A friendly discussion between a theological college, the third book in this three volume set starts to show another view on the Bible that challenges the works of John Calvin, Martin Luther and others. The aspect of self-determinism and the role of sin in a believer's life are dominant in Arminius's thinking while the other theologians in his time were focusing on the idea of determinism in the role of Biblical theology.
In Teaching Predestination , David H. Kranendonk focuses on the ministry of an early seventeenth-century Puritan-leaning theologian, Elnathan Parr (1577–1622). Although relatively unknown today, Parr’s works were popular in his own day. Kranendonk’s survey contributes a nuanced picture of this English Reformed pastor and demonstrates that Parr’s scholastic development of predestination, coupled with his pastoral concern for the salvation and edification of his hearers, resists the caricature of Reformed Scholasticism as being a philosophically speculative system. Here one sees the practical use of predestination for the care of souls as Parr and others aimed to help increase the faith and joy of God’s people. Table of Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Elnathan Parr’s Life and Ministry 3. Elnathan Parr’s Principles of Preaching 4. Elnathan Parr’s Exposition of Romans 5. Elnathan Parr’s Grounds of Divinity
Features in-depth studies on a vast array of key passages in both the Old and the New Testaments that relate to God's foreknowledge and responds to current debates on this issue, drawing out implications of biblical teaching for the practical matters of Christian worship, prayer, guidance, and more. Original.
Offering a strong alternative to Calvinism, the first book in this three volume set starts to show another view on the Bible that challenges the works of John Calvin, Martin Luther and others. The aspect of self-determinism and the role of sin in a believer's life are dominant in Arminius's thinking while the other theologians in his time were focusing on the idea of determinism in the role of Biblical theology.
In the newest Reformed Historical-Theological Study, Dr. Richard A. Muller delves into one of the most controversial doctrines of Reformed Theology: predestination. Muller carefully investigates key incidents that illustrate the doctrine’s complexity and development by surveying Reformed thought on predestination in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Along the way, Muller challenges distorted ideas about the placement of predestination in theological systems, naïve readings of Calvin based solely on his Institutes, simplistic representations of supra- and infralapsarian debates, and uncharitable views of Reformed theologians as hyper-dogmatists obsessed with their own tradition.
James Arminius is one of the most maligned and misunderstood theologians in church history. In an era of major debate over predestination, free will, and related concepts, Arminius was accused of being Pelagian, Semi-Pelagian, or a heretic of all sorts. This is a trend that started in his time and has continued to this day. The truth is that he was a brilliant theologian who shook the foundations of Calvinism to the core. Yet he was quite orthodox in his thinking, as he had come right out of the Protestant Reformation, though he sought to reform some ideas of Calvin and Luther. Contrary to common belief, Arminius believed in the utter depravity of man and that a major work of grace, i.e., prevenient grace, is necessary to bring a person to repentance. He also emphatically rejected Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism. He thoroughly answers every accusation against him and masterfully refutes William Perkins, a major Calvinist writer of that time. How do we ultimately understand what he thought? By carefully reading his writings. Until now, this was not an easy task. The only way has been to wade through his three-volume "Works," totaling 2, 300 pages. Hence the need for a compendium of some of his best writings, edited for modern readers. Our hope is to help a new generation of Christians understand this much-misunderstood theologian, an understanding especially needed in an era in which Calvinism is experiencing a major resurgence.
Beyond Dordt and ‘De Auxiliis’ explores post-Reformation inter-confessional theological exchange on soteriological topics including predestination, grace, and free choice. These doctrines remained controversial within confessional traditions after the Reformation, as Dominicans and Jesuits and later Calvinists and Arminians argued about these critical issues in the Augustinian theological heritage. Some of those involved in condemning Arminianism at the Synod of Dordt (1618-1619) were inspired by Dominican followers of Thomas Aquinas in Spain who had recently opposed the vigorous defense of free choice by Jesuit Molinists in the Congregatio de auxiliis (1598-1607). This volume, appearing on the 400th anniversary of the closing of the Synod of Dordt, brings together a group of scholars working in fields that only rarely speak to one another to address these theological debates that cross geographical and confessional boundaries.
