Roger E Olson

Many Christians' faith exists as a loose collection of unexamined clichés and slogans borrowed from songs, devotional books, sermon illustrations, and even the internet. Too often this belief system (if it can be called a 'system') lacks coherence and intelligibility; it can hardly be expressed, let alone defended, to others. The problem with folk religion is that it too easily withers under the onslaughts of secularism or seemingly reasonable answers...

Historic heresies didn't die or fade away. Each generation boasts its own. Even while these counterfeit teachings remain outside the accepted bounds of Christianity, modern-day versions plague churches. So how does a church leader or pastor understand and deal with these age-old controversies when they pop up in the congregation? In this book, Roger Olson describes the curses but also gifts that heresies bring the Church. While heresies can occasionally...

Modernity has been an age of revolutions-political, scientific, industrial and philosophical. Consequently, it has also been an age of revolutions in theology, as Christians attempt to make sense of their faith in light of the cultural upheavals around them, what Walter Lippman once called the "acids of modernity." Modern theology is the result of this struggle to think responsibly about God within the modern cultural ethos. In this major revision...

Appropriately the premier volume in the Guides to Theology series, The Trinity provides readers with a basic knowledge of the central and most distinctive doctrine of the Christian faith -- the triune nature of God. Concise, nontechnical, and up-to-date, the book offers a detailed historical and theological description of the doctrine of the Trinity, tracing its development from the first days of Christianity through the medieval and Reformation...

The Handbook of Denominations in the United States has long been the gold standard for reference works about religious bodies in America. The purpose of this Handbook is to provide accurate and objective information about the most significant Christian traditions and denominations in the United States today. It contains descriptions of over 200 distinct Christian denominations as well as overviews of the several major Christian traditions to which...

While he offers his own criticisms of the book, Olson views The Shack with a theologian's eye and largely finds the truth about God.

Calvinist theology has been debated and promoted for centuries. But is it a theology that should last? Roger Olson suggests that Calvinism, also commonly known as Reformed theology, holds an unwarranted place in our list of accepted theologies. In Against Calvinism, readers will find scholarly arguments explaining why Calvinist theology is incorrect and how it affects God's reputation. Olson draws on a variety of sources, including Scripture, reason,...

To many Christians theology is something alien, overly intellectual and wholly unappealing. Even seminary students are known to balk at the prospect of a course on theology. Yet theology--most simply, the knowledge of God--is essential to the life and health of the church. In this short introduction, Stanley Grenz and Roger Olson, two theologians who care deeply about the witness of ordinary Christians and the ministry of the church, show what theology...