The latest Founders Journal is out and the theme is “Reconsidering Calvin and Calvinism.” The articles in this issue should disabuse any honest reader of history or theology of the caricatures that so often are promoted about the man and the views that are usually associated with his name….
Two stories arrived in my inbox within 24 hours that indicate that Southern Baptists are past the point of avoiding a dialogue about theology. The first came from the September 9, 2008 edition of the Kentucky Baptist Western Recorder. Dennis Fox is the President of Clear Creek Baptist Bible…
In the previous post I mentioned the above titled article written by Elmer Towns of Liberty University and published in Theology for Ministry (May 2008). Kenneth Fryer found the article online which makes it more convenient to review (the published version has been somewhat edited). I encourage you to…
Bill Feltner of Pilgrim Radio interviewed me for 30 minutes recently about the resurgence of Calvinism in Baptist life. The station is non-commercial and is based in Nevada. I love their mission statement: Our mission is to establish and operate radio stations and related media facilities for the purpose…
On December 21, 2007 Ergun Caner sent me an announcement about the name change of Liberty Theological Seminary to Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. I gave it only passing notice. From all that I know, Liberty may be the finest Fundamentalist seminary around and I don’t care how many times…
SBC President, Frank Page, wrote an article for Baptist Press yesterday entitled, “Calvinism and Southern Baptists.” He cites the recent Building Bridges conference and the research on the growth of Reformed theology within the SBC that LifeWay released in conjunction with that coference. Of the former he says, Though…
In another of his articles in the Alabama Baptist, Dr. Garrett asks, “Have Baptists always been Dortian Calvinists in their confesions of faith?” The answer, indisputably, is no. General (Arminian) Baptists and Particular (Calvinistic) Baptists have published their own confessions of faith throughout the modern history of Baptists. Dr….
Dr. Garrett helpfully distinguishes the internal, effectual call of God from the external, general call. Many less thoughtful critics of Calvinism fail to recognize this distinction and, consequently, often wind up dismissing a straw man in their critique of “irresistible grace.” Garrett writes, Dortian Calvinists normally differentiate the external,…
In his article, “Does Dortian Calvinism have weight of Scripture in its favor?, ” Dr. Garrett appropriately raises the issue of the biblical basis for the five points of Calvinism. He writes, One may be inclined to say, relative to the teachings of Dortian Calvinism, that such a system…
In his article entitled, “Calvinism: What does it mean?,” Dr. Garrett makes the following comment on hyper-Calvinism: A third meaning, no longer in common use, takes Calvinism to be the professed teaching of certain 18th-century English Congregationalists and Particular Baptists, a group believing that only the “elect” could be…