Customer Reviews

The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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).

I had the opportunity not only to read this book, but to also take a class with Dr. Olson. So naturally, this review will have a slant. I thought the book was great and unique for its kind. There are not that many books which tie history and theology together. The big theme of his book is that each movement in theology was an attempt to reform Christianity which is why it tends to be more favorable to heresies than what most people are used to reading. In class, he encouraged us to have the freedom to disagree with him and his book. In no way does he believe that he has all the truth. I would not completely dismiss Dr. Olson just because of what others have said. I would rocommend you to read him and then make a decision for yourself.

In this 656 page book, Olson has definitely written a story that is accessible to everyone. He writes the history of theology as a story - the story of religious ancestors who have, whether we realize it or not, impacted modern day Christians greatly.

Olson covers the story of theology from the early apostolic fathers to modern neo-orthodoxy in 9 sections. He does not go into great detail concerning every point of church history, but limits himself to those aspects of the history of the church that have influenced Christian theology. He usually withholds his own critique of certain theologies, but when he does not, they are well placed and considerate. At the end of the book are both a name and subject index along with footnotes witnessing to the fact that the book is well documented. Theological jargon is not used except when it has been previously explained.

My only critique is that Olson tends to avoid admitting the extent to which theology has been influenced by philosophy, but I would heartily recommend this book to anyone.

'The history of Christian theology can and should be told as a story. It is full of complex plots, exciting events, interesting people and fascinating ideas. This book is an attempt to tell that story well, doing justice to each of its subplots.'

By and large, the story of Christian theology is the story of Christian reflection on the nature of salvation and the meaning that is given by Jesus. This, in story terms, could be called the central plot line -- other related and tangential issues, such as liturgy, the nature of God, sin, grace, authority, the place of the church in the world -- all of these have meaning insofar as they have and give meaning to the central plot.

Most people (and for good reason) think of theology as dry, dull, not really relevant to reality. Christian theology is often seen as a scholars-only pursuit that is only peripherally connected to 'real' Christianity. However, this volume tackles that assumption head-on, by showing the interconnectedness over time of Christian belief and practice with the theological developments and controversies of the times.

Just as theology impacts the church and society, so to do church and society impact theology. There is a dialectical relationship between the two which cause continuing development.

This book, 'The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform', strives to be non-technical and 'non-threatening' in approach. Roger Olson, professor of theology at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, also serves as editor for 'Christian Scholar's Review', and has written other books, including 'Who needs Theology'?. Olson therefore has experience in making the often-rarified field of theology accessible, and this experience shows through in this volume.

This volume is not written from a completely impartial standpoint -- Olson holds firmly that beliefs matter. 'Throughout much of the history of Christianity beliefs mattered much more than they do to many contemporary Christians. Reading and understanding the story of Christian theology requires a prior awareness that the Christians of past ages who wrestled with doctrinal issues really cared about believing the right things about God. That was true not only of bishops and professional theologians but also of ordinary laypeople in the church.'

This is an approach often missing from surveys of theology. Why do people care about these things? What beliefs are truly important? This books can go a long way toward addressing the gap in knowledge of people who profess beliefs without a firm understanding of their origins -- 'even people who have never heard of Athanasius, for example , are greatly influenced by him.'

Examining the primary and many secondary plots, or strands, of Christian theology from the earliest days of the church in the second century through the multiple divisions of Christendom and the attempts to elevate (and, in some ways, remove) theology from everyday consideration, Olson shows the importance theology can and does have in everyday practice and belief at work in every Christian today.

I purchased the Kindle edition of "The Story of Christian Doctrine" by Roger Olson. Currently I'm only 15% through the book. While I'm enjoying the content of the book, unfortunately it is blatantly obvious the Kindle version of it was never proof-read or edited.

A few (!) of the mistakes (so far) include:

"consatrrt" (contra)
"Cclsus's" (Celsus)
"Iren,ieus"
"corruption of sm"
"uncertam"
"Clernent's"
"cortsermative" (conservative)
"mmd's" (mind's)

There are a few points where I really do not know what word the author intended!!

Punctuation is also affected.

********NOTE**********
I noticed the kindle version has been removed.

A note about the exceptional integrity of the publisher. After writing them a short email (mainly consisting of this Amazon review) they replied very quickly with an apology, removed the book from Amazon and sent me the hardcover version of the book at no charge. I would therefore buy an ebook from this publisher again without hesitation because I know if there were similar problems they wouldn't hesitate to make it right.

The more I read about Christianity the more I understand about doctrines and/or beliefs that are preached in our churches today. Many of these doctrines have no biblical basis. This book, in my opinion, should be part of any serious student of Christian Theology. I will read it one more time because I feel I missed some useful information after I read it for the first time.

The good side is that Olson has written an enjoyable book about a rather stiff subject. He really attempts to write the STORY of Christian Theology, in a narrating way. E g he puts effort into describing what actually happened at the Council of Nicaea, about how the Arians made a mistake and the bishops rioting etc. All that makes it a nice read.

The small "bad" side is that he does not go deep enough into describing the theoretical parts.

BTW - three stars from me is a good grade. The book is well worth buying. And woe to you who misuse the five star tags so that they mean nothing!!!

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CORRECTION: A few hundred pages later I have reached the Reformation and Pietism etc, and I have to raise my grade to four stars. In the later part of the book he delves quite skillfully into the theological webs. Above all it is so exciting reading, I'm longing to continue.

This book may be 600+ pages, making it a daunting task for the average Christian. But I recommend Olson's book because it gets the job done. If you want to have a good overview of the process of theology, this "story" is excellent. Written in a chronological fashion, Olson makes the facts come alive rather than mundane and dull as some other books have done. Yes, as one earlier reviewer said, Olson has his presupposions--which historian doesn't?--and his views do come out, like when he is talking about "fundamentalists" and "Calvinists." But is there really any way to write in a completely objective fashion? It's a pretty difficult task, and I think every historian I've read has his/her own opinions, meaning the recording of history is quite subjective. So I don't think it's as big of a problem as that reviewer believed it to be.

My favorite part of the book was the first couple hundred pages. To me, it's obvious that Olson feels most comfortable with the first 5 centuries of the church, and this also happens to be my favorite part of church history to study. I had no qualms with how he presented everything, and the thorough index is a wonderful tool that I will probably use in the future as a reference book. All in all, I give this book a hearty thumbs-up. Just be patient and work your way through it, and you will be blessed.