Need Help Sorting out Good Arminian & Calvinist Resources

Some of the main Calvinist publishers include Sovereign Grace Christian Books,  Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, Banner of Truth, Reformation Trust, and Reformation Heritage. Just google them they will come right up and Logos has published many of the books they sell. 

David Kirk Davis said:

Just as a short list check out B.B. Warfield, Archibald Alexander, R.C. Sproul, John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, John Bunyan, Michael Horton, A.W. Pink, and generally most of the Puritan works. That is a very short list and off the top of my head. 

Logos offer a Calvin collection,

http://www.logos.com/product/5170/calvin-500-collection

There are various smaller configurations available at a lower cost (e.g. Calvin's Commentaries, the Institutes, etc.).

Similarly, Logos offer the Works of Arminius,

http://www.logos.com/product/8820/the-works-of-arminius

You may also wish to consider the following two works, presenting and critiquing Calvinism,

http://www.logos.com/product/26686/for-calvinism-and-against-calvinism

Logos also offer works by Michael Horton, Wayne Grudem, Mark Driscoll, John Piper and John MacArthur, all of whom are regarded to be at the forefront of what is sometimes described as 'New Calvinism'. Vyrso also offer works by some of these authors, oftentimes at a reduced price. I just noticed today that Vyrso are currently offering a book by John Piper for $3.99, here, 

http://vyrso.com/product/14550/spectacular-sins-and-their-global-purpose-in-the-glory-of-christ

You beat me Andy with the Horton-Olson set

College Press would be considered Arminian for publishers and Jack Cottrell would be an Arminian author as well as Roger Olson

Hi!  For Arminianism I am a huge fan of this dude named Robert E. Picirilli. He has some wonderful resources, my favorite being Grace, Faith, Free Will: Contrasting Views of Salvation.

Here is the link: http://www.logos.com/product/20493/grace-faith-free-will-contrasting-views-of-salvation

Blows Calvinism right out of the water, in my opinion. No offense intended to my Calvinist brethren!

Picirilli also has written a number of commentaries. Great stuff.

Arminian scholarship would begin with Arminius and John Wesley, of course.

But more modern Arminian scholarship would include John Oswalt, an Old Testament scholar whose commentary on Isaiah in the NICOT is perhaps the best on that book. Oswalt has published a number of excellent books and commentaries. Garett Lee Cockerill is another who just published the new commentary on Hebrews in the NICNT.

Thomas Oden is one of the foremost Arminian / Wesleyan theologians. Tom Oden's "Systematic Theology" (3 Volumes) is a great place to start.

Dr. Ben Witherington of Asbury Theological Seminary is another Arminiam New Testament scholar who is widely published. His Socio-Rhetorical commentary on Acts is highly regarded.

I would also recommend Maxie Dunnam and Dr. Bill Arnold. There are so many more, but these are off the top of my head.  Older but still well worthwhile is A. W. Tozer.

There are as many differences among different Arminian groups as among various Calvinist groups.  I would keep that in mind.  

College Press has a complete commentary set based on the NIV that I would consider Armenian. It was published within the past 15 years. Jack Cottrell's commentary on Romans is part of this set.

RAusdahl said:

Just to clarify, I would be open to commentary sets that provide both Arminian and Calvinistic arguements/interpretations, but would like to see both points of view in all passages that are used by one camp or the other when it comes to this issue.  That's not likely to happen if all the commentary for a particular book in the Bible is from just one persuasion or the other.

Ah, apologies, and thank you for that clarification.

In which case, I would suggest that you perhaps consider a scholarly commentary set like NICOT/NT or even WBC (which, in my view, is patchier, but considerably cheaper). Scholarly commentaries are more likely to set forth alternative views enabling you to better consider the scope of interpretative options when seeking to understand a particular passage.

RAusdahl said:

  I don't know how many people will even be on the forum today, but in an unusual change of events this year, we're going somewhere for Thanksgiving dinner rather than people coming to our place, so it's kind of like an extra day off.

I had missed that it was thanksgiving [:$] (in my defence, I am British).

I am not sure if it is permitted for me to thus greet you, but happy thanksgiving, nonetheless [:D].

RAusdahl said:

Michael Childs said:

Arminian scholarship would begin with Arminius and John Wesley, of course.

But more modern Arminian scholarship would include John Oswalt, an Old Testament scholar whose commentary on Isaiah in the NICOT is perhaps the best on that book. Oswalt has published a number of excellent books and commentaries. Garett Lee Cockerill is another who just published the new commentary on Hebrews in the NICNT.

Michael, Thanks for contributing.  I have a couple of questions regarding the NIC commentary set.

1. I'm not familiar with Oswalt or Cockerill, but understand from your comments that you see them as being in the Arminian Camp.  But when I looked at the author for Romans for the NIC, I see Douglas J. Moo.  I haven't read any of his works yet, but was under the impression he's in the Calvinist camp.  Do you know if that's correct?  If so, would I be correct in thinking the NIC is neutral on the Arminian/Calvinist question, with contributors from both persuasions?  If I'm at all on target here, then I guess I would need to know which contributors are of which persuasion as an aid to helping me determine how balanced the set as a whole would be.  That's been one of the big difficulties for me and is why I was hoping there were two publishers (one Arminian leaning and one Calvinist leaning) that are well respected and would each have a commentary set where every contributor was of the Arminian persuasion or every contributor was of the Calvinist persuasion.  This would be the easiest way for me to determine which perspective I could expect on controversial passages when accessing the commentaries.
2. I checked a few titles in the commentary set to see if they could be purchased individually, but didn't find them listed separately at Logos.  Do you know if the commentary has to be purchased as one of the sets listed at Logos (i.e. entire OT, entire NT, or entire OT/NT together)?

. There is no doubt that John Oswalt and Cockerill are Arninian and Wesleyan to the core. Oswalt taught at Asbury Theological Seminary and Cockerill teaches at Wesley Biblical in Jackson. All the scholars I named are evangelical and conservative Biblically in addition to being Wesleyan - Arminian. I studied under Oswalt.

One of the points I was trying to make is that nearly all good commentary sets have both Arminian and Reformed scholars among their authors. Oswalt is an author in the Logos sponsored EEC commentaries,the NIV Application Commentary, and the Cornerstone Commentary to name a few. Bill Arnold is in the NIV Application Commentary and the Intervarsity Press Dictionaries, and others.

Good commentary sets are balanced theologically. They are written by scholars who deal as honestly as possible with the text, rather than try to push a particular theological agenda.  This is true of the NICOT and NICNT, and most credible commentary sets.  In addition to the commentary sets mentioned, Word Biblical Commentary and the IVP New Testament Commentaries have Arminian - Wesleyan writers. if a set is from one perspective - Reformed or Arminian - it will usually make that clear, like the Wesleyan Bible Commentary set. (No Calvinists there.) Otherwise, I would expect it to be balanced.

RAusdahl said:

Eventually, I plan to read some of the original writings of Arminius and Calvin. ...

Finally, my preference for these two initial commentary sets would be that they were written within the last 20-40 years, and preferably use the NIV or the ESV, although the KJV is acceptable.

I see that you already have Norman Geisler in your "Arminian" list. That is interesting because he calls himself a Calvinist ... But nonetheless, Geislers works are very good. He is called Arminian by many Calvinists today, but in light of history you will find that his more moderate view is really what early Calvinists held. Chosen but free is recommended if you havent already read it. Geislers writings are all best in class in my opinion.

Looks like you have a couple of anti-calvinist titles there already ... if you want the best of those dont overlook Laurence Vance (the other side of calvinism).

As far as commentaries go, I have not found any more exhaustive than that of John Calvin himself. What I found suprising is that Calvin in his commentaries does not support everything that more extreme Calvinists might suggest today. For example, in Romans 9, Calvin says that God did not hate the individual Esau. More extreme authors such as James White in Potters freedom disagree.

If you want to understand Calvinism, also do not overlook church history. Phil Schaffs church history in my opinion is the best and easiest to read. And although being reformed himself, is quite willing to tell it like it is. Any study of Calvinism should include Schaff on this time period. The perspective you gain here will help shed light on the doctrinal debate.

Calvinism gets a bad name from some of its more extreme advocates. If you understand that early on it will help you find the middle ground easier. And the truth is in the middle ground. Calvinism vs Arminianism is as much a false dichotomy as a theological debate. Both views contain some degree of truth, but neither is "the whole truth and nothing but the truth".

RAusdahl said:

I have considered purchasing a set of Calvin's commentaries as I do believe it's far too easy to be led astary regarding the position of either Arminius or Calvin if I haven't read their works myself.  Right now I have two Bible software programs on my computer--Logos 5 and Wordsearch 10.

Calvin's Commentaries are in all L5 base packages of Bronze and higher.

RAusdahl said:

I noticed that the Logos version of the Calvin Commentaries is $150 while the Wordsearch version is only $25.  I realize the Logos version is probably much better feature-wise ...

You can buy the entire 22 volume set in PRINT right now for $158.49 at Christianbook.com.

You need a little extra space on your bookshelf though. [:)] I have the print version myself. I see no reason to go electronic unless there is some real benefit in usability or price. Calvins commentary is arranged by book, chapter and verse so wiz-bang search features (if there are any) aren't needed.

Logos pricing is not competetive on much of anything unless you are buying a library package. For some reason Logos, like most publishers, believe that the savings that comes from electronic reproduction belongs in their pockets, rather than yours.

The Wordsearch version is probably about where it should be for a retail price. That appears to be a good option too if you dont want to expand your bookshelf.

RAusdahl said:

If anyone can shed any light as to whether there are differences in these two editions/versions and of what sort, I'd love to know.

Not the final word by any means, but I just downloaded the PDF for the book of John from CCEL.

In the preface the translator is named as WILLIAM PRINGLE.

The Logos page says this:

Author: John Calvin
Translator: William Pringle
Publisher: Calvin Translation Society
Publication Date: 1847
Pages: 346

Since it was published in 1847 and it was the same translator, I doubt there is any difference in the translation.

I just found it in Libronix format as a free download here:
http://www.stilltruth.com/blog/joekreif/john-calvin-commentary-pbb-format

Try that out and see if it works [:)]

RAusdahl said:

Hi, Edwin!

Thanks for mentioning Calvin's Commentaries in the Bronze packages and above.  Unfortunately for me, the Bronze package upgrade page says it will cost me over $360.  Now if it included both Calvin's Commentaries AND the Wesleyan Bible Study Commentary Series it would be party-time for me!   

The Bronze pkg does include a number of commentaries as well as additional systematic theologies with both Calvinist and Arminian viewpoints.

Good summary, Doc.

On the Arminian side, many are Wesleyan and use that title, rather than Arminian.

The Picirilli and Forlines titles listed earlier are from what is called Classical or Reformed Arminian viewpoint.

About 40 yrs ago, a minister (who I only met once) from a very different denomination, made this observation. We all have the same dough, but we use different cookie cutters.

I don't think any of us fully comprehend theology. It is far beyond our complete understanding. We each attempt to fit what we can understand into a structure that makes sense to us, even though there are always holes remaining in our understanding.

We have far more in common than the differences we have.

In heaven, we won't have to worry about which view is correct.

RAusdahl said:

But while I feel it's important personally for me to do my best to be a good steward of the Word and to understand it correctly, I realize that in the end, there may be some things that I still get wrong.  So I'll do my best, knowing that others are doing the same--all the while believing (and thankful) that our salvation is not based on getting every doctrine right. 

It sounds like you are on the right track.

I have been on both sides of the divide. It's important to avoid the extreme on either side. Most "moderates" can find that they have much more in common.

I have come to the conclusion that God has made extremely clear the most important things for us to know. He does not delight in playing hide and seek. Many of the issues that divide us or unimportant in the whole scheme of things.

I still enjoy the challenge of diligent Bible study to make sure that I am rightly dividing the Word as best I can. I realize that if I live out the things that I do find clear in Scripture, I am less worried about the things I don't understand.

Personally, I do not worry about a person's views on Calvinism/Arminianism. I can find great value if they are commited to faithfully exegeting the Word. 

RAusdahl said:

Arminian and Calvinist Resource List
I would like to start with good commentary sets, but am certainly open to small collections and individual titles as well.

Next to Calvin, for an exhaustive  Calvinist commentary set, would be John Gill.

http://www.logos.com/product/8514/the-works-of-john-gill