Liberal Christian theology permeates mainlines denominations and progressive circles of the church to this day. But what is liberal theology? What are progressive Christians progressing toward, and what are they leaving behind?

In Against Liberal Theology, professor and theologian Roger E. Olson warns progressive and mainline Christians against passively accepting the ideas of liberal theology without thinking through the consequences. In doing so, he examines the basic beliefs of the Christian faith, the main ideas of liberal theology, the way today's mainline and progressive Christianity relates to classic liberalism, and how classic Christian faith and liberal Christianity connect and contradict. Following in the footsteps of Gresham Machen's now-classic Christianity and Liberalism 100 years ago, Olson worries that liberal Christianity may not be Christianity but a different religion altogether.

After examining the origins of liberal theology in the nineteenth century, Olson examines how liberal theology views:

• Sources of truth
• The Bible
• God
• Jesus Christ
• Salvation
• The Future

Gentle but direct, Olson provides an even-handed assessment and critique of the ideas of liberal theology and worries that liberal Christianity has strayed too far from the classic Christian orthodoxy of the fathers and creeds to be considered "Christian" at all.

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. The contributors each state their case for one of four views on the spectrum of evangelicalism: -Kevin T. Bauder: Fundamentalism -R. Albert Mohler Jr.: Conservative/confessional evangelicalism -John G. Stackhouse Jr.: Generic evangelicalism -Roger E. Olson: Postconservative evangelicalism 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. The Counterpoints series provides a forum for comparison and critique of different views on issues important to Christians. Counterpoints books address two categories: Church Life and Bible and Theology. Complete your library with other books in the Counterpoints series.

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 Shack has touched millions of readers with its portrayal of a compassionate God in the face of great evil. Many have identified with the main character's Great Sadness, the terrible burden of grief that often accompanies and follows a deep loss, for the Great Sadness is part of the human condition. And it compels us to ask, Where is God? Who is God? 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.

"The story of Christian theology does not begin at the beginning. . . .Theology is the church's reflection on the salvation brought by Christ and on the gospel of that salvation proclaimed and explained by the first-century apostles." 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.

Roger Olson traces the unity and diversity of Christian belief through the ages, structured around fifteen key theological themes. He offers a mediating evangelical approach which is non-speculative and irenic in spirit and tone, specifically written for non-specialists.

Christians disagree on doctrine, politics, church government, certain moral questions-just about everything under the sun, it can seem. Yet a unity remains, centered around a core outlook on God and the world that is common to all believers. Or at least, such an outlook should unite Christians of all theological and church backgrounds. However, alternate visions of reality often infect and corrupt Christians' thinking. In The Essentials of Christian Thought, eminent theologian and church historian Roger Olson outlines the basic perspective on the world that all Christians, regardless of the place and time in which they are born, have historically held. This underlying metaphysic accords with all orthodox theologies, whether Calvinist or Arminian, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant, but it separates Christianity from other religious and secular perspectives. It is, quite simply, the essential requirement of a Christian view of the world. Bold and incisive, The Essentials of Christian Thought will prompt thoughtful readers and students to more consciously appropriate the core of their faith, guarding against ideas that subtly but necessarily invite compromise.

Providing practical advice, the authors appeal for a revival of theological reflection among lay people, students and ministers.

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.

History is made up of Stories * Stories not in the sense of fictions but in the sense of narratives that recount the events, movements, ideas and lives that have shaped religions and nations. In this panoramic work of historical theology, theologian Roger Olson vividly recounts the deeds and words of the cultists and Apostolic Fathers of the second century, the clash between the monumental 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 sometimes 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 text in historical theology.

"The Westminster Handbook to Evangelical Theology" is a comprehensive critical survey of the main persons, events, controversies, concepts, and institutions of twentieth-century evangelical theology. It will introduce readers to and be a reference work for the study of evangelicalism's distinctive theological vision in its unity and diversity. Roger Olson explores evangelical theology through five lenses: The Story of Evangelical Theology, Movements and Organizations Related to Evangelical Theology, Key Figures in Evangelical Theology, Traditional Doctrines in Evangelical Theology, and Issues in Evangelical Theology.

The Westminster Handbook to Christian Theology series provides a set of resources for the study of historic and contemporary theological movements and Christian theologians. These books are intended to help students and scholars find concise and accurate treatments of important theological terms.

The premier volume in an exciting new series of guides to the core beliefs of the Christian faith, The Trinity provides beginning theology readers with a basic knowledge of the doctrine of God's triune nature.

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 eras and into the modern age. Special attention is given to early church controversies and church fathers who helped carve out the doctrine of the triune God as well as to its twentieth-century renaissance. The second half of the book contains a detailed, annotated bibliography of all major books written about the Trinity.

Wolfhart Pannenberg was one of the most important theologians of the twentieth century, and his work has much to offer contemporary theologians. In this book, the contributors analyze and discusses a component of Pannenberg's theology with an eye to demonstrating its enduring promise for contemporary and future theological construction. Topics discussed include Pannenberg's theological method, defense of the historicity of Jesus' resurrection, doctrine of God, doctrine of the Trinity, theory of time, doctrine of creation, doctrine of salvation, and public theology.

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.

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.