Experiences of an Evangelical Theologian 6

Last updated on: July 31, 2021 at 7:55 am by Roger E. Olson

Experiences of an Evangelical Theologian 6 2021-07-31T07:55:57-05:00 Roger E. Olson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Bethel University-Tennessee Physician Assistant Program | PA School Finder: Physician Assistant Program Directory

*If you have not been following this series, this installment may not make very much sense*

My two years on the faculty of Oral Roberts University—my first fulltime teaching position—was a surreal time. Every day that I went to campus to teach, I had to steel myself for what unexpected thing might happen—not to me but to everyone. One day came the announcement that Oral (and sometimes his wife Evelyn or a surrogate) would deliver “devotions” over the campus speaker system at a certain time every morning (except during chapel services). That meant during classes. We all had to stop teaching and be silent as we listened involuntarily to these five to ten minutes “talks” and prayers by Oral or someone he designated to take his place that day. One day (and this is just an example of the many unexpected and unwanted events) the dean of the Graduate School of Theology barged into my classroom and almost demanded that I dismiss my students to go down the hallway to a large lecture hall where Oral was speaking. I asked why and he said “Because Oral doesn’t like to talk to empty seats.” I told him I would permit students who wanted to go listen to Oral’s unscheduled and unannounced talk leave class if they promised to go hear him, but I refused to dismiss my class for such a purpose—just to fill empty seats. Several students went to fill the empty seats while most stayed to discuss the day’s subject in theology. One day I submitted to the provost a completed proposal for a minor in philosophy. (There was no major or minor in that subject at ORU when I was there.) I found enough courses cognate to philosophy (I taught philosophy of religion) throughout the university that they, together, could make up a minor. I knew several student who wanted a minor, if not a major, in philosophy. The provost kindly turned down my proposal saying that Oral would never approve of a major or minor in philosophy at “his university.”

*Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions expressed here reflect those of any other person, group or organization unless I say so specifically. Before commenting read the entire post and the “Note to commenters” at its end.*

I know that some people experienced Oral and ORU differently than I did, but I am telling here what I experienced during those two years. People can make of them what they will. Having just come from Rice University (as a student) and the University of Munich (as a guest hearer), I found the atmosphere at ORU “from above” oppressive, arbitrary, capricious, almost cultic.

I must say, and gladly say, that I believe Oral himself was sincere; I do not believe he was a charlatan or phony or anything like that. I admired his deep sincerity. While I was there, David Edwin Harrell was writing his biography of Oral Roberts that came out with the title An American Life. Of course, I read it. While it’s not quite a hagiography, it did put Oral in a favorable light. Another book I highly recommend is Give Me that Prime Time Religion—by a man my family knew who worked very closely with Oral—before I arrived at ORU. I read it before going there and simply couldn’t believe it. After two years, I believed it. You critics (of mine) need to know that my family was close friends with three top administrators of ORU. I’m not going to name them here, but if you claim you “worked closely” with Oral and his family around the time I taught there, you most certainly knew these three men. One of them worked with Oral on a daily basis and was fired two or three times—for daring to challenge Oral’s plans for the City of Faith which drained the university financially. Apparently Oral considered him indispensable. Unfortunately, he died of heart disease at a fairly young age. His father married my parents and officiated at my mother’s funeral. My stepmother was his father’s secretary and helped raise him.

Enough about ORU except to say that I left with a heavy, sad heart—glad for me that I was going to Bethel, a dream come true, but sad for my colleagues some of who wanted to leave but felt “stuck” at ORU. The only reason I was able to join the faculty of Bethel College and Seminary (Minnesota) was that my mentor Al Glenn convinced everyone involved in the hiring process that I did not fit at ORU and was “not like that.” Still, at least one Bethel colleague dogged me for years with the greeting “There’s the man from Oral!” Finally, another colleague took me aside and said “You should know that he taught at Bob Jones University before coming here.” Next time I saw him, before he could say “There’s the man from Oral!” I said “There’s the man from Bob Jones!” He looked sheepish and said “Who told you?” We were friends.

My transition to Bethel went well. I was eager to meet and get to know Millard Erickson, then one of the premier American evangelical theologians and dean of the seminary. I had used his three volume systematic theology (Christian Theology published by Baker) as my primary textbook in my two semester introductory course in Christian theology at ORU. I know that I was the first person to use it as a textbook, perhaps the first person to buy it, because the publish sent it to me and my students in unbound “signatures” (sections of pages) because they had promised to get it out in time for my students to buy it. That didn’t happen so Baker graciously supplied us with signatures and then sent the bound volumes when they were available.

I took my place at Bethel as Assistant Professor of Theology at a time of crisis in the institution. (The college and seminary were one institution under one board of regents or trustees and with one president but two separate deans.) Enrollment was down and the college was downsizing. I was treated with some suspicion or reluctance by some faculty members simply because some of their beloved colleagues had been released. However, I was just delighted to be there and did my best to fit in and make friends. I went out of my way to meet people—including the new president George Brushaber. I called him “George” right from the beginning and he didn’t seem to mind. We became friendly if not friends. He opened doors for me that nobody else I knew could open and I think God was involved in that.

George was becoming “somebody” at Christianity Today and introduced me to the editors who I became well acquainted with. Because of him, they asked me to write some pieces for the magazine which I did and what I wrote was greeted with warm appreciation and almost always published. I will talk more about CT later in this series. Eventually, largely because of George, I was asked to become a consulting editor and then contributing editor of the magazine and many of my articles were published in it during the 1980s and 1990s and beyond.

To me, Bethel was a breath of fresh air after ORU. The faculty ran the faculty meetings and decided whether to invite the president and deans to attend or not. Which is not to say there was perfect harmony on the faculty or between the faculty and the administration; there was not. But I kept my head down and did my best to be a team player. In the faculty lounge, when some of my colleagues groused about the administration, I told my “ORU stories” and they looked at me with almost disbelief and agreed that whatever was happening at Bethel was nothing bad compared with what I experienced at ORU.

(Again I want to make absolutely clear that ORU was a good, even great university except when Oral interfered with the academic affairs or the faculty. There I had extremely competent colleagues and I had no disagreements or conflicts with the provost or deans. And most of my students were outstanding in terms of their conscientiousness, dedication to the learning experience, respect for me and other teachers, and intelligence. And I want to make clear that since I was at ORU it has changed dramatically—at the top and all the way down—because at the top. From what I hear and read it is an outstanding Christian university today and if it were located where I am retiring to I would probably be delighted to teach there again—part-time.)

While teaching at Bethel my main area of research and teaching was historical theology. I loved reading and teaching about the church fathers, the medieval theologians, the reformers, and post-reformation theologians. But my main love was contemporary or modern theology. My “bread and butter” (core) courses were “Church Fathers and Reformers” and “Contemporary Theology.” I also taught “Christian Apologetics” and “Christianity and Western Culture” and “Cults and New Religions” which I promoted (because it was an elective) as “Unsafe Sects” which was purely tongue-in-cheek. I did not present most of the new/alternative religious movements as unsafe or dangerous. I taught that course every January during the one month “interim” between fall and spring semesters. Through that course I became a “go-to guy” speaker on cults and new religions in numerous churches throughout the Twin Cities. I strictly avoided the sensational anti-cultists and the cult apologists and did my best simply to present facts about the religious movements people asked me to talk and write about. Some of my writings about little known alternative religions were published in edited volumes and scholarly journals.

One thing that attracted a good deal of attention—about that course and my teaching of it—was that I invited representatives of non-Christian (or heretical “Christian”) sects and alternative religions into the class to speak. The class was either all morning or all afternoon so there was plenty of time for that. I was successful in getting even some reluctant speakers to come to my class by asking them whether they would prefer that I alone present their religious beliefs and spiritual practices or that they come and present them to my students. I even had a Wiccan priestess come several years in a row. She would not reveal her given name but called herself “Lorelei.” Her coven, she said, met in the basement of a large mainline Protestant church in downtown Minneapolis. It was an exclusively female coven. (Once when she couldn’t come I managed to get a male Wiccan to come.) A student asked her if they sacrificed animals in their rituals. Lorelei said not. The student than asked what they sacrificed and she said “Vegetables.” The students then asked what vegetables and Lorelei said “Pomegranates.” Why? Because they symbolize male fertility. (Oddly, she was married and had a son!) I never allowed any of the speakers to actually practice anything in the class and I always allowed students who did not want to be present when, say, a Wiccan spoke to be absent that day. When parents or pastors complained I asked them (usually on the phone) whether they would prefer their students to first encounter these religions out in the extremely pluralistic world without my help or to first encounter them in my classroom where, after the speakers left, I explained what was wrong with their belief and practices from an evangelical Christian perspective? Without exception they agreed that it would be best for their students to learn about these groups within the context of my classroom where we not only learned about them but prayed for them.

George Brushaber fully supported my teaching of this course, including having the guest speakers into the classroom. He trusted me which was a good feeling.

In the next installment I will write about how my publishing endeavors began. Stay tuned…

*Note to commenters: This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment only to me. If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective (very broadly defined), feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and “on topic.” Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to minimal length; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger’s (or guest writers’) opinions and constructive dialogue among evangelical Christians (very broadly defined).

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 23, 2021

Experiences of an Evangelical Theologian 5

Next Post

August 6, 2021 Experiences of an Evangelical Theologian 7

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Against Liberal Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Revelation, what is the correct sequence of events in the End Times?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Dragon cast to earth, beast rises from sea, false prophet rises from earth, mark of the beast given False prophet rises, dragon cast to earth, beast rises from sea, mark of the beast given Mark of the beast given, dragon cast to earth, beast rises, false prophet rises Beast rises from sea, dragon cast to earth, mark of the beast given, false prophet rises