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Calvin Shows Up In The Oddest Places
Calvinism in the Culture
Why Did Arminianism “Win”?
Sometime back Howard wrote to ask, “How and when did Arminianism become the predominate view?” That’s a good question. First, we should distinguish between Jacob Arminius (James Hermanzoon) and the Arminians (or the Remonstrants). Relative to the conclusions Arminian/Remonstrant theology later reached, Arminius . . . Continue reading →
“Calvinism” Is Hip Again (Again)
Just when one might have thought that the Young, Restless, and Reformed movement(s) might be waning—they aren’t getting any younger—comes a piece in last Friday’s New York Times by Mark Oppenheimer on the Calvinist revival among evangelicals. Of course it begins with TULIP . . . Continue reading →
One Of My Favorites
Office Hours: Darryl Hart On The Global History Of Calvinism
This past summer Yale University Press released Darryl Hart’s Calvinism: A History. Darryl is Adjunct Professor of Church History at WSC, where he served as Academic Dean from 2000–03. He is Visiting Professor of History at Hillsdale College. This is a significant . . . Continue reading →
A Caricature Of Calvinism
Mark Dever sent me a note the other day about Edward Taylor (1642–1729). Mea culpa but I’m not familiar with his work so I did did an online search and, of course, the first result was Wikipedia. On my way to the . . . Continue reading →
Eating Sausages: Wall Street Journal Reviews Hart
Barton Swaim has a substantial and positive review of the latest from Westminster Seminary California’s own D. G. Hart in Today’s Wall Street Journal. It won’t be available online for a few days but if you can’t wait and you don’t subscribe . . . Continue reading →
Black, White, and Reformed
When this post first appeared in January 2008, there was an interesting discussion at the now-defunct Reformingchurches.org on what it means to be black and Reformed. As a white guy with a long interest in black culture (my grammar school and Jr High . . . Continue reading →
On Calvin’s Birthday: The Biography Channel Is Wrong (Updated)
Today is John Calvin’s birthday. He was born in 1509, in Noyon. In his honor let us watch a video and discuss it. [Editor’s note: In 2013 someone posted a video featuring the American church historian Martin Marty discussing John Calvin. That . . . Continue reading →
The Social Crisis is Too Great to Be Arguing About… (Updated)
The various social crises facing the West are great but the Roman empire was already in crisis when God the Holy Spirit empowered Christ’s apostles to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Rome fell. The gospel and Christ’s church continued. Another empire, Christendom, replaced the old Roman Empire but it fell too. The kingdom of God, as manifested chiefly in this world in the visible, institutional church, continued. Social crises are important but they aren’t more important than the gospel. Seeing that is a key difference between actually being Reformed and being just another social conservative with a passing interest in the Reformation (as it suits whatever social agenda is in view). Continue reading →
The Heidelberg Rap
Calvin Makes the Huffington Post
Because of their size and the economy of scale there are two states that largely determine what will be in public school textbooks: Texas and California. For some time now the adoption of standards for textbooks has been highly political and thus . . . Continue reading →
Mary Baker Eddy's Newspaper Discovers Mark Dever
The results are interesting.
Godfrey to Speak in DC Nov 12, 2009: Does Calvin Still Matter?
It’s not unusual for a president to be in the capital, but our very own President (of Westminster Seminary California) W. Robert Godfrey is to speak in Washington DC this week, November 12, 7:00 PM on the topic, “Does He Still Matter?” . . . Continue reading →
Even on His Birthday…
There is a generally fair piece on the resurgence of interest in Calvin and in aspects of his theology among evangelicals by Daniel Burke of the Religious News Service. It is better than most pieces as Burke took the time to interview . . . Continue reading →
Sinclair Ferguson on "Risking the Truth"
At Against Heresies.
Calvin on "The Real Prosperity Gospel"
Christianity Today is running a series entitled, “Re-Formed” featuring essays by “John Calvin with Knox Bucer-Beza”—identified by CT as “the author of the Institutes of the Christian Religion and commentaries on most books of the Bible, both of which were sources of . . . Continue reading →
Calvinism Old and "New"
In response to the recent TIME magazine piece on the YRR, Mark Driscoll published a piece on the Resurgence contrasting the “new” Calvinists with the “old” Calvinists. It was followed up by a piece with a kinder, gentler treatment of the tired, . . . Continue reading →
Calvin, Natural Law, and the Imperial Presidency
David Neff at CT has been reading John Witte, Jr on natural law and the two kingdoms. Darryl Hart replies to Neff.
More (YRR) Calvinism in TIME
Apparently the YRR version of “Calvinism” is #3 with a bullet. Compare this story with the story from TIME in 1947 (HT: Justin Taylor).