In this post I will discuss why Compatibilistic Calvinism really offers no satisfactory explanation of how genuine human choice (in the common understanding of the word) is possible within the scheme of divine determinism. William Birch…
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What If: Could Anakin Skywalker Have Chosen Not to Become Darth Vader?
In Star Wars Episode III, The Revenge of the Sith, Jedi Master Mace Windu and Sith Lord Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious) are engaged in battle when Anakin Skywalker enters the room. As Anakin watches on,…
Grace: The Analogy of Sanctification
We bless thee, O God most high and Lord of mercies, who ever workest great and mysterious deeds for us, glorious, wonderful, and numberless; who providest us with sleep as a rest from our infirmities…
Arminius for Everyone
Often historical information regarding sixteenth-century Reformed theologian Jacob Arminius (1559-1609) is weighed down by theological jargon too complicated and uninteresting for the average lay-reader. Too much is assumed by the respective authors and too much…
Questioning Calvinism: Unconditional Election
When I was a Calvinist in the late 1990s, having been defending Calvinism as the lone orthodox theology of the Church for quite some time, I remember asking our assistant pastor at Providence Presbyterian Church…
Roger Olson, “What’s Wrong with Calvinism?”
This is a talk I (Dr Roger Olson) gave recently at City on a Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. (City on a Hill is a mostly Russian evangelical church. It’s leaders are concerned about infiltration…
Compatibilism vs. Free Will
God’s relationship with not only His universe but also the creatures whom He created in His own image has been debated, fashioned, and refashioned throughout the history of the Church. From what one may gather,…
Dekker and Muller on Middle Knowledge in Arminius’ Theology
The following quotes are taken from Eef Dekker’s Was Arminius a Molinist? The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Summer, 1996), pp. 337-352. Arminius: The knowledge of God is a faculty of his life, which…
Was Arminius an Open Theist?
There exists a false charge that Arminius’ theology, when consistently maintained, renders one an Open Theist. This charge is merely a rhetorical one, synonymous with the insistence that the only consistent Calvinism is hyper-Calvinism, or…
Roger Olson, “A Reformed Theologian’s Critique of Divine Determinism”
Hearty thanks go to publishers Wipf & Stock for re-publishing theologian Emil Brunner’s three volume Dogmatics which was originally published in English by Lutterworth Press in England and subsequently by Westminster Press in America. At…
Tim Keller and D.A. Carson: Prime Examples of the Gumby Theology of Calvinism
Gumby—a green clay humanoid character that can twist and turn to get out of every predicament. A great toy it makes; a great theologian it does not. There is no greater theological imperative today then…
Mike Barlotta – 3 Characteristics of Predestination
In “The Softer Face of Calvinism” (Christianity Today), it is argued that, rather than appealing to theologians to understand Reformed theology, one should use the Reformed confessions and creeds. The confessions, therefore, form an important…
Eric Landstrom, “Thomas Oden’s Paleo-Orthodoxy”
12/09/02 “It is never too late to rediscover the joy of studying God.”1 Goal Setting “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.…
Mike Barlotta – Ordaining All that Comes to Pass
The Westminster Confession was drafted in 1646 and is one of the Reformed creeds of faith. In this confession (chapter III section 1) it reads: God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and…
Robert E. Picirilli, “Toward a Non-Deterministic Theology of Divine Providence”
Robert E. Picirilli, “Toward a Non-Deterministic Theology of Divine Providence,” Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry (Spring 2014) Volume 11.1, 38-61. (The original article and the entire journal issue in which it appeared may be found here.)…
Roger Olson, “Review of Oliver Crisp’s *Deviant Calvinism* Part Two”
This is Part Two of my series of review essays of Oliver Crisp’s new book Deviant Calvinism: Broadening Reformed Theology and deals with Chapter 2: “Eternal Justification.” I invite those reading the book with me…
J. Matthew Pinson, “Thomas Grantham an Influence on Wesley’s View of Predestination”
Recently a friend and former student, Jesse Owens (now a Ph.D. student in historical theology at Southern Seminary) told me about a statement Herbert McGonigle had made about Wesley “raising the ghosts” of John Goodwin…
1 Corinthians 10:13 Teaches Libertarian Free Will
1 Corinthians 10:13 states: No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the…
The Arminian Confession of 1621
The Remonstrants constructed their Arminian Confession of 1621 in the brief years following the conclusion of the Synod of Dort. The translator of the work below, Dr. Mark A. Ellis, states: “They intended it as…
Jerry Walls, “Divine Predestination and Human Freedom”
Like divine sovereignty as we previously discussed here, predestination is not a Calvinist doctrine, it is a biblical doctrine. And indeed, as a theologian steeped in Scripture, Wesley not only affirmed the doctrine, he affirmed a…
Recent Posts
Video: Arminian Denominations & Arminius’ Lutheran & Anabaptist Influences: “Who Are the Arminians?” Part 1
How Should We Respond to the Claim That the Calvinistic View of Predestination and Election Is Central to the Gospel?
N. T. Wright on Election in His Book *Paul and the Faithfulness of God*
Roy Ingle, “Keeps On Keeping”
