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Marvin Olasky | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1950-06-12)June 12, 1950 (age 75) Malden, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education |
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| Occupation(s) | Editor, author, academic |
| Years active | 1971- |
| Employer | Christianity Today |
| Organization | Zenger House |
| Known for | writing |
| Notable work |
|
| Title | Executive editor for news and global |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
Marvin Olasky (born June 12, 1950) is Christianity Today's Editor-in-Chief, a senior fellow of theDiscovery Institute, and an affiliate scholar at theActon Institute. He also chairs theZenger House Foundation and is the author of 29 books. From 1992 through 2021, he editedWorld.[1][2] On September 24, 2025,Russell D. Moore, Editor-in-Chief atChristianity Today, announced that he was stepping down as Editor-in-Chief, to be replaced by Olasky.[3]
Olasky was born in the city ofMalden, Massachusetts, to aRussian-Jewish family. He graduated from Newton High School (nowNewton North High School) in 1968 and fromYale University in 1971 with a B.A. in American studies.[4] In 1976, he earned his Ph.D. in American Culture at theUniversity of Michigan.[5] He became anatheist in adolescence and aMarxist in college, ultimately joining theCommunist Party USA in 1972.[6] Olasky married and divorced during this period and, according to Olasky, broke each of theTen Commandments except "Thou shalt not kill". He left the Communist Party late in 1973 and, in 1976, became aChristian after reading theNew Testament and several Christian authors.[4]
Olasky was a professor at theUniversity of Texas at Austin from 1983 to 2007, provost ofThe King's College in New York City from 2007 to 2011, and Patrick Henry College's distinguished chair in journalism and public policy from 2011 to 2019.[7][8] He joined World Magazine in 1990 and became its editor in 1994 and itseditor-in-chief in 2001. Earlier, he was a reporter at theBoston Globe and a speechwriter at the Du Pont Company. Since 1996 he has been aruling elder within thePresbyterian Church in America.[9]
Olasky has chaired the boards of the City School of Austin and the Austin Crisis Pregnancy Center. His writings have been translated into Chinese, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Russian, and other languages, and he has lectured and given interviews around the world.[10]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Booknotes interview with Olasky onThe Tragedy of American Compassion, January 22, 1995,C-SPAN |
Olasky's most famous book isThe Tragedy of American Compassion, which in 1995Newt Gingrich distributed to incomingRepublican representatives of the104th Congress.[11] The book, an overview of poverty-fighting in America from colonial times to the 1990s, argues that private individuals and organizations, particularlyChristian churches, have a responsibility to care for the poor and contends that challenging personal and spiritual help, common until the 1930s, was more effective than the governmentwelfare programs of recent decades.[12] Olasky argues that government programs are ineffective because they are disconnected from the poor, while private charity has the power to change lives because it allows for a personal connection between giver and recipient.[12]
The book eventually helped to define "compassionate conservatism" about welfare and social policy. In 1995, Olasky became an occasional advisor toTexasgubernatorial candidateGeorge W. Bush. Bush made faith-based programs a significant component of his2000 presidential campaign, and Olasky's academic work helped form the basis for Bush's "compassionate conservatism."[11] In 2001 and after that, Olasky andWORLD criticized the Bush administration for not following through on school choice or on ideas for tax credits to encourage more individual giving to poverty-fighting groups.[4] In an interview withMike Huckabee on October 10, 2009, Olasky denied that theBush administration had implemented compassionate conservatism, remarking that "it was never tried."[13]
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Olasky edited the 16-bookTurning Point: A Christian Worldview Declaration series withHerbert Schlossberg, director ofHoward Ahmanson Jr.'s Fieldstead Institute, which privately funded the series.[14] Ahmanson has funded four of Olasky's 28 books, and in 2006Michelle Goldberg, author of the bookKingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, placed Olasky in a crucial role in theChristian reconstructionism movement. Olasky points out that in 2003 he published a book,Standing for Christ in a Modern Babylon, that criticized reconstructionist ideas. Olasky has described himself as a Christian who believes in God's sovereignty and man's liberty.
Olasky argues in his 1996 bookTelling the Truth that God created the world, knows more about it than anyone else, and explains its nature in the Bible, so "biblical objectivity" accurately depicts the world as it is. In contrast, conventional journalistic objectivity shows blind materialism or a balancing of subjectivities.[15][16] He has emphasized the Christian origins of freedom of the press and investigative journalism,[15] and teaches in a 2019 book how to advance biblical principles through street-level rather than suite-level reporting.
Olasky was prominent in the 1995–1996 welfare reform debate and came under attack when he contrastedGeorge W. Bush's first presidential campaign in 2000 with that ofJohn McCain: "It would be pushing it too far to talk of the religion of Zeus trumping the religion of Christ. McCain's no polytheist. But a lot of liberal journalists have holes in their souls. Some of them grew up in nominally Christian homes but never really heard the Gospel; now, they look for a purpose in their lives but do not understand God's grace. Others know more but don't want to repent. So, McCain's emphasis on the classical virtues gives them a post-Clinton glow without pushing them to confront their own lives."[17]
Jonah Goldberg, who took exception to Olasky's descriptions of both candidates, nonetheless recognized what Olasky was trying to say:
TheZeus reference seems to be derived from the ending ofTom Wolfe's novel,A Man in Full, in which two of the characters decide to convert to Zeus worship. And what Olasky meant by it was that McCain supporters generally, and Brooks specifically, are attracted to "Zeus-like strength" rather than Christ-like compassion. McCain is all about honor and duty, and Bush is about charity and love. Zeus versus Christ. There you have it.[18]
In her 2004 bookBushwomen,Laura Flanders writes, "Olasky is not a fan of high-achieving women. Women joining the workforce have had 'dire consequences for society,' he told a Christian magazine in 1998." Olasky later said in response to this book that he was praising the high achievements of women in major philanthropic organizations: "From my study of the history of poverty-fighting in America, I found that it was women who ran the charitable enterprises. Men were involved, but it was essentially women who had the time to volunteer."[19][20][21]
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Olasky describedWorld as a magazine that "tries to be salt, not sugar. We like to report good news but don't make it sticky-sweet. We also report bad news because Christ’s grace becomes most meaningful when we're most aware of sin. We want to be tough-minded but warmhearted." In practice, that meant criticizing liberal policies but alsocorporate welfare and supporting challenging, personal, and spiritual help to the poor.[22]
Olasky instituted a Daniel of the Year award for individuals who stood up to persecution. He furthered "compassionate conservatism" by creating Hope Awards for Effective Compassion, given to Christian organizations that helped people rise from poverty.World also became known for reporting flash points in Sudan, Iraq, and China. In 2007, Olasky gave up his tenured position at The University of Texas to try to keep alive a struggling Christian college in New York City.[23]
In 2014,The New York Times reported that "evangelical Protestant journalism is generally more public relations than reporting;World stands out as an exception. 'We're a Christian publication but not a movement organ,' Olasky said."[24] That became even more evident in October 2016, after Donald Trump had consolidated his support among evangelicals. Olasky received about 1,500 critical letters when he wrote a cover story called Trump "unfit for power" and proposed that he step aside because "we set the stage for even worse behavior when we ignore blatant offenses."[25]
In 2019, Olasky wrote a book laying out his journalistic philosophy and emphasis on God's objective sovereignty and man's liberty. He explained biblical objectivity through the use of a whitewater rapids analogy that he says will help Christians avoid overusing the Bible (claiming "God saith" when He has not) or underusing it (ignoring God's wisdom when it does not conform to our biases). He emphasized the importance of careful reporting rather than opinionating and noted that reporters do not have to be Christians to be biblically objective.[26]
In 2021, afterWorld's editorial leader hired Al Mohler to edit the new World Opinions platform, Olasky resigned, as did WORLD Magazine's seven other senior editors and reporters.[27] The entire non-magazine editorial staff remained. In 2022, the Zenger House Foundation gave the first "Zenger Prizes" to eight journalists who emphasized "street-level" reporting rather than "suite level" opining. Prize winners included writers for secular as well as Bible-based publications.[28] Olasky now writes a weekly column about homelessness.[29]
In 2019, The Gospel Coalition reported Olasky saying,"'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the streets declare the sinfulness of man.'... Olasky expresses intense awareness of his own story of sin and Christ's glory. Olasky, writing in 2008 soon after he had double-bypass surgery, said, 'Christ changed my life a third of a century ago. Every year since then has been a gift.'"[30]
Olasky has been married since 1976 to writerSusan Olasky, and they have four sons and six grandchildren. His bookLament for a Father tells the story of his parents, grandparents, and early life. Olasky has served as aPTA president and aLittle League Baseball assistant coach, and has partaken incross-country cycling.[10]
