Alan M. Olson
Alan M. Olson (January 7, 1939 – September 14, 2023) was an American-French professor of the Philosophy of Religion, emeritus, at
Boston University. He received his degrees from
Saint Olaf College (BA, History and Philosophy),
Luther Theological Seminary (M.Div., Theology),
Nashotah House, where he studied with
Arthur Anton Vogel, and Boston University (Ph.D.) where he studied with
Peter Anthony 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
University of 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 was past president of the
Karl Jaspers Society of North America. He delivered the Jaspers Lectures at
university college, Oxford in 1989; and was co-editor, with
Helmut Wautischer, of the philosophical journal,
Existenz from 2006 to 2015. He lived on
Cape Cod with his wife,
Janet L. Olson, professor emerita, College of Fine Arts, Boston University. He is survived by Janet and their two daughters, Maren Kirsten and Sonja Astrid, and one grandson, Søren. Olson died on September 14, 2023, at the age of 85.
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