Calvinism
Can anyone suggest a good book or two on Calvinism \ TULIP? Preferably an introductory book rather than a scholarly text which I can do bible study with a friend. (I already have the book: The Cross and Salvation by Bruce Demarest)
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Josh said:
Can anyone suggest a good book or two on Calvinism \ TULIP? Preferably an introductory book rather than a scholarly text which I can do bible study with a friend. (I already have the book: The Cross and Salvation by Bruce Demarest)
The Cross and Salvation isn't exactly an introductory book, so I'm not sure exactly the level you're expecting!
In Logos, Michael Horton's For Calvinism isn't bad if your friend isn't already convinced. Beeke's Living for God's Glory is rather good and would be my recommendation if it's sufficiently introductory for what you want. For something simpler, try Richard Phililips' What's So Great about the Doctrines of Grace. There's also a large collection of older works, but none are better than the three I've mentioned (IMO).
An alternative would be Piper's Five Points. It isn't in Logos but you can download it for free. It's short and simple, and typical Piper (for better and for worse).
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Josh said:
Can anyone suggest a good book or two on Calvinism \ TULIP? Preferably an introductory book rather than a scholarly text which I can do bible study with a friend. (I already have the book: The Cross and Salvation by Bruce Demarest)
Though it's a bit dated Abraham Kuypers Lectures on Calvinism would give a fuller perspective on Calvinism as a life-system (far beyond the merely soteriolgical questions TULIP addresses). Though a bit dated, and though it addresses an academic audience, it's still quite readable. BTW, Kuper addresses Reformed soteriology in its essence on pp.64,ff in that book. Although he does not directly address TULIP, he does lay out the foundation upon which TULIP is built (i.e., the radically fallen human nature in the state of sin vis a vis the radical change of that nature through regeneration).
I get a bit frustrated when this one aspect of Reformed soteriology gets elevated to the point where the rest of Reformed thought is ignored. The whole TULIP thing is derived from the Canons of Dordt (which can be found in this resource), which addressed the five points of Armininian theology that emerged during that time. As such, TULIP is and was only meant to be a partial explanation of Reformed soteriology--that is, TULIP is Reformed soteriology applied to the questions addressed in the Canons of Dordt. It is not the essence of Reformed soteriology.
Help links: WIKI; Logos 6 FAQ. (Phil. 2:14, NIV)
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You might want to look at Lawson's Foundations of Grace
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5 points of Calvinism by Steele and Thomas
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Sorry, I thought that you could purchase that work individually but can only find it as part of a larger set.
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I think that it is always important to look at Calvinism as a unity rather than to pick out an element out of context *(i.e. Tulip). At its heart Calvinism starts as a meditation on how God has revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ through the witness of the Bible and the Church and an insistence that all elements of our consciousness and Theology must be rooted in this revelation rather than from fallen human reason.
This approach is expressed in its classic form in Calvin's Institutes, which for all its brilliance is not easy going due to its depth and completeness however a really good high level and non technical summation can be found in R C Sproul's "What is Reformed Theology" which unfortunately is not available in Logos, but still well worth a read.
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Mike Pettit said:
R C Sproul's "What is Reformed Theology" which unfortunately is not available in Logos
In Logos, this is called Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology. It is indeed an excellent summary of the reformed faith as a whole.
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Richard DeRuiter said:
Though it's a bit dated Abraham Kuypers Lectures on Calvinism would give a fuller perspective on Calvinism as a life-system (far beyond the merely soteriolgical questions TULIP addresses). Though a bit dated, and though it addresses an academic audience, it's still quite readable. BTW, Kuper addresses Reformed soteriology in its essence on pp.64,ff in that book. Although he does not directly address TULIP, he does lay out the foundation upon which TULIP is built (i.e., the radically fallen human nature in the state of sin vis a vis the radical change of that nature through regeneration).
To offer a counter-perspective, I'm a convinced Calvinist, and I thought Lectures on Calvinism was extremely boring and not very clear or practical. I appreciated the effort to present Calvinism as something beyond soteriological, but I would definitely not recommend it as an introduction to Calvinism.
John Piper's "Five Points" is free in PDF.
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Though not in Logos, this title was seminal in my early interest in Calvinism.
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Grace-Theological-ebook/dp/B00GR8DEHA/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401639903&sr=1-1&keywords=theological+fiction
The book has some critics - but its good overall I think.L2 lvl4 (...) WORDsearch, all the way through L10,
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Mark Barnes said:
In Logos, this is called Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology. It is indeed an excellent summary of the reformed faith as a whole.
Many thanks, I will have to re-read it now
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Mark Barnes said:
An alternative would be Piper's Five Points. It isn't in Logos but you can download it for free. It's short and simple, and typical Piper (for better and for worse).
I only became aware of Five Points after seeing Piper's short video promoting it. Just over 90 pages, and a free PDF download HERE. I quickly converted it to .DOCX and made a Personal Book of it!
"I read dead people..."
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Mike Pettit said:
R C Sproul's "What is Reformed Theology" which unfortunately is not available in Logos, but still well worth a read.
It is now available to pre-order: https://www.logos.com/product/204612/what-is-reformed-theology-understanding-the-basics
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Any one know wassup with Rich DeRuiter, above?
His last post is in 2020.
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