Olson Preface Review, Part 1

I have too many books going right now. The little kid, being candy-store-showcase height, staring in at 19 different colors of jellybeans comes to mind: which one or two or three candies do I choose to devour? I've been thinking about settling into one for study and note-taking. The one book I've chosen is Roger E. Olson's 246-page Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities from Inter Varsity Press, copyright 2006.

I spoke for while with a Methodist minister last week, met him over in Medford. Grants Pass sets slightly north and west of Medford, about a 30 minute drive. I told him that I was raised a Methodist as a young boy down in South Louisana, and then later up in Anchorage. I enjoyed speaking with him about his seminary days and the different parishes where he served. He had had several pulpits along the way, and now is a retired man. As he spoke, my appreciation grew for his many years of working with people. I could tell by his gracious and wise speech that his life had been seasoned with people and their pain. We hit it off a little when we shared a few stories of our Methodism.

Running into this Methodist minister stirred me to give another look at Olson's book. I had been dabbling in it since September but hadn't given it the kind of attention it deserved. I imagine that this study through Arminian Theology will take me a good season or two of life, about like a pack mule carrying victuals and other provisions from St. Louis to Seattle, let's say in the year of 1859. I plan to be here awhile.

Let's get a start. On the opening page of the preface we read a little of Olson's childhoood:

I have always been an Arminian. I was raised in a Pentecostal preacher's home, and my family was most definitely and proudly Arminian. I don't remember when I first heard the term. But it first sunk into my consciousness when a well-known charismatic leader of Amenian background rose to prominence. My parents and some of my aunts and uncles (missionaries, pastors and denominational leaders) distinguished between Armenian and Arminian...I recall sitting in a college theology class and the professor reminded us that we are Arminians, to which one student muttered loudly, 'Who would want to be from Armenia?'

Two comments.

1) This book is written by a red-church-punch drinking church-kid who's dad was a preacher. Olson was the proverbial PK who would be found downstairs in the fellowship hall right after the evening service putting his little grubbies on 5 or 6 sugar cubes so that he could put one in his mouth and drop the other five in his red punch. He also says, "my family was most definitely and proudly Arminian." OK. This is good for me. It's high-time to read about and study Arminianism from a man who's been around Arminian theology all of his life. More on this later.

2) Note well Olson's italicized print in the quote above. There's a world of difference between the two words, Arminian and Armenia. I heard folks all the time getting them confused when I worked for Evangelical Bible Book Store at Westminster Seminary California back in the 80s. Listen how Olson addresses this commonplace confusion on page 13 of his Introduction, "Arminianism has nothing to do with the country of Armenia. Most people mispronounce the word as if it were somehow associated with the central Asian country Armenia. The confusion is understandable because of the purely accidental similarity between the theological label and the geographical one. Arminians are not from Armenia. Arminianism derives from the name Jacob (or James) Arminius (1560-1609)...Arminius...was a Dutch theologian who had no ancestral lineage in Armenia." So, Olson himself straightens out the mix up about the country and the theology. He's spot on helping us to get off on the right foot.

G. Mark Sumpter