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Title: Grace, Faith, Free Will: Contrasting Views of Salvation: Calvinism and Arminianism by Robert E. Picirilli ISBN: 0-89265-648-4 Publisher: Randall House Publications Pub. Date: 01 April, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: scholarly, insightful, and balanced look at this controversy
Comment: For nearly 10 years I have been a serious student of theology. The Calvinist/Arminian issue comes up a great deal and it is important for serious students of theology to study this issue and attempt to discover the truth.
In terms of background, many of the most prominent teachers of our day (RC Sproul, John MacArthur, John Piper, etc.) are diehard Calvinists so that most people are already heavily biased against Arminian theology. Because of the influence of powerful Calvinists, the word Arminian now connotes humanism, liberalism, and being generally soft toward the Bible.
The goal of this book is to study major themes of Scripture (salvation, grace, faith, free will) from both the Calvinist and Arminian perspectives. It is quite systematic, yet fortunately not too long.
I read Picirilli's book having previously studied Arminianism from the lens of Calvinists. It was a stunning read because I now am convinced that Arminius' views are generally mischaracterized. For example, as Picirilli shows in his book, Arminius believed in total depravity and in a substitionary atonement. Arminius was actually the star student of Theodore Beza himself, who in turn was John Calvin's disciple. After having read this book, I now understand Arminius in a very different light.
On each of the points of Calvinism, Picirilli first states the Calvinist position. He is exceedingly fair and goes to great lengths to quote prominent Calvinists in order to articulate the position accurately. After doing so, he looks at the same point from an Arminian perspective.
Because the author is a former professor of Greek and New Testament studies, the scholarship of this book is impeccable. His exegesis is sharp and demonstrates an extraordinary command of the Bible. It is a cool, levelheaded book that does a brilliant job at examining the issue.
No matter what your theological background, you will certainly benefit from reading this fine book.
Rating: 1
Summary: Recommendations
Comment: For several superb works on Calvinism, I recommend the following. Search for them on the web (many free materials are available from these authors).
Gordon Clark (Trinity Foundation):
- Biblical Predestination
- God and Evil
Vincent Cheung (Reformation Ministries International):
- Systematic Theology
- Ultimate Questions
- Presuppositional Confrontations
Rating: 3
Summary: Well written, but not thorough enough.
Comment: An honest Christian must be willing to examine the arguments of those who disagree with him. I desire to be an honest Christian, and as a biblical Calvinist, it is imperative that I represent the position of those Arminian minded folks who would dissent from what I believe the Bible teaches. The reformed Calvinist has the bad reputation of hunting down and slaying the "windmill" view of Arminianism. Dave Hunt's horrific book obviously offers such an easy target. An honest Christian, particularly an honest Calvinist, should avoid such vain battles, and actually interact with the Arminian's core beliefs.
That is why I appreciated Robert Picirilli's book, "Grace, Faith and Freewill." He classifies himself as a Reformed Arminian, and he articulates his position well. His book lays out his case by first giving the historical background to Arminius's theology, and the Remonstrant's disagreement with traditional Calvinism. Picirilli then proceeds to outline Arminian theology and provide a biblical exegesis for his case. His book is finely written. It is not one of these pseudo-researched books against Calvinism with pages of superfluous footnotes. Larry Vance's monstrosity, "The Other side of Calvinism," basically an 800 page doorstop, comes to mind.
Moreover, I appreciate the fact that Dr. Picirilli boldly proclaims that he is an Arminian. Many of the folks writing against Calvinism put up this disingenuous aire of "I'm not an Arminian, nor a Calvinist; I only believe the Bible." That just indicates to me that such a person usually has no clue about the fundamental issues surrounding the debate. Also, I was pleased that he wrote respectfully and honestly when examining the disagreements between the two systems. His discussion didn't spiral down to a mournful remembrance of Servetus's burning, as if that event some how discredits the theology of the Reformers. He wasn't trying to hunt down any Calvinistic conspiracies with his work, and the tone he took when writing was pleasant; not the shrill, nails on the chalkboard tone of the likes of Peter Ruckman.
Then finally, I was refreshed that he bathed his book in a reasonable amount of exegetical study. The books I have read in the past critiquing and actually blasting Calvinism, are devoid of any meaningful exegesis. Some authors try to do some exegesis, but it is painfully obvious that they are ignorant of the original languages, or lacks any true theological sophistication to interact with any of the exegetical arguments of the proponents of Calvinism. Dr. Picirilli was not like this and I felt that he had some good work to consider.
Where I felt that the book disappointed, however, was in two areas. First, his over all study of election, the atonement, regeneration and perseverance, operates from the presupposition of libertarian freewill; a presupposition I believe he assumes outright, with out question, before proceeding to outline his arguments. There wasn't any in-depth study on this subject, and I believe that is what he needed to establish before he could make a case for his brand of reformed Arminianism. Granted, he does discuss freewill in the section on the application of salvation, but most of his discussion was philosophical, not biblical, and what biblical study he did give to faith and belief, was neither thorough, nor compelling in my opinion. Even his lengthy study on prevenient grace, what he redefines as "pre-regenerating grace," left a lot of critical questions unanswered.
The second area I felt the book lacked was in the interaction with Calvinist writers and thinkers, particularly modern day ones. He does interact with classic Calvinistic theologies such as Berkhof and Shedd and interacts with Roger Nicole's various journal articles and books defending particular redemption. However, I believe he needed to recognize the works of Bruce Ware, Thomas Schriener, James White, John Piper, RT. McGregor-Wright, Robert Reymond, and the late James Boice to just name a few contemporary writers. In fact, I was rather surprised that he totally overlooked any reference to John Owen's Mount Everest work on the atonement.
Overall, though the book is well written, it is just not thorough enough in answering solid objections of Calvinist thinkers. However, Dr. Picirilli's work is worth the time for an honest Calvinist to consider; if he desires to know the ins and outs of his opponent's beliefs.
See James White's "The Potter's Freedom" for a wecomed response to Norman Geisler's Arminian positions.
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Title: Beyond Calvinism and Arminianism: An Inductive, Mediate Theology of Salvation by C. Gordon Olson ISBN: 0962485047 Publisher: Global Gospel Publishers Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Why I Am Not a Calvinist by Jerry L. Walls , Joseph Dongell, Jerry L. Walls ISBN: 0830832491 Publisher: Inter Varsity Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Other Side of Calvinism by Laurence M. Vance ISBN: 0962889873 Publisher: Vance Publications Pub. Date: 05 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Debating Calvinism : Five Points, Two Views by Dave Hunt, James White ISBN: 1590522737 Publisher: Multnomah Pub. Date: 01 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
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Title: Election & Predestination: Keys to a Clearer Understanding by Samuel Fisk ISBN: 1579109292 Publisher: Wipf & Stock Publishers Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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