Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 652 pages
- Published by: InterVarsity Press April 1999
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0830815058
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0830815050
-
Book Dimensions:
9.1 x 6.2 x 2.2 inches
- Weighs: 2.4 pounds
Reader Reviews
I was excited to get this book and bought t a few years ago within a few months of its publication. Olson had a reputation as a progressive and ecletic but basically orthodox evangelical theologian. And not too many of those sort of folks have written a summary history of doctrine lately. I was very disappointed. On the good side: 1. nice binding and dustjacket by IVP 2. Lengthy 3. Simple, accessible writing style suitable for laypersons and college freshmen. 4. Sometimes insightful On the bad side: profoundly imbalanced and unfair to the folks he doesn't like (Reformed, conservatives, Early Church Fathers, etc.) A few example: * His treatment of Old Princeton is as superficial as I have ever seen. * He treats the Early Church Fathers as almost uniformly legalistic. * He is petty and critical of Edwards, but gives Wesley a free pass. Not surprising if you read Olson's bizarre letter to the editor of US News and World Report about 2004 regarding what a vicious tyrant Edwards was. * His sympathy for Open Theism is obvious everywhere. * He almost calls Athanaius an Apollinarian heretic * He clearly prefers live heresy to dead orthodoxy * On one page he calls Arminius a Reformed theologian, and on the next says he is not. We can go on and on. Simply put -- this book is a total trainwreck and not worth spending any time with at all. Save your money and buy Pelikan. Or better yet -- the new Christopher Hill text.
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