Book Review - Arminian Theology

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Arminian Theology
By Roger Olson

Book Summary

Olson’s purpose is to defend classical Arminianism through refuting 10 common myths about Arminian theology. He feels that there is widespread misunderstanding of the basic teachings of Arminianism. He is correct (there is also widespread misunderstanding about the teachings of Calvinism). This book is organized in a way that each chapter is able to stand alone as an individual topic. So you could read chapters 2, 5, and 9 without having to read the rest of the chapters if only the topics of those three chapters interested you. Arminian Theology is not an exegetical defense of Arminianism based on the Scriptures. Instead, Olson has taken the route of attempting to clarify what Arminian theology is based on the writings of its’ adherents over the past 500 years.

Book Review

Olson is an Arminian (many Calvinists will write books about Arminianism), so it is good to read a book about Arminianism written by an Arminian. I think that Olson has written a good book, although his experience and perspective of Arminianism seems to be quite different than my experience and perspective. Let me explain.

Olson writes of many people who are looked down upon for holding to Arminian theology and how Arminian theology in general has a bad rap among evangelicals (pp. 20-21, 29-30). So he seems to write out of a defensive position of feeling attacked. This is fine as long as we understand the perspective he is coming from.

I grew up Southern Baptist. My observation of Southern Baptist life is exactly the opposite. Southern Baptist churches are known for firing pastors who hold to Calvinism (I’ve never heard of an SBC pastor being fired for being Arminian). Southern Baptist state newspapers are known for writing anti-Calvinist editorals (as our own TBC B&R has done). Popular Southern Baptist pastors and churches hold anti-Calvinist conferences. My observation is that the SBC views Calvinism as a threat and actively fights against it.

Although I have some basic disagreements with Arminianism, I enjoyed this book b/c it allowed me to learn a lot and to see an Arminian theology explained. Although it was not his purpose, I would have liked to have seen some exegesis by Olson to explain some of the basic beliefs of Arminianism. In pages 15-39 (part of the introduction) Olson lays out what Arminians believe. I have marked these pages up left and right with the same questions, “What Scriptures proves this?” “Show me?” “Where does it say this?”

Recommendation: good book if you are comfortable in theological dialogue/debate, but not for beginners b/c there is no exegetical work to defend positions