Richard P. Olson, MDiv, STM, PhD, is recently retired from Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas, where he was Distinguished Professor of Pastoral Theology. He has also had extensive ministry experience as a pastor in a variety of congregational settings. He earned his PhD in Social Ethics and Sociology of Religion from Boston University.

More pertinently, Olson has had career-long participation in ecumenical organizations. He has studied at the United States Holocaust Museum and participated in 5-week study course, "A Religious Mosaic in the Holy Land," at Galilee College, Israel. He chaired the planning committee for the ABCUSA sponsored Midwest Baptist-Muslim Dialogue event, and continues in extensive interfaith activity, study, and speaking on these matters. His current activities include conversations with leaders at the local Islamic Center, bringing seminary classes to Shabbat services at a nearby synagogue, taking a short online course on the Sufis (Muslim mystics), and helping with a summer interfaith study-action program for elementary school children at his local church.