12 Ways to Make Arminianism Cool Again

Rachel Held Evans blogs on 12 Ways to Make Arminianism Cool Again.

1. Petition Microsoft to make Arminian an actual word so that bloggers ranting about the pros and cons of Armenians don’t sound like complete racists.

2. Create a Stuff Arminians Like blog. Entries could include: love, freedom, and “secretly wondering if we’re not elect.”

3. Three words: Driscoll. Boyd. Cagefight.

4. Instead of the “Gospel Coalition,” we’ll form the “Gospel Welcoming Committee.”

5. Get Roger Olson some thick-rimmed glasses and a pipe and send him to Catalyst.

6. The Calvinists have their own flower, so why shouldn’t Arminians? But instead of TULIP (“total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints”) we’ll adopt the DAISY (depravity of all, atonement for all, inclusion of all, salvation is a gift,you can accept or reject).

7. Start referring to Donald Miller as “Arminian Donald Miller.” (I don’t know if he’s actually an Arminian, but it’s worth a try.)

8. To counter the “young, restless, and Reformed” movement we’ll create the “middle-aged, Arminian, and not-in-the-mood-to-argue ” movement.

9. Start a “I bet we can find 1 million people who don’t want to be predestined to hell” Facebook group.

10. Launch an Arminianism Awareness Day to address some of the common misconceptions about Arminians—that we think grace is earned, that we have a “man-centered” theology, that we’re all dispensationalists, that just because we lost that one argument with our Calvinist roommate back in 2003 we’re always wrong.

11. Calvinists make T-shirts that say “Jonathan Edwards is my homeboy.” Arminians can make T-shirts that say “Arminius is my homeboy…but not in such a way that I uncritically accept everything he teaches” (because we’re nuanced like that).

12. Keep talking about how real love requires freedom while extending kindness and grace to those with whom we disagree…because living your theology is more important than arguing it.

Recent Articles in ISJT on Calvin

Now that I'm "all about systematics," I thought I'd draw attention to a couple of interesting articles in the International Journal of Systematic Theology 11.4 (2009):

MICHAEL S. HORTON
Union and Communion: Calvin's Theology of Word and Sacrament

"Some scholars consider Calvin's teaching on the sacraments to be an integral part of his theology. Others have challenged the Reformer's consistency in this area, regarding Calvin's eucharistic teaching in particular as a 'foreign, uncongenial element' in his work. My argument in this article is that Calvin's eucharistic teaching, particularly in its 'more nearly patristic' emphases, is neither inimical nor secondary to his system but is in fact an essential and promising outworking of his theology. As with other perspectives, Calvin's understanding of Word and sacrament generates a particular kind of ecclesiology with emphases that remain ecumenically significant and vital for the life and mission of the church."

MARK A. GARCIA
Imputation as Attribution: Union with Christ, Reification and Justification as Declarative Word

"Calvin's integration of the christological features of the eucharistic controversy with soteriological questions in his refutation of Andreas Osiander marks a critical development in Reformed theology. In this article, that development is extended further in reconsideration of the nature of imputation as a linguistic action. It is argued that imputation is a soteriological corollary of the christological idea of attribution. Imputation thus conceived clarifies not only how it is located within the doctrine of union with Christ, but how that union and imputation provide clarity in ongoing discussions about reification of sin and righteousness as well as the nature of justification as a declarative word."

J. TODD BILLINGS
John Calvin's Soteriology: On the Multifaceted 'Sum' of the Gospel

"This article explores John Calvin's soteriology through examining his multivalent and yet succinct 'sum' of the gospel: the double grace of justification and sanctification received in union with Christ. The essay begins with a description of the scope and range of this teaching in Calvin, its biblical, patristic and Reformational sources, and its application to a wide range of doctrinal loci. After this, particular features of Calvin's account are highlighted as promising for contemporary retrieval. The essay concludes with historiographic reflections that intersect with ongoing disputes in interpreting Calvin's teaching on union with Christ and the double grace."

DAVID GIBSON
A Mirror for God and for Us: Christology and Exegesis in Calvin's Doctrine of Election

"Although John Calvin's doctrine of election is often criticized, it remains seriously under-described in both content and form. By attending to one strand of its content (Christ and election), and one persistently unappreciated aspect of its form (exegesis), this article attempts a substantial construal of the doctrine in Calvin's theology. It aims to show that, for Calvin, Christ is the subject of election in that he is its author, and Christ is the object of election in that he mediates both election itself and the salvation which flows from election. The focus on Calvin's exegesis of election and Christology establishes contact points with some important theological concerns: Karl Barth's reading of Calvin; election and the extra Calvinisticum; and 'christocentrism' in Calvin's theology."

2009 is Calvinfest Time

As the new year is about to dawn remember that 2009 will be Calvin's 500th birthday. And everyone is having a Calvinfest. So if you belong to the congress of card carrying calvinists or just have a soft spot for nerdy little frenchmen who like to gab about God, then you need to attend at least one Calvin conference this year (they will be more common than Star Bucks on Main Street) and get on board with Princeton Theological Seminary's programme "A Year with the Institutes".

The Princeton site states:

Princeton Seminary, through its Center of Continuing Education, will provide a daily reading schedule and text of a three-to-six-page section of the 1559 version of the Institutes for each day of 2009, except Sundays and Christmas Day, online on its web site (www.ptsem.edu). The readings, using the McNeill/Battles translation of the Institutes, thanks to permission from Westminster John Knox Press, will also be provided in audio format, as a podcast, with sections read by oral performers from around the country. Michael Brothers, an assistant professor of speech communication in ministry at Princeton Seminary, will direct this part of the project.

Each week an invited scholar or pastor will provide a reflection paper on that week's readings on the web site, and participants will be able to comment on both the readings and the reflection papers.

The project was the brainchild of Princeton Seminary's Christian education assistant professor Gordon Mikoski, who decided to read through the Institutes as part of his Christian devotional practice to commemorate the anniversary year of Calvin's birth. As he told friends and colleagues about his idea, they wanted to join him.

"While browsing through the Westminster John Knox book display at the American Academy of Religion meeting in November, I came upon new copies of the Institutes," Mikoski said. "It occurred to me that reading them cover-to-cover from January 1 through December 31, 2009 would be an appropriate way to honor Calvin's life and work."

Mikoski believes such disciplined reading of the Institutes can remind the church of its rooting in God, not itself. Calvin wrote that "we are not our own; insofar as we can, let us forget ourselves and all that is ours. Conversely, we are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions; let all parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal." (Institutes 3.7.1)

Mikoski's project was enthusiastically received by the Erdman Center of Continuing Education, which is sponsoring a number of events in 2009 to celebrate the Calvin anniversary. The first of these is 2009's first global Calvin conference, "Calvin and the Church Today," January 20-23, 2009. For more information on these events, visit www.ptsem.edu/calvin2009.

Princeton Seminary hopes pastors, lay people, and scholars will take this opportunity to read and interact with the work of a theological giant in the Reformed tradition, with a community of Christians across the church and the world.

In addition to Mikoski and Brothers, steering committee members for the project include students Jason Santos, Michael Gyura, Katherine Douglass; Raymond Bonwell, director of programs for the Center of Continuing Education; Barbara Chaapel, the Seminary's director of communications; and Joyce MacKichan Walker, a member of the pastoral staff of Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton.

Roger Olson on Calvinism

Roger Olson of Baylor University said : "The God of Calvinism scares me; I'm not sure how to distinguish him from the devil."

If I may retort: "The God of Arminianism scares me; I am not sure how to distinguish him from a wicked Surf Life Saviour who would like to save me from drowning in the ocean, but only on condition that I swim out to meet him half way".

HT: Justin Taylor

That said, Roger Olson's book Arminian Theology: Myths And Realities, is (I'm told) the best expression of Arminian Theology to date.

Why I'm a Calvinist

I frequently introduce myself as "Reformed" and have even called myself "a card carrying Calvinist" in print. There are a variety of reasons why.

Scripture: In reading Ephesians 1 and Romans 8, it seems clear to me that God is completely sovereign over salvation, from call to the consummation.

The Reformers: I think they were right when they taught that God justifies the ungodly and he saves men and women who cannot save themselves.

Experience: I grew up as a non-Christian and spent several years in the Army living the Army life (I drink therefore I am). I was not a spiritual seeker, I did not want or search for God. I thought all Christians were paedophiles and hypocrits. I sowed the seeds of sin in my own heart and encouraged others to do the same. So when I became a Christian and heard of "total depravity" I did not take much convincing, I was sold. I did not wake up one day and say, "I have decided to let Jesus into my heart". God did not meet me half-way, he did not give me enough grace to overcome sin and leave the rest to me, and he did not woo me into faith. Rather, God took a spiritually dead corpse and breathed life into it.

On the TULIPS scale I'd go for all five, but I would very, very carefully define Perservance and Limited Atonement in such a way that probably pushes the boundaries of classic Calvinism. (a) In sum, perseverance is contingent upon faithfulness and people who profess Christian faith can indeed loose their salvation if they fall-away. But I believe that those who are elect will not apostacize. (b) Some of the proof texts for limited atonement do not work (e.g. Mk. 10.45), and several passages clearly give the atonement a universal dimension, e.g. 1 Jn. 2.2, 2 Cor. 5.19-21. So the atonement has clear cosmic significance and encompasses every living person in its sphere. Still, I think the atonement is only efficacious for the elect, otherwise with universal atonement you do get the problem of double-payment (i.e. if Jesus died for everyone's sins, then how can God demand a second payment/punishment at the final judgment?). The atonement is indeed limited, but the question is whether it is limited by design or effect (Charles Spurgeon is good on this point).

But to be Reformed is to be biblical first and foremost, sola scriptura, so if the Calvinistic system or the Reformed confessions can be shown to deviate from Scripture, well too bad for them.