Tag: Calvinism
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Uneasy ‘Calvinist’
I feel no little uneasiness when labeled a Calvinist. It is not that the description is unfitting. Nor is it because I have any disaffection for Calvin. Quite the contrary. My reservation is that there is much baggage that accompanies that label – baggage assigned by those who reject the tenants of the Faith associated…
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Elect or Elite?
A few years ago, soon after coming to Bristol, I was asked by a godly woman in our church: “What does it mean to be Reformed?” She had been talking with someone from another church who had snidely claimed that their church did not associate with our church because we were not Reformed enough. What…
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Gently Down Which Stream?
Collin Hansen, Justin Taylor, and Owen Strachen discuss the re-emergence of Calvinism, the streams of the Reformed tradition, and the different faces of Evangelicalism. Related post at Gospel Coalition: One Movement, Many Streams
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Resurging Calvinism
Jonathan Dodson, of Acts 29 Network, has posted a great synopsis of beliefs in an article titled: The Message of Resurging Calvinsm. This falls into the category of: I Wish I’d Written That – it so simply and concisely summarizes what I have been teaching at Walnut Hill Church. Dodson clearly describes 5 areas of important Faith distinctives: Gospel…
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Calvinist When Calvinism Wasn’t Cool
To paraphrase Barbara Mandrell, “I was a Calvinst when Calvinism wasn’t cool.” Historically Calvinism had a long day of being cool. Then it was cool no more. Now from all appearances it is cool once again. This resurgence of Reformed Spirituality is not new news. Christianity Today, among others, has been talking about it for several…
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Easy Chairs & Hard Words – Part 2
by Douglas Wilson I had thought of a question during the week which I thought would bring our conversation back to some evangelical “basics.” My sessions with Pastor Spencer were unsettling and fascinating both; on the one hand I was attracted by his approach to the Scriptures, but on the other I was concerned…
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Easy Chairs & Hard Words – Part 1
by Douglas Wilson We join a conservation in progress; it is between a young theological questioner who grew up in a typical Evangelical church, and an older pastor from a more historical theological tradition. ***** I stirred nervously in my seat, and cleared my throat. I was not at all sure I wanted to ask…
