★★★★★ 5
Now I finally have a much better understand of theology
Format: Hardcover
I have always had a fascination with Christian theology and history. What could be better than a book on the history of Christian theology? It turns out that this book exceeded my expectations. What had been a confused and fuzzy understanding of theology has now crystallized into a much clearer view of the big picture. This helps to confirm my belief that the best way to understand any subject is by learning its history.
Olsen's writing style is clear, concise and very interesting. I like how he is able to summarize vast quantities of information and ideas in such a short amount of space. I'm not saying this book is short, it is still over 600 pages long, but it could have been much longer.
Olsen has obvious leanings on which doctrines he supports, and those that he doesn't. I didn't find his biases distracting, and it is always nice to know which way an author is leaning. I thought he did a reasonable job presenting the variety of worldviews within Christianity in a fair manner.
I personally have the most experience studying early Christianity and I still learned a lot from this book. My weakest area of understanding was in modern theology and this gave me a good view at least to the year 2000. I'll probably need to get some advice on a good book to update me on current theology.
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested understanding the history and diversity of Christianity.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2009
