was about white American evangelical anxieties of the 1950s through at least the 1970s. My thesis is that these anxieties of the past entered into white American evangelical DNA and are still there even if not as clearly recognized or expressed as such. Another white American evangelical anxiety that I clearly […]

How Evangelical Fear Shaped Politics and Trump Support

Evangelical Anxieties I grew up “in the thick of” white American evangelical Christianity in the 1950s into the 1970s and have always kept an eye on it. I have witnessed many changes there. Like others, I often wonder what has happened in white American evangelicalism. My mind automatically goes back to how I experienced it […]

Evangelical Anxieties

I grew up “in the thick of” white American evangelical Christianity in the 1950s into the 1970s and have always kept an eye on it. I have witnessed many changes there. Like others, I often wonder what has happened in white American evangelicalism. My mind automatically goes back to how I experienced it when young […]

Jesus and the Aliens Among Us: A Biblical Mandate

Jesus and the “Aliens” Recently, I posted here a long list of Old Testament scripture passages in which God commands the Hebrew people to treat “aliens” (foreigners, strangers) in the land (among them) with justice and compassion. As expected, some people objected that these OT commandments do not necessarily apply to people today, here, in […]