Been a long time since the last Friday Files, but it’s back! If you’re new to our website, it’s SEA’s weekly dig through the archives—because if you haven’t explored the website very far, you may not know just how very much is in here.
This week we’re looking at book reviews. Included below are links to the book in question on Google Books, and from there you can find it at your favorite bookseller. I’m partial to Amazon, and some of us are partial to ChristianBook.com, but whatever; go with your favorite; you have free will.
As always, the views expressed herein are not always those of SEA and its members, even if they’re written by SEA members. Our members’ names are in blue.
- Roger E. Olson, Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities
- James M. Leonard, “Olson’s Ten Myths about Arminian Theology.” Arminianism is regularly misrepresented, so Olson took the time to refute some of the popular slanders.
- Keith D. Stanglin, Arminius on the Assurance of Salvation: The Context, Roots, and Shape of the Leiden Debate, 1603-1609
- Dan Chapa, “Book Review: Arminius on the Assurance of Salvation.” An outline of Jacob Arminius’s view of salvation, contrasted with his contemporaries.
- James R. White, The Potter’s Freedom: A Defense of the Reformation and a Rebuttal To Norman Geisler’s Chosen But Free
- Laurence M. Vance, “A Critique of The Potter’s Freedom by James White.” [PDF] A regurgitation of all the usual non-logical pro-Calvinist arguments.
- William Paul Young, The Shack
- Kevin Jackson, “Book Review: The Shack.” This popular book is about the problem of evil: Why does God allow atrocities? And in it, the author illustrates God’s loving character.
- James G. McCarthy, John Calvin Goes to Berkeley
- Richard Coords, “New Book: John Calvin Goes to Berkeley.” What happens when a dogmatic Calvinist tries to “reform” the Christian group at UC Berkeley?
- Daniel D. Whedon, The Freedom of the Will as a Basis of Human Responsibility and a Divine Government: Elucidated and Maintained in Its Issue with the Necessitarian Theories of Hobbes, Edwards, the Princeton Essayists, and Other Leading Advocates
- Admin, “Refuting Edwards and Calvinist Compatibilism and Arguments against Genuine Free Will.” Four reviews of Whedon’s recently republished Freedom of the Will, plus extra resource books for the Arminian view on free will.
- Richard J. Mouw, Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport: Making Connections in Today’s World
- Richard Coords, “Review of Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport.” Calvinists don’t always present their “doctrines of grace” with any grace, so Mouw recommends a more winsome approach.
- John D. Wagner, ed., Arminius Speaks: Essential Writings on Predestination, Free Will, and the Nature of God
- Robert E. Picirilli, “Foreword to Arminius Speaks.” Introducing the relevant excerpts of Jacob Arminius’s writings.
- David L. Allen, Steve Lemke, eds., Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism
- Roger E. Olson, “Review of Whosoever Will.” Allen and Lemke take on the aggressive “new” Calvinism of the ’00s with a scholarly collection of critical essays.
- William W. Klein, “Review of Whosoever Will.” Required reading for anyone unsure of where they stand regarding Calvinism.
- F. Leroy Forlines, Classical Arminianism: A Theology of Salvation
- Ben Henshaw, “Review of F. Leroy Forlines, Classical Arminianism: A Theology of Salvation.” Presenting Arminian theology from the Free Will Baptist tradition, which classically follows closely to what Arminius himself taught.
- Gerald O. McCulloh, ed., Man’s Faith and Freedom: The Theological Influence of Jacobus Arminius
- Dan Chapa, “Book Review: Man’s Faith and Freedom.” Short reviews of the five essays on Arminus’s influence in the world.
- Gabriel N.E. Fluhrer, ed., Atonement
- Warren Rachele, “Atonement—Under Attack.” The authors of these essays are pretty sure “atonement” is under attack—by which they mean penal substitutionary atonement, and they offer a number of familiar Reformed perspectives on it.
- Richard Swinburne, Providence and the Problem of Evil
- J.W. Wartick, “Book Review: Providence and the Problem of Evil by Richard Swinburne.” Swinburne emphasizes the “greater good” argument: God has his reasons for permitting evil, and we must trust they’re good. [SEA’s disclaimer.]
- Alan J. Spence, Justification: A Guide for the Perplexed
- Roger E. Olson, “A New Book on Justification and Some Questions about Calvinism and Heavenly Rewards.” Okay, the actual review is in The Evangelical Quarterly, but Olson must first bring up a few points he finds problematic.
- Myk Habets, Bobby Grow, eds., Evangelical Calvinism: Essays Resourcing the Continuing Reformation of the Church
- Roger E. Olson, “Evangelical Calvinism?” The 15 essays describe “evangelical Calvinism,” clearly as interpreted by Thomas and James Torrance, and there’s a lot of common ground between them and Arminians—although they take a few swipes at Arminian, and as usual it’s unlikely the authors ever looked up what Arminians actually believe.
Want even more to read? Check out everything else we’ve tagged “Book Reviews.”
