Yep, it’s the St. Veronica’s Day edition of the Friday Files. Sorry about skipping St. Illidius’s Day last week; technical difficulties. (Meaning I’m technically inept at WordPress. I’m more of a Blogger guy. But hey, whatever helps put more Arminianism on the internet.)
The views expressed in these articles are frequently Arminian, but sometimes not, nor do they always reflect the positions of SEA. Time to practice discernment, folks. Our members’ names are in blue. These posts are from the first half of July…
Last year! (2018)
- Rusty Brian, “Arminianism, Calvinism, and Their Influence Upon John Wesley.” Arminius’s pursuit of God’s goodness resonated with Wesley’s pursuit of God’s goodness.
- William Lane Craig, The Atonement. [PDF] Since the scriptures don’t explicitly spell out how Jesus atones for our sins, Christian philosophers came up with lots of popular theories. Craig’s book (yep, a whole book!) sorts through them, and lands on a form of penal substitution.
- Vic Reasoner, “Fallen Angels.” Part of the FWS Podcast, in two parts. Reasoner talks about the popular Christian view of demons as fallen angels.
- Brian Shelton, “Is Prevenient Grace in the Bible?” Which is kinda like asking, “Is there air in the sky?” but if you grew up Calvinist you have a lot to unlearn. Hence Shelton wrote a book about it, Prevenient Grace.
- Steve Witski, “Free Grace or Forced Grace.” The more we examine the idea of irresistible grace, the less gracious it sounds.
- David T. Fry, “Jacob Arminius: The Man from Oudewater.” A review of Rustin Brian’s biography of Arminius from a Calvinist perspective.
- Vic Reasoner, “Anthropology.” Part of the FWS Podcast, in two parts. No, it’s not about cultural nor physical anthropology, but the Christian doctrine of humanity—what it was created to be, what it now is, and what it will become under Jesus.
Five years ago! (2014)
- David Allen, “Review of From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective, Part 4.” David S. Hogg discusses how medieval thinkers viewed limited (in this book “definite”) atonement, but limits his “thinkers” to Gottschalk of Orbais, plus out-of-context quotes from Pierre Lombard and Thomas Aquinas.
- Austin Fischer, “The Fickle Security of Eternal Security.” Both those who believe once-saved-always-saved, and those who don’t, recognize Christians gotta persevere.
- David Allen, “Review of From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective, Part 5.” Paul Helm anachronistically tries to read current Calvinist views into John Calvin’s writings.
- David Allen, “Review of From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective, Part 6.” Raymond Blacketer argues it wasn’t actually Theodore Beza who developed limited atonement for Calvinism; it was always there in the scriptures. Uh-huh.
- Martin Glynn, “Essential Attributes vs. Relational Attributes.” Which of God’s attributes are part of his nature, and which are just relative?
- Roger E. Olson, “Arminianism FAQ 1 (Everything You Always Wanted to Know…)” Introducing Olson’s frequently-asked questions. On classical Arminianism, whether it’s a sect, why it’s identified with Arminius, why the recent interest, and “Calminianism.”
- Roger E. Olson, “Arminianism FAQ 2 (Everything You Always Wanted to Know…)” On Arminianism versus Wesleyanism, “absolute free will,” and God’s sovereignty.
- David Allen, “Review: Lee Gatiss, “The Synod of Dort and Definite Atonement,” From Heaven He Came and Sought Her, Part 7.” Gatiss overviews the Synod of Dort and its Canons. Best chapter in the book.
- David Allen, “Review Part 8: From Heaven He Came and Sought Her, Amar Djaballah on Amyraut.” Djaballah discusses Moses Amyraut and the Amyraldian form of four-point Calvinism. Likewise a very informative chapter.
Ten years ago! (2009)
- Ben Henshaw, “The Reality of Choice and the Testimony of Scripture.” The scriptures affirm we truly do have free will, and not just a predetermined simulation of it. [Unless that’s what God deceptively wants us to think… but no, we’re not going there.]
- Solus Arminius, “For Whom Did Jesus Die?” Everyone. But if you reduce atonement to a cold statement of orthodoxy, you skip God’s motivation, and start speculating those who reject atonement are somehow not atoned for.
- Solus Arminius, “The Freedom & Bondage of the Will.” When we’re under sin, our free will is limited to only do evil. When we’re under Christ, our free will can also choose to do good. But remember: Good deeds don’t make us righteous anyway. Faith does.
- J.C. Thibodaux, “Response to Desiring God on Original Sin.” Through one man, sin spread to all humanity. But it doesn’t automatically follow all humanity is likewise guilty of that one man’s specific sin.
- Steve Noel, “Robert Shank on Calvinist Pastors and the Warning Passages of Scripture.” The scriptures warn us away from apostasy, and such passages are inconsistent with common Calvinist teachings on eternal security. And yet Calvinist pastors, when they preach on these passages… warn us away from apostasy. Wait, what?
- Robert Hamilton, “Three Lies About Sin.” Things we tell ourselves to justify our sins to ourselves.
- Kevin Jackson, “Prevenient Grace Explained.” In short, the grace God uses to draw people to himself.
- Dan Chapa, “Friday Files: Joseph Benson’s Commentary on Romans 9.” From Benson’s notes on the bible, he discusses the national election of Israel.
- Kevin Jackson, “Six Ways That Calvin is Better than Arminius.” A bit of satire, in honor of Calvin’s 500th birthday.
- Martin Glynn, “Ephesians 1:7-8; A Devotional.” God’s grace is so profound, yet we so often take it for granted.
Links to visit!
If that wasn’t enough reading material, I really don’t know what to do with you. Clearly you’ve got a need far beyond SEA’s abilities. Not Jesus’s though.
I can at least point you to our page of links, where you’ll find a lot of Arminian-related material, plus lots of blogs which regularly update. Maybe that’ll help. I dunno.
