Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities

Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities. By Roger E. Olson. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2006, 250 pp., $25.00.

Rare indeed is the book that discusses traditional theological issues in a way that respects tradition yet brings fresh, constructive insight to the contemporary theological scene. Roger E. Olson's path-breaking Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities is such a book. One reason that Olson is able to bring such freshness to the Arminian-Calvinist debate is that Jacob Arminius, the progenitor of the theological system that bears his name, has been so neglected. In his revival of the theology of Arminius, Olson joins recent thinkers such as Leroy Forlines (The Quest for Truth) and Robert Picirilli (Grace, Faith, Free Will) in a return to the sources, in which Arminius is rescued from obscurity and Arminianism is rescued from some of its later historical development.

Everyone interested in evangelical theology needs to read this work. Readers from across the spectrum, Calvinists and Arminiens included, will greatly benefit from it. Reading this book will help Calvinists to move beyond the caricatures of Arminianism found in Calvinistic theological literature. Arminiens and other non-Calvinists will be introduced-most for the first time-to a more grace-oriented stream of Arminianism with which they were formerly unfamiliar.

In his exposition of what he calls "classical Arminianism," Olson argues that there are some issues on which Arminiens and Calvinists cannot compromise (as in "CaIminianism") and maintain the coherence of either of their systems. Yet Arminianism has much more in common with Reformed Christianity than most Calvinists realize. Indeed, Arminianism is more a development of Reformed theology than a departure from it.

Some of Olson's best passages are those in which he quotes contemporary Calvinists caricaturing Arminians and then shows how real Arminian theologians do not fit those caricatures. He is correct in criticizing, for example, the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals for excluding Arminians, though many confessional Arminians wholeheartedly agree with the Alliance's approach, except for its Calvinism. If paedobaptists and adherents of believer's baptism can work together for the mutual progress of the kingdom, Olson asks, then why can't Calvinists and Arminians? This gets back to the irresponsible ways that many well-known Calvinists characterize their Arminian brothers and sisters-associating Arminianism with heresy and liberalism and suggesting that it is closer...