I am Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology and Ethics at Providence Theological Seminary, Canada.
Mere Calvinism TULIP In the third chapter of Roger Olson’s book, Against Calvinism, he describes what he dubs “mere” or “garden variety Calvinism” (38). His guides are primarily Loraine Boettner, R. C. Sproul, John Piper and Paul Helm, whom he finds consistent with the teaching of Calvin himself in regard to the meticulous sovereignty of […]
Reformed Revisionists In the second chapter of Roger Olson’s book, Against Calvinism, he asks: “Whose Calvinism? Which Reformed Theology?” This continues his clarification of what Calvinism he is criticizing and what particular Reformed theology he is against. His major emphasis here is on the diversity within Reformed theology: “When people say to me that someone […]
F. Dale Bruner is talking about the life experiences that led him into study of the Gospels, by way of background to his new commentary on the Gospel of John, at the Eerdmans blog. He had been a missionary in the Philippines at the same time as I was, but I don’t recall meeting him. […]
Since I started this blog, we haven’t talked about the subject of God’s knowledge of counterfactuals and the way in which I believe it figures into God’s prior decision about which possible world he would actualize. I know that some readers of Providence and Prayer are unaware that I no longer affirm that God’s knowledge […]
This is to give you a heads-up re: a change I have just made. I had started out with a reply system that allowed comments to be threaded down to the 5th level. People could reply directly to a previous commenter and their reply would show up under that particular comment. This has advantages. It […]
Responding to the “flaws” of the new Calvinism In the first chapter of Roger Olson’s book, Against Calvinism, he explains why he wrote the book now. After many years of struggling with enthusiasts of Calvinism, the rise of the “young, restless, reformed phenomenon,” described by Colin Hansen in 2006 in an article in Christianity Today, […]
After writing my post about the identity markers of evangelicalism., I recollected one put up by Roger Olson in which Michael Clawson sets out to demonstrate that a neo-fundamentalism is on the rise in evangelicalism. I referred Roger to my post and suggested that what I had spoken to might be an instance of the […]
In recent years, the criteria for identifying individuals or institutions as “evangelical” have been a matter of debate. Numerous issues have been identified as areas in which one’s credentials as an evangelical can be tested. But I was a bit taken aback, a few months ago, when a Southern Baptist leader of Calvinist convictions stated […]
Roger Olson kindly sent me a copy of his book, Against Calvinism, and that seems a good place for me to start my reflections on this blog. Today, I’ll simply look at the “Foreword” and the “Preface.” This may seem a rather slow start to our encounter with Roger’s book, but it is enough for […]
Do you remember the delightful interchange between Alice and Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass? “I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’ ” Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’” “But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice […]