birth_place era school_tradition influences main_interests notable_ideas birth_date image article_title name region
minneapolis , minnesota , usa 20th-century philosophy/21st-century philosophy , continental philosophy karl john n. findlay jaspers , hans-georg gadamer , paul ricoeur , philosophy , existentialism , phenomenology , hermeneutics of religion , german idealism , philosophical theology jaspers and cross-cultural hermeneutics , hegel and pneumatology 07 january 1939 alanolson.jpg alan m. olson
 alan m. olson western philosophy
alan m. olson

alan m. olson is a professor of the philosophy of religion at boston university .
he received his degrees from saint olaf college -lrb- ba , history and philosophy -rrb- , luther theological seminary -lrb- mdiv , theology -rrb- , nashotah house , where he studied with arthur anton vogel , and boston university -lrb- phd -rrb- where he studied with peter a. bertocci , erazim kohak , harold h. oliver and john n. findlay .
he served as chairman of the religion department at boston university , 1980 -- 1987 , and chairman of the philosophy department , ad interim , 1987-1989 .
during the 1970s he was program coordinator of the boston university institute for philosophy and religion ; and was executive director of the twentieth world congress of philosophy in boston , 1998 .
he was a senior fulbright research fellow at karls-eberhart universität , tübingen , germany , in 1986 , where he studied with klaus hartmann ; and a senior fulbright research fellow and visiting fellow at the institut für die wissenschaften vom menschen , vienna , austria , in 1995 , where he worked with krzysztof michalski .
he served on the board of officers of the american philosophical association , 2000 -- 2003 ; and is past president of the karl jaspers society of north america .
he delivered the jaspers lectures at oxford in 1989 ; and is currently co-editor , with helmut wautischer , of the philosophical journal , existenz .
he lives on cape cod with his wife , janet l. olson , professor emerita , college of fine arts , boston university .
they have two daughters , maren kirsten , sonja astrid , and one grandson , søren .
