Recently I re-read Jonathan Edwards “Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the World.” And I watched and listened to John Piper’s address about why the evangelical church needs Edwards’ “God-entranced vision” today. (It’s…
Olson, Roger
Roger Olson, “What Attracts People into the Young, Restless, Reformed Movement?”
That is probably the question I’m asked most often when I talk about the “new Calvinism” that has swept up thousands of Christian young people in the last twenty to thirty years. There’s no doubt…
Roger Olson, “Is the ‘Arminian God’ Good?”
Several times I have argued here that a main reason high Calvinism (double predestinarianism) must be wrong is that if it were true God would not be good in any meaningful sense. If it were…
Roger Olson, “Follow Up to Why (High) Calvinism Is Impossible”
Suppose someone said “God is sovereign but God’s sovereignty is different from our ideas of sovereignty. God is sovereign but possesses only the power of persuasion.” Someone else objects saying “But wait. There is no…
Roger Olson, “Why (High) Calvinism Is Impossible”
By “impossible” I don’t mean, of course, “doesn’t exist.” I mean “exists but doesn’t work.” By “doesn’t work” I mean “cannot be believed consistently and coherently.” In brief, my argument is that belief in the…
Roger Olson, “Arminianism and Providence”
One of the questions I’m asked most often is about God’s providence in Arminian theology. Most people know that Arminians do not believe that God micromanages history or human lives–especially not in terms of evil.…
Roger Olson, “Is Arminianism ‘Reformed?'”
A minor controversy exists among Arminian scholars (and some non-Arminian Reformed scholars have chimed in) about whether classical Arminianism can legitimately lay claim to being part of the Reformed theological tradition. The question is this:…
J. Matthew Pinson, “Are Arminians Necessarily Synergists?”
[This post was taken from Dr. Pinson’s blog.] Recently I read a blog post by Roger Olson on how one does not have to agree with Arminius to be an Arminian. It can be found here.…
Roger Olson, “John Piper, Jonathan Edwards, Austin Fischer, and God”
So, John Piper has now responded to Austin Fischer’s book “Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed” (Wipf & Stock, 2013). (For those of you who don’t know, Austin is Teaching Pastor at The Vista Community in…
“My Response (Finally!) to John Piper’s “AskPastorJohn” Episode 238 (About Me)” by Dr. Roger Olson
Many people have asked me to listen to and respond to John Piper’s comments about me and about Arminianism on his episode 238 (of his podcast “AskPastorJohn”) entitled “Where’s the Arminian John Piper?” You can…
Roger Olson, “Does God Change?”
I don’t remember when it happened, but I remember the shock I felt when I first encountered the idea that God cannot change—as an idea I was supposed to believe as an evangelical Christian. It…
Roger Olson, “Is the Problem Calvinism or Fundamentalism (or the Combination)?”
According to a recent article in the New York Times I am the leading opponent of Calvinism (or the New Calvinism) in America today. I don’t know where the writer (Mark Oppenheimer) got that idea.…
Why Does John Piper Misrepresent Evangelical Arminianism?
As I begin writing this I realize I’m not actually going to attempt to answer my question. I think the question would be better answered by John Piper himself. What I am going to contend…
A Hard-hitting Comment from Paul Owen on the New Calvinism and a John Piper Video
Calvinist theologian Paul Owen left this comment on Roger Olson’s post, “Is the Problem Calvinism or Fundamentalism (or the Combination)?”: If one wants to see the problem illustrated, you need look no further than John…
Young. Restless. No Longer Reformed (a really good new book)
by Roger Olson I can’t resist announcing the publication of a new book: “Young. Restless. No Longer Reformed” by my friend Austin Fischer–teaching pastor at The Vista Community Church in Temple, Texas. It is extremely…
Roger Olson, “Does God Foreordain and Render Certain Sins? (And Why Some Questions Annoy Me)”
Does God Foreordain and Render Certain Sins? (And Why Some Questions Annoy Me) Not infrequently some Calvinist confronts me with a question that, in the way it is asked, implies two things: 1) I must…
Roger Olson, “Why I Don’t Respond to Every Critic or Debate Every Calvinist”
Over the past few years many, many people have asked me to respond to critics–most of them Calvinists. Many have also pressured me to enter into public debates with specific Calvinist theologians and radio personalities.…
Roger Olson, “Explaining Calvinism to Calvinists (and Others)”
One surprising feature of the new Calvinist movement is that so many claim to be Calvinists but have not studied Calvinism thoroughly. Nothing shows that more clearly than the responses offered here to my critique…
Roger Olson, “My Response to Oppenheimer’s New York Times Article on Evangelicals and Calvinism”
The article is “Evangelicals Find Themselves in the Midst of a Calvinist Revival.” The author is columnist Mark Oppenheimer. The place of publication in The New York Times. The date is January 3, 2014. (That…
Mark Oppenheimer, “Evangelicals Find Themselves in the Midst of a Calvinist Revival” (New York Times Article)
From the New York Times, posted online January 3, 2014: Mark Oppenheimer, “Evangelicals Find Themselves in the Midst of a Calvinist Revival”. Arminian theologian Roger Olson is quoted in the article, and tomorrow, we will be…
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Why Does God Deny the Opportunity of Choice for or Against Him to Young Children Who Die and the Mentally Impaired?
Mark K. Olson, “Wesley’s ‘Warmed Heart’ at Aldersgate – What Really Happened?”
Adam Roe, “The Crucial Thread of Prevenient Grace: A Wesleyan Perspective on Divine Drawing”
