Friday Files, 8 Dec 17

It’s the first-week-of-Advent edition of The Friday Files, our weekly stack of links: We highlight older SEA posts, and highlight stuff from around the Arminian and non-Calvinist blogosphere. Names in green indicate SEA members.

Inclusion isn’t necessarily approval or endorsement. (Some articles actually come from Calvinists!) We offer these links because they’re thought to be of potential interest to those interested in Arminian/Calvinist issues. Blame K.W. Leslie for the brief summaries.

From the SEA archives:

Brian Abasciano, My Evangelical Arminian Theological Musings: “Response to a review of his book on Romans 9-11.” [14 May 12] Steve Moyise’s main criticisms of the book are based on misrepresentations of what Abasciano actually wrote.

Richard Coords: “Origins: What comes from God vs. what comes from man.” [18 May 12] Calvinists admire Romans because they believe it teaches Calvinism. But they seriously misunderstand it.

Andrew Dragos, Seedbed: “How prevenient grace shapes our missional presence.” [8 May 12] God’s grace isn’t limited to the elect, but has laid the groundwork for us to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

Martin Glynn, The JC Freak:

• “Playing with dolls.” [12 Mar 12] If we don’t truly have free will, that’s what God’s relationship with us is reduced to.

• “The foundation of corporate election.” [16 Apr 12] How does God elect people? Well first we look at how he elected Israel.

• “How corporate election works.” [30 Apr 12] Corporate election begins with the head of the people-group to be elected, whether Abraham or Christ Jesus.

• “The empty set criticism of corporate election.” [14 May 12] If God elects a group, what happens when there’s nobody in that group? (Wait, what?)

• “Corporate election analogies.” [21 May 12] Some examples from the scriptures (and the Yankees) about how corporate election works.

God Is My Judge:

• “Minor mistranslation in the works of James Arminius.” [9 May 12] God sharing his goodness with the world isn’t contrary to justice, but is regardless of justice.

• “Book review: Abasciano on Paul’s use of the Old Testament in Romans 9:10-18.” [15 Jun 12] A summary of the second book in the trilogy.

Ben Henshaw, Arminian Perspectives: “Perseverance of the saints part 12: Examining passages commonly appealed to by the advocates of unconditional eternal security.” [22 Sep 08] Turns out, in context, all these passages are conditional.

Kevin Jackson: “Words that Arminians and Calvinists define differently.” [3 May 12] We sometimes talk past one another because Calvinists have their own definitions for certain common terms.

Roger E. Olson, My Evangelical Arminian Theological Musings:

• “Recent responses to Against Calvinism.” [1 May 12] One felt it wasn’t scriptural enough; another found it a way out of the darkness.

• “Thoughts about the terms ‘heresy’ and ‘heretic.’ ” [13 Jun 12] What Olson means, and doesn’t mean, when he uses those words.

Matt O’Reilly, Seedbed: “So what is faith anyway?” [14 May 12] It’s not a work nor substance; its object matters; and it doesn’t hurt to define it as confidence in Christ.

Josh Ratliff: “Prevenient Grace: Enough to Convince? A New Testament theological appraisal.” [2 May 12, PDF] It’s enough to turn us to God, but we need more grace than that to become regenerate.

Calvinism:

J.D. Hall (Calvinist), Pulpit and Pen: “What is heresy?: Is Arminianism heresy, part 1.” [1 Dec 17] Oh, he’ll get to that. But first how Hall defines heresy—and there are a LOT of things he calls heresy.

Arminianism:

K.W. Leslie, Christ Almighty!: “Humility, and the ‘cage-stage’ Christian.” [5 Dec 17] The overzealous “cage-stager” isn’t just a Calvinist phenomenon. It’s anywhere Christians prioritize doctrine over being like Christ.

Evan Minton (Molinist), Cerebral Faith: “If actual infinites cannot exist, how can we say God is infinite?” [4 Dec 17] God’s infinite in quality, not quantity.

Stacy J. Ross, Ramblings from Real Man’s Land:

• “Why pray for the salvation of others?” [4 Dec 17] Meditate on the fact God WANTS everyone to be saved.

• “Prayers for the salvation of others.” [7 Dec 17] Specific things we can pray: For blind eyes to be opened, for the Holy Spirit to convince, for Satan to fail.

Arminian-ish:

Leighton Flowers (Traditionalist), Soteriology 101: “Does omniscience require determinism?” [30 Nov 17] What if past, present, and future are both certain and changeable to God?

Reminder: Feedreaders!

SEA members have blogs! And the best way to keep up with a regularly-updating blog or website is with a feedreader or news aggregator—like Digg Reader, Feeder, Feedreader, Feedly, G2Reader, Inoreader, NewsBlur, and The Old Reader. Find your favorite site’s RSS or Atom feed, put it in your feedreader, and stay up with the latest.

Or tune in next Friday. We’ll be around.