Marvin Olasky profile
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MARVIN OLASKY
A former Marxist professor now promotes Biblical compassion.
Only now does Marvin Olasky understand God’s grace, aer his lengthy journey from Judaism to atheism to born-again Christianity. Along the way, Olasky, now in his sixties, has become a leading proponent in public life of espousing Biblical solutions to societal problems. His grandparents emigrated from Russia to Massachusetts. In Olasky’s early years, the family kept religious customs and rituals as Orthodox Jews, including sending him to Hebrew school for seven years and his bar mitzvah at age 13. Yet, as his parents became increasingly secularized during his childhood, he became increasingly skeptical about God. By 14 he considered himself an atheist. e godless, materialistic books he read, including History of the World by H. G. Wells and Future of an Illusion by H. G. Wells, contributed to his ideology. “My own pride and arrogance fueled my heading toward atheism, too,” Olasky says. He came to believe that only silly and pathetic people needed God. Olasky instead looked to human gods to right the ills of society.
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A scholarship to Yale University cemented his confidence in atheism. Liberals and radicals dominated the late 1960s campus scene, and Olasky kept moving further le, both theologically and politically. Aer serving a brief stint with the Bend Bulletin, a newspaper in Oregon, Olasky joined America’s Communist party. He rode a Soviet freighter across the Pacific Ocean and the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Russia in order to better relate to those living under Marxist-Leninist dogma. He returned to the United States and fit right in at e Boston Globe. But becoming a professor became his real craving, and he headed to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor to obtain his MA and PhD degrees in an effort to be part of “the tenured le.”
© 2012 by Bruce Rolff. Used under license of Shutterstock, Inc.
“at’s where God surprised me,” Olasky remembers. In November 1973, as he became disillusioned with communism and atheism, Olasky came to realize God does exist. A Russian New Testament he had read to brush up on his Russian had played a role in changing his mind. So did teaching a course in early American literature, which included Puritan sermons preaching to him from the grave. “God changed my worldview, not through thunder or a whirlwind, but by means of a small whisper that became a repeated, resounding question in my brain: ‘What if Lenin is wrong? What if there is a God?’” Olasky says. He went on to read the writings of C. S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer, which laid the groundwork for his conversion. In 1976, just before moving to San Diego to teach, Olasky married his wife, Susan. ey selected a Baptist church from the Yellow Pages, heard sermons about being born again, and received Christ as Savior. In 1978, Olasky began a five-year job as an executive speech writer for the DuPont Company in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1983 he moved to the University of Texas at Austin, where he has been ever since. He teaches only two journalism courses per term, which leaves lots of time to write. His passion now is to promote Biblical principles through his writing. He has authored 13 books and coauthored seven more. As in the 1960s, today’s college environment is rampant with liberal and radical faculty members. “In the university environment, it’s well known that I’m a Christian,” Olasky says. Nevertheless, he has, despite some opposition, become tenured and a full professor. While he would be receiving more recognition and making more money with politically correct writings, he prefers to write scholarly works from a distinctly Biblical perspective. He lives out this commitment , at the time of this writing, as a senior fellow with the Acton
Education
621
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Institute for Religion and Liberty and as the editor of a Christian news magazine. e publicity Olasky receives in the somewhat hostile academic environment only adds to his unique role. e student newspaper occasionally takes potshots at him for his conservative views. Sometimes graffiti are scrawled on the Christian posters he places on his office door. Yet, for the Christian students among the 50,000 on campus, Olasky is a rarity: a professor who doesn’t attack them for their beliefs, someone who supports them and advises them.
© 2012 by Valentina R. Used under license of Shutterstock, Inc.
As an offshoot of his Biblical philosophy of compassion, Olasky also has been instrumental in defending unborn children’s right to life, championing causes that will change hearts rather than merely legislate.
For the many non-Christian students in his larger lectures, Olasky oen shatters the stereotypical perceptions they have of Christianity. Meanwhile, Olasky gained recognition in 1994 when the Republican congressional leadership adapted ideas from his book e Tragedy of American Compassion for inclusion in the welfare reform debate. He is known as a formulator of a compassionate social policy that attempts to bring a Biblical perspective into American public life. is philosophy, unlike Social Darwinism, which teaches that society is better off if the poor are ignored, holds that all people have value and should be treated as such because all are created by God in His image. “We are commanded not to look away from the psychologically and spiritually distressed,” Olasky says. e book describes how Americans successfully fought poverty before the government took over with myriad programs. His 1996 book, Renewing American Compassion, reiterated the themes that the most efficient poverty programs are religionbased and that churches have a responsibility to care for the helpless, especially widows and orphans. us, Olasky has played a role in the welfare rolls being trimmed in half since 1996 and in more adults finding jobs and working their way up the economic ladder. “God is changing people’s lives,” he says. “Instead of growing up with a welfare mentality, kids are able to see their parents working, which makes an enormous impact.” As an offshoot of his Biblical philosophy of compassion, Olasky also has been instrumental in defending unborn children’s right to life, championing causes that will change hearts rather than merely legislate. e growth of the abstinence movement, the increasing use of ultrasound, and the promotion of adoption have contributed to the number of abortions dropping to 1.2 million annually from 1.6 million. One of Olasky’s most recognized contributions to this trend is his 1992 book, Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America. e youngest of the Olaskys’ four children, Benjamin, is adopted, partly as an expression
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of Marvin’s and Susan’s Biblically-grounded convictions. “It is something I recommend to everyone,” he says. “e sense of satisfaction from children is great whether they are born to you or whether they are adopted. In a sense they have been rescued.” e Olaskys helped to start the Austin Crisis Pregnancy Center. Now living in North Carolina, Olasky currently advances Biblical compassion and ideals in his role as the editor-in-chief of World magazine. rough it all, Olasky is enormously grateful that God saved him from ideologies that led nowhere. “God knows what we need and gives us gis even we don’t know enough to ask for them,” he says.
Education
623
>>
MARVIN OLASKY
A former Marxist professor now promotes Biblical compassion.
Only now does Marvin Olasky understand God’s grace, aer his lengthy journey from Judaism to atheism to born-again Christianity. Along the way, Olasky, now in his sixties, has become a leading proponent in public life of espousing Biblical solutions to societal problems. His grandparents emigrated from Russia to Massachusetts. In Olasky’s early years, the family kept religious customs and rituals as Orthodox Jews, including sending him to Hebrew school for seven years and his bar mitzvah at age 13. Yet, as his parents became increasingly secularized during his childhood, he became increasingly skeptical about God. By 14 he considered himself an atheist. e godless, materialistic books he read, including History of the World by H. G. Wells and Future of an Illusion by H. G. Wells, contributed to his ideology. “My own pride and arrogance fueled my heading toward atheism, too,” Olasky says. He came to believe that only silly and pathetic people needed God. Olasky instead looked to human gods to right the ills of society.
620
PART 4 Redemptive Communicators: Profiles from Across the Job Fields
SC-Part4-02EDUCATION_SC-Part4-02EDUCATION 6/25/13 1:09 PM Page 621
A scholarship to Yale University cemented his confidence in atheism. Liberals and radicals dominated the late 1960s campus scene, and Olasky kept moving further le, both theologically and politically. Aer serving a brief stint with the Bend Bulletin, a newspaper in Oregon, Olasky joined America’s Communist party. He rode a Soviet freighter across the Pacific Ocean and the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Russia in order to better relate to those living under Marxist-Leninist dogma. He returned to the United States and fit right in at e Boston Globe. But becoming a professor became his real craving, and he headed to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor to obtain his MA and PhD degrees in an effort to be part of “the tenured le.”
© 2012 by Bruce Rolff. Used under license of Shutterstock, Inc.
“at’s where God surprised me,” Olasky remembers. In November 1973, as he became disillusioned with communism and atheism, Olasky came to realize God does exist. A Russian New Testament he had read to brush up on his Russian had played a role in changing his mind. So did teaching a course in early American literature, which included Puritan sermons preaching to him from the grave. “God changed my worldview, not through thunder or a whirlwind, but by means of a small whisper that became a repeated, resounding question in my brain: ‘What if Lenin is wrong? What if there is a God?’” Olasky says. He went on to read the writings of C. S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer, which laid the groundwork for his conversion. In 1976, just before moving to San Diego to teach, Olasky married his wife, Susan. ey selected a Baptist church from the Yellow Pages, heard sermons about being born again, and received Christ as Savior. In 1978, Olasky began a five-year job as an executive speech writer for the DuPont Company in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1983 he moved to the University of Texas at Austin, where he has been ever since. He teaches only two journalism courses per term, which leaves lots of time to write. His passion now is to promote Biblical principles through his writing. He has authored 13 books and coauthored seven more. As in the 1960s, today’s college environment is rampant with liberal and radical faculty members. “In the university environment, it’s well known that I’m a Christian,” Olasky says. Nevertheless, he has, despite some opposition, become tenured and a full professor. While he would be receiving more recognition and making more money with politically correct writings, he prefers to write scholarly works from a distinctly Biblical perspective. He lives out this commitment , at the time of this writing, as a senior fellow with the Acton
Education
621
SC-Part4-02EDUCATION_SC-Part4-02EDUCATION 6/25/13 1:09 PM Page 622
Institute for Religion and Liberty and as the editor of a Christian news magazine. e publicity Olasky receives in the somewhat hostile academic environment only adds to his unique role. e student newspaper occasionally takes potshots at him for his conservative views. Sometimes graffiti are scrawled on the Christian posters he places on his office door. Yet, for the Christian students among the 50,000 on campus, Olasky is a rarity: a professor who doesn’t attack them for their beliefs, someone who supports them and advises them.
© 2012 by Valentina R. Used under license of Shutterstock, Inc.
As an offshoot of his Biblical philosophy of compassion, Olasky also has been instrumental in defending unborn children’s right to life, championing causes that will change hearts rather than merely legislate.
For the many non-Christian students in his larger lectures, Olasky oen shatters the stereotypical perceptions they have of Christianity. Meanwhile, Olasky gained recognition in 1994 when the Republican congressional leadership adapted ideas from his book e Tragedy of American Compassion for inclusion in the welfare reform debate. He is known as a formulator of a compassionate social policy that attempts to bring a Biblical perspective into American public life. is philosophy, unlike Social Darwinism, which teaches that society is better off if the poor are ignored, holds that all people have value and should be treated as such because all are created by God in His image. “We are commanded not to look away from the psychologically and spiritually distressed,” Olasky says. e book describes how Americans successfully fought poverty before the government took over with myriad programs. His 1996 book, Renewing American Compassion, reiterated the themes that the most efficient poverty programs are religionbased and that churches have a responsibility to care for the helpless, especially widows and orphans. us, Olasky has played a role in the welfare rolls being trimmed in half since 1996 and in more adults finding jobs and working their way up the economic ladder. “God is changing people’s lives,” he says. “Instead of growing up with a welfare mentality, kids are able to see their parents working, which makes an enormous impact.” As an offshoot of his Biblical philosophy of compassion, Olasky also has been instrumental in defending unborn children’s right to life, championing causes that will change hearts rather than merely legislate. e growth of the abstinence movement, the increasing use of ultrasound, and the promotion of adoption have contributed to the number of abortions dropping to 1.2 million annually from 1.6 million. One of Olasky’s most recognized contributions to this trend is his 1992 book, Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America. e youngest of the Olaskys’ four children, Benjamin, is adopted, partly as an expression
622
PART 4 Redemptive Communicators: Profiles from Across the Job Fields
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of Marvin’s and Susan’s Biblically-grounded convictions. “It is something I recommend to everyone,” he says. “e sense of satisfaction from children is great whether they are born to you or whether they are adopted. In a sense they have been rescued.” e Olaskys helped to start the Austin Crisis Pregnancy Center. Now living in North Carolina, Olasky currently advances Biblical compassion and ideals in his role as the editor-in-chief of World magazine. rough it all, Olasky is enormously grateful that God saved him from ideologies that led nowhere. “God knows what we need and gives us gis even we don’t know enough to ask for them,” he says.
Education
623
