Customer Reviews

Grace of God and the Will of Man, The

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is an extremely worthwhile collection of philosophical and Biblical arguments (there's more of the former) for Arminianism, and one of the first books which elaborate proposals for the 'openness of God' case. You'll find much here to provoke study and reflection upon certain 'major' Biblical themes (e.g. election, original sin, predestination, omniscience, omnipotence, etc.).

A passionate introduction by Clark Pinnock sets the tone for a multi-thronged offensive against Calvinist/Reformed theology. In his theological pilgrimage, he also mentions his conviction of non-exhaustive divine foreknowledge (also known as the Open View of God) but leaves the elaboration to Richard Rice later in the book.

To lead the Biblical charge, we have I. Howard Marshall and William MacDonald with excellent proposals for universal salvation and corporate election in Christ. These are also strong counter-paradigms to Calvinist interpretations within the Gospel of John (by Grant Osbourne) and to the Calvinist rendition of the Scriptural story as a whole (presented topically by Terry Miethe, whose essay should rank as one of the best introductions to the doctrine of unlimite atonement around).

The more philosophically-inclined reader will also get a treat with a number of high-quality works by Jack Cottrell (divine sovereignity), William L. Craig (on Molinism or middle knowledge), Richard Rice (on partial and exhaustive foreknowledge), Bruce Reichenbach (on original sin), C. Stephen Evans (on the personal acceptance of salvation), etc. Cottrell (in the opening portion of his piece) makes it very clear, through a systematic presentation of the consequences of total, unconditional and efficacious sovereignity, that consistent Calvinism logically and completely eliminates all elements of human (and angelic) moral responsibility for evil. John Sanders and Fritz Guy complement the attack on determinism (as do almost half the authors) in their essays, arguing for God as Personal and One for whom Love is primary (as opposed to an Absolutistic deity whose main concern is control). Sanders also highlights the effect of 'controlling beliefs' on the way we understand Biblical narratives, which I believe is a foundational methodological breakthrough for the Open God movement (or, put another way, is an Archille's heel in classical notions of divine foreknowledge).

(At this point I wish to point out to Mr.Ashton Wilkins that Calvinism is itself HEAVILY founded upon Greek philosophical structures and if anything it is the Reformed theologian who needs to examine why he thinks Man cannot perform other than that which God desires - why else postulate that totally unBiblical notion of 'hidden' and 'revealed' divine wills?)

Euthusiasts on issues pertaining to divine foreknowledge will not easily get another trinity of articles juxtaposed as appropriately as those of Cottrell, Rice and Craig.

Arguments focusing on the practical and experiential aspects of theology are then taken up by Randall Basinger (hidden vs. revealed will of God), William Abraham (predestination and assurance) and Jerry Walls (predestination and moral intuition).

It would be an understatement to say that this book is required reading for anyone interested in the Calvinist-Arminian debate. The articles constitute solid Scriptural and philosophical platforms for Arminian theology, and that which Calvinist theology must interact seriously with or risk losing credibility. With top-notch scholars and a diverse field of topics, I'd consider this an invaluable resource for searching the deep truths of God and a milestone release for Neo-Arminian theology.

In this symposium edited by Clark Pinnock in 1989, a selection of Arminian leaning theologians present essays on a variety of themes attached to man's free will.

Though I have always been more Arminian than Calvinist in my convictions, I am sorry to report that this collection fails in the promise held out in the subtitle of other printings of this work: "A case for Arminianism." It is possible to read this book from cover to cover without finding out the five points of Arminianism, much less a scriptural explanation for them. Holiness is surely Arminianism's glory, and there is no rousing call for a holy life in this collection. Instead there is a lot of philosophy, some fragments of the history of soteriology, and personal reflections on the question of free will.

What hamstrings Grace of God is a surfeit of authors. Hence good essays, such as those by Terry Miethe and Jack Cotterell, are not given adequate space to develop their arguments. On the plus side less lucid contributions, such as I Howard Marshall's rather stolid essay on the pastoral epistles, are soon out of the way. Arminians remain a minority within evangelicalism. Perhaps for this reason Pinnock felt that he had to muster the troops in force for the Grace of God.

Having said this, a lot of the essays are very good and well worth reading. Pinnock's provocative From Augustine to Arminius is lucidly written. Grant Osborne's Soteriology in the Gospel of John is thoughtful and well argued. Terry Miethe's The Universal Power of the Atonement does an excellent job in defending the universal atonement, though he seems reluctant to take on Packer's notorious Death of Deaths introductory essay (freely available on the Internet). Jack Cotterell's The Nature of Divine Sovereignty presents the more traditional Arminian view on the subject. Jerry Walls compares and contrasts Luther and Calvin's views on predestination with Wesley: a very readable essay that needs more scripture! I certainly didn't mind reading about Molinism (middle knowledge) or Kierkegaard, but if I was Calvinist I would have been reinforced in my view that Arminianism is more concerned with philosophy than exegesis.

This is pre-Openness Pinnock - just - open theist ideas are present in Grace of God co-open theists Richard Rice and John Sanders feature in the collection. Rice falls into the Calvinist trap of assuming that foreknown means foreordained. Thus he denies God's omniscience and the seed of open theism germinates. Sanders' essay on God as Personal discusses the influence of Greek philosophy on classical theism. He was to develop this further, his essay in The Openness of God is well worth reading, whatever your views on open theism (this reviewer is sympathetic but has reservations).

The Grace of God and the Will of Man, evoked a Calvinist response in Still Sovereign a collection of essays edited by Thomas Schreiner and Bruce Ware. If time allows, reading the two volumes in parallel is highly recommended. Still Sovereign is more measured and less knee-jerk than much of what has been published more recently in response to Open Theism. It is also a valuable introduction (and summary) of contemporary 5-point Calvinist thought. Regrettably, Grace of God does not do the same for Arminianism.

This book is a scholarly collection of 15 articles (each written by a different theologian) addressing the fierce historic Calvinist-Arminian debate from the Arminian point of view. I recommend it highly. It gives sound analysis and refutations of Calvinist positions on election, the atonement, exhaustive sovereignty, and other issues. Most of the reasoning is top notch. However, I don't necessarily agree with all of the articles. Two stray into hyper-Arminianism and insist that God has limited his omniscience to give man freedom. But even those articles are well-reasoned and challenging. Clark Pinnock, the editor, is to be commended for this work and I hope it stays in print for a long time.

It's ironic to me that many Calvinist who have reviewed this book do so in one of the most defensive tones you can find in many reviews. Calvinist hate to be questioned and to question Calvinism, as Vic Reaonser wrote, is to question the faith to many of them. That is why I enjoyed reading THE GRACE OF GOD AND THE WILL OF MAN. The book is a systematic attack against Calvinism as well as a defense of the Arminian faith.

The book flows in a natural order from the sovereignty of God to finally ending with the application in salvation. While I did not fully agree with everything that was written, I found that the book is a solid philosophical and biblical defense of Arminianism.

The draw back to this book is the beginnings of the "open theism" arguments beginning to take shape from Clark Pinnock, John Saunders, and Richard Rice. Their chapters are not typical Arminian chapters and they move away from the theology of James Arminius toward their own views. It is worth reading their views though to see that, despite what Calvinist claim, they seek to build their arguments for open theism from Scripture and reason.

Overall this is a solid book to read. As with any book, you take the good and the bad. The Bible must be the final authority (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and we must not buy into the arguments from Calvinist or Arminians simply because they say what we want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3).

I highly recommend this book. I enjoyed the format which supplies you with opinions from multiple people. It had quite a few portions which had come to the same conclusions I have come to through 8 yrs. of serious Bible study. It offered good background information and was Biblically based. I often found myself writing in the margins things like, I agree! Just what I thought all this time! I was thrilled to have more biblically based material with which to firm up my opinions on God as being inclusive rather than exclusive with regards to salvation of mankind.I was glad to find others who feel God wants to enjoy more of an open and reactive relationship with us rather than a totally predestined one. It gives you food for thought, ideas to contemplate, and more questions to answer or hypothesize. thank you!

This book is easy to read. Some chapters are a bit deep, but you can get similar ideas from the authors of the other chapters (most of whom wrote concisely and simply). What a great collection of non-Calvinist scholars!
Cottrell really helped me understand the biblical nature of sovereignty. He deals directly with the idea that faith is NOT a work. Calvinists claim that Arminians work for that salvation because believing/faith is a work. This is just not biblical.
John Sanders makes the God of the Bible a personal God. He thinks, creates, plans, anticipates, remembers, responds, punishes, warns, forgives. All of these biblical examples (not from a systematic theology) confront the "immutable", impersonal God of Calvin, who only acts and never reacts. Do they read the Old Testament?
Read the Bible. Simply and without systematic presuppositions. You will not find Calvin's limited atonement. You will find a God of mercy who make his gift available to all who will act in faith and receive it.

Overall, I felt this book was philosophically challenging, but was deficient in its biblical case. On top of that, all of the biblical cases presented seemed to be confused and/or jumbled to the point of being a non-argument. I personally agree with the author's point of view, but I also think that Greg Boyd did a MUCH better job in "God of the Possible". Read this book for philosophy, and God of the possible for a more Biblical case.

For the most part I found this book to be quite intellectually stimulating and a major challenge to the Calvinist point of view. The editor did a good job of assembling articles that represent the spectrum of opinions within the Arminian camp.
A few of the extreme positions I don't agree with. But most of the book is very good. I. Howard Marshall's article on the pastoral epistles and William L. Craig's piece on middle-knowledge are both excellent. But I was particularly impressed with Terry Miethe's article, "The Universal Power of the Atonement." This is a major personal interest of mine. For a book-length work on this issue (written by a British Puritan Arminian theologian) I recommend "Redemption Redeemed: A Puritan Defense of Unlimited Atonement" by John Goodwin.

Too much emotionalism, too little Bible is why I give this book only 2 stars. The problem is that Pinnock and others have gone off the deep end in their loathing of Calvinism and have denied to God some of His basic attributes as given in the Bible. I agree that God does change His mind, but this does not have to imply that He is not omniscient. But as I said, this book presents a glut of emotionalism when it should be presenting a glut of Bible. I wish Mr. Pinnock and others had done a better job of presenting a case against Calvinism, as it is not hard to do if you know your Bible.

Up front, I would suggest that this book would do nothing for a non-believer in Christianity. It does present an interesting set of sometimes very different views on the subject of man's free will in relation to God's sovereignty. I personally found that it challenged me to rethink how the appearance of free will in my "choices" actually could fit in with God's sovereignty. I had found my own thinking heading toward a hyper-Calvinist view (Deterministic). This book definitely does not give any answers--but I have come to see that the tension and the questions are really very important to our Christian walk.