In The Mosaic of Christian Belief Roger E. Olson thematically traces the contours of Christian belief down through the ages, revealing a pattern of both unity and diversity. He finds a consensus of teaching that is both unitive and able to incorporate a faithful diversity when not forced into the molds of false either-or alternatives.The mosaic that emerges from Olson's work, now updated throughout and with a new chapter on the Holy Spirit, displays a mediating evangelical theology that is irenic in spirit and tone. Olson, writing with nonspeciallists in mind, has masterfully sketched out the contours of the Great Tradition of the Christian faith with simplicity while avoiding oversimplification.

Le dottrine del Mormonismo, Testimoni di Geova, Liberalismo teologico, Cattolicesimo, Teosofia, Deismo, Rosacrocianesimo (e massoneria), Esoterismo Orientale, Filosofie New Age e tante altre... fino a 'correnti di pensiero' interne allo stesso movimento evangelico come Calvinismo (determinismo), Vangelo della Prosperitą, Parola della Fede, Unitarianesimo. I timori dell'apostolo Paolo sono quanto mai attuali: '... come il serpente sedusse Eva con la sua astuzia, cosģ le vostre menti vengano corrotte e sviate dalla semplicitą e dalla purezza nei riguardi di Cristo' (II Corinzi 11:3). Operai fraudolenti, che si travestono da apostoli di Cristo, anche oggi predicano 'un altro Gesł' o 'un vangelo diverso', che si chiami vangelo della prosperitą, della salute e della ricchezza, della Parola di Fede o chissą cos'altro, cercano di allontanare i credenti da un'esperienza di fede biblicamente autentica.

Distorted Christian teachings continue to threaten effective and thoughtful faith.

Distorted Christian teachings continue to threaten effective and thoughtful faith.

The historical movement known as Pietism emphasized the response of faith and inward transformation as crucial aspects of conversion to Christ. Unfortunately, Pietism today is often equated with a "holier-than-thou" spiritual attitude, religious legalism, or withdrawal from involvement in society.

In Reclaiming Pietism Roger Olson and Christian Collins Winn argue that classical, historical Pietism is an influential stream in evangelical Christianity and that it must be recovered as a resource for evangelical renewal. They challenge misconceptions of Pietism by describing the origins, development, and main themes of the historical movement and the spiritual-theological ethos stemming from it. The book also explores case studies of Pietism's influence on contemporary Christian theologians and spiritual leaders such as Richard Foster and Stanley Grenz.

The system of theology known as Calvinism has been immensely influential for the past five hundred years, but it is often encountered negatively as a fatalistic belief system that confines human freedom and renders human action and choice irrelevant. Taking us beyond the caricatures, Michael Horton invites us to explore the teachings of Calvinism, also commonly known as Reformed theology, by showing us how it is biblical and God-centered, leading us to live our lives for the glory of God.Horton explores the historical roots of Calvinism, walking readers through the distinctive known as the 'Five Points,' and encouraging us to consider its rich resources for faith and practice in the 21st Century. As a companion to Roger Olson's Against Calvinism, readers will be able to compare contrasting perspectives and form their own opinions on the merits and weaknesses of Calvinism.

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, tradition, and experience, to support his critique of Calvinism and the more historically rich, biblically faithful alternative theologies he proposes. Addressing what many evangelical Christians are concerned about today---so-called 'new Calvinism,' a movement embraced by a generation labeled as 'young, restless, Reformed' ---Against Calvinism is the only book of its kind to offer objections from a non-Calvinist perspective to the current wave of Calvinism among Christian youth. As a companion to Michael Horton's For Calvinism, readers will be able to compare contrasting perspectives and form their own opinions on the merits and weaknesses of Calvinism.

'Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism compares and contrasts four distinct positions on the current fundamentalist-evangelical spectrum in light of the history of American fundamentalism and evangelicalism. Each contributor defines evangelicalism, locates his view in historical context, and discusses how he understands Scripture and its authority. To illustrate the differencesm each addresses three issues recently contested within evangelicalism: the question of Christian cooperation illustrated by Evnagelicals and Catholics Together and the Manhattan Declaration; the question of doctrinal boundaries raised by open theism, a debate that has shaken denominations, schools, and the Evangelical Theological Society in the 1990s and 2000s; penal substitutionary atonement, a key doctrinal issue related to the gospel. Each author explains his position, which is critiqued by the other three authors. The interactive and fair-minded nature of the Counterpoints format allows the reader to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each view and draw informed, personal conclusions.' - Publisher.

Roger Olson, who has faced his own Great Sadness, finds a good deal of comfort in this much beloved, story as have so many others. Some may ask, however, Is God really like that? Is that really how God responds to evil? Can God be trusted? Olson also views The Shack with a theologian's eye and finds much sound truth. He delves into many of the significant issues raised by the book such as forgiving those who have done us great evil, how God acts in the world, how God is three persons in one and what difference this makes to us. While he offers his own criticisms of the book, he largely finds the truth about God in The Shack. --from publisher description

While it's the meal that should unite us as followers of Christ, it sometimes appears we can't even agree on what to call it, let alone how we might share a common theological view of its significance. Even if we cannot reach full agreement, how can we better understand one another and this central observance of the Christian faith?
Gordon Smith has invited five representatives of differing views within Christian tradition. Each holds his or her views with conviction and makes the case for that tradition. Each responds to the other views with charity, highlighting significant areas of agreement and disagreement.

Many Christians' faith exists as a loose collection of unexamined cliches 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 provided by cults and new religions. Christianity has a long tradition of intellectual examination of other faiths and its own beliefs. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living; great Christian minds of all the ages have believed the unexamined faith is not worth believing. Reflective Christianity is Christian faith that has subjected itself to the rigorous questioning of Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. It is mature Christian faith that goes on believing even as it questions what it believes. The goal of this book is not to destroy anyone's faith but to build it up by placing it on a firmer foundation of critical examination. Ten popular Christian cliches are subjected to critical inquiry and interrogated to discover whether they contain truth or are in error. In most cases the conclusion is---both. The aim is not to tear down straw men but to demonstrate a path toward stronger, more mature Christian belief.

The community of evangelicals sometimes seems so broad as to defy definition, but theological conservatism has been one consistent marker. Now, says theologian Roger Olson, postconservatism is moving beyond conventional battles against liberalism and heresy to posit a dynamic and realistic approach. While conservatives strive to preserve tradition and protect orthodoxy, postconservatives urge openness to doctrinal reform without abandoning orthodoxy. Where differences exist between doctrine and Scripture, doctrine must be brought into conformity with the Word. Postconservatives want to free evangelical theology from its paradoxical captivity to rationalism and its obsession with 'facts' so that it may recognize truth in experience and personal knowledge. Theologians, pastors, seminarians, and serious thinkers will find many depths to plumb in this exhaustive survey of critics, advocates, and fellow travelers on the evangelical journey.

In this book, Roger Olson sets forth classical Arminian theology and addresses the myriad misunderstandings and misrepresentations of it through the ages. Irenic yet incisive, Olson argues that classical Arminian theology has a rightful place in the evangelical church because it maintains deep roots within Reformational theology, even though it maintains important differences from Calvinism.Myths addressed include:Myth 1: Arminian Theology Is the Opposite of Calvinist/Reformed TheologyMyth 2: A Hybrid of Calvinism and Arminianism Is PossibleMyth 3: Arminianism Is Not an Orthodox Evangelical OptionMyth 4: The Heart of Arminianism Is Belief in Free WillMyth 5: Arminian Theology Denies the Sovereignty of GodMyth 6: Arminianism Is a Human-Centered TheologyMyth 7: Arminianism Is Not a Theology of GraceMyth 8: Arminians Do Not Believe in PredestinationMyth 9: Arminian Theology Denies Justification by Grace Alone Through Faith AloneMyth 10: All Arminians Believe in the Governmental Theory of the Atonement

Here is a concise and informative guide to the history of Christian theology. This condensation of Roger Olson's widely acclaimed The Story of Christian Theology surveys the events, teachings and challenges to the Christian faith down through the ages. In five acts we are ushered from the second to the twenty-first century, following all the twists and turns, wrinkles and rivalries that lay along that wonderful and humble way of Christian faith seeking understanding, articulation and explanation.
Crafted for students, pastors and other busy people, this pocket history of theology provides a clear and informed guide to the central tenets of Christian faith and the internal threats and external challenges it has faced and continues to confront even today.

Voted a 2000 Book of the Year by Christianity Today!Winner of a year 2000 ECPA Gold Medallion Award!History is made up of stories--narratives that recount the events, movements, ideas and lives that have shaped religions and nations. Theologian Roger Olson believes that the history of Christian theology should be told as such a story, one replete with thick plots, exciting twists, interesting people and fascinating ideas.In this panoramic work of historical theology Olson vividly recounts the deeds and words of the cultists and apostolic fathers of the second century, the clash between the theological schools of Alexandria and Antioch, the epochal division between East and West, the revolutionary advent of the Reformation and much more, right on up to the dazzling, sometimes dismaying fallout that has continued to shake Christians through the twentieth century. Through it all Olson detects and traces a common thread: a concern for salvation--God's redemptive activity in forgiving and transforming sinful human beings.Evenhanded, refreshingly readable, impressive in its breadth and depth, The Story of Christian Theology is poised to become a standard historical theology text.

Recipient of a Christianity Today 1993 Critics' Choice Award!Now in paperback! Stanley Grenz and Roger Olson offer in this text a sympathetic introduction to twentieth-century theology and a critical survey of its significant thinkers and movements. Of particular interest is their attempt to show how twentieth-century theology has moved back and forth between two basic concepts: God's immanence and God's transcendence.Their survey profiles such towering figures in contemporary theology as Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, Jurgen Moltmann and Wolfhart Pannenberg. It critiques significant movements like neo-orthodoxy, process theology, liberation theology and theology of hope. And it assesses recent developments in feminist theology, black theology, new Catholic theology, narrative theology and evangelical theology. An indispensable handbook for anybody interested in today's theological landscape.

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 is, what tools theology uses, why every believer (advanced degrees or not) is a theologian and how the theological enterprise can be productive and satisfying. Their clear, easily understood book is ideal for students, church study groups and individual Christians who want to strengthen understanding, belief and commitment by coming to know God more fully.