The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform [Hardcover]

Roger E. Olson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is fascinating and well written, and it shows evidence of serious scholarship. Highly recommended. -- Choice, July/August 2000

Winner of the 2000 Christianity Today Book of the Year Award for Theology/Ethics. -- Christianity Today, April 24, 2000

Winner of the 2000 ECPA Gold Medallion Award in Theology/Doctrine. -- Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, July 2000

Product Details

• Hardcover: 652 pages
• Publisher: IVP Academic; First Edition edition (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830815058
• ISBN-13: 978-0830815050
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Roger E. Olson (Ph.D., Rice University) is professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is the author of The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform, The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity & Diversity (both InterVarsity Press) and The Westminster Handbook to Evangelical Theology (Westminster John Knox). He is also coauthor of 20th-Century Theology: God & the World in a Transitional Age and Who Needs Theology? An Invitation to the Study of God (both with Stanley J. Grenz, InterVarsity Press), and of The Trinity (with Christopher A. Hall, Eerdmans).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helps Make Sense of Theology, February 6, 2007

By 

M. Khor (Melb, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform (Hardcover)

Having studied in Bible college, and now teaching in one, it is the experience of many students and I, that theology makes better sense when set in a historical context, and told in a narrative form. Olson ought to be congratulated and highly commended for doing just that in this book.

It is no mean feat to tell the story of twenty centuries of theology in an interesting, insightful, and informative manner: capturing sufficient details of key Christian doctrines, yet without being tedious; presenting and discussing major disagreements, yet without being sectarian.

Olson's genius is shown in both the breadth and depth of the topics covered. All the major theological doctrines and issues through the twenty centuries are covered - from Christology to Trinitarian theology, Socinianism to Calvinism, Liberal to Fundamental. All the major figures were as well: from Athanasius to Luther to Zinzendorf. I enjoyed most his treatment of the rise and decline of liberal theology, where he demonstrated his depth of understanding through linking its pedigree back to Schleiermacher, Kant, and Spinoza.

In his effort to be even and fair, there sure will be some readers who would quibble with perceived lack of clarity in some cherished doctrine or tradition, or particular Christian era. Some may even protest the focus on human action, at the expense it seems of God's. Would these excise the book of Esther from the Bible for its lack of the word "God"?

I commend this book to lecturers and students of theology and church history. I believe this book will greatly open Christian theology to a wider audience, further enquiry, and greater appreciation for Christ.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A story definitely worth the reading, May 16, 2000

By 

Lee Jensen "riolion" (Rio Rancho, New Mexico USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform (Hardcover)

For the serious student of theology this book is a must. It begins with the early fathers and their theological views and works onward toward the twentieth century. It traces the development of theological thought from one generation to another with the highlights of that class of theology having the greatest impact per period.

The story goes from the apostolic fathers and the church council, to the conflict between the Antiochians and the Alexandrians, to the monogerism of Augustine contrasted with the synergism before and after him, to the scholasticism of Aquinas, to the Reformers who attempted to get back to the purity of Scripture and the early church, to the Arminians, Pietists, Puritans, to the liberal theology of the 19th century followed by the modern fundamentalism and Neo-Orthodoxy. The reader is given an in-depth panorama of the significant history of theology.

The one drawback of the book is that an unabridged dictionary is a useful tool to navigate some of the terms particularly the "isms" that reflect the different theological thought.

I particularly like the section Olson has on Neo-Orthodoxy and Fundamentalism as it relates to modern thought. A greater understanding of the history of theology, particularly to what we see today will clearly enable one to identify the origin of and respect current viewpoints with their strengths and weaknesses.

46 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thoughtful and approachable overview., May 28, 2000

By 

Ken Smith "Would-be Theologian" (Woodinville, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform (Hardcover)

Olson's book is easily the most thoughtful and insightful overview to the history of Christian theology that I've read. Compared to the other similar books in my library, it's much more approachable, but even so, it provided a number of insights into the reasons behind the debates that I had never considered before.

I've been reading more history lately, and if they weren't so annoying, I would've laughed at some of the books and what they try to do. I recently finished _A Brief History of Ireland_, and found myself extremely frustrated at the author: he would refer to various events that I'd never heard of with a phrase like, "As everyone knows," or "The well known story of 'x'", or sometimes just with a wave of his literary hand -- and then would never bother to explain precisely what it is that everyone supposedly knows. He apparently forgot that the reason someone would be reading a brief history of Ireland -- as opposed to academic journals about Irish history -- is because they don't know anything about it! Good books on history -- at least, good books for the general reader -- just tell the story. Thomas Cahill is the perfect example: he doesn't always get every last detail right, and he sometimes skips over huge opposing viewpoints with barely an acknowledgement of their existence, but he has one gift, and a solid one: he can tell a story.

That's one of the primary reasons why I appreciated Olson's book so much: he just tells the story. He explains the theology, but also explains why it was important. I had a year of church history in seminary, but I guess I never quite grasped how external forces -- i.e., responding to critics like Celsus -- played their role in the development of trinitarian and christological dogma. Or why Aquinas' solution to the problem of religious language was such a profound one. Or why Arminius deserves to be taken seriously as a theologian in his own right. Or how profoundly Karl Barth has affected 20th century theology. I've been this inspired by only a few previous works on theology (Richard Muller's _The Study of Theology_, and Richard Hays' _The Moral Vision of the New Testament_ come to mind).