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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended resource by contemporary authors, January 10, 2009
This review is from: John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, Doxology (Hardcover)
There are so many caricatures of Calvinism (and Arminianism) found on the web that it can be difficult to know exactly what Calvinism really is. What better way to do that than to read about John Calvin as written by contemporary historians, authors, preachers and theologians?
"...the amount of misrepresentation to which Calvin's theology has been subjected has been enough to prove his doctrine of total depravity several times over!"
-J.I. Packer, The Collected Shorter Writings of J. I. Packer
There are so many quotable quotes in this book it's difficult to choose which ones to include in this review to whet the appetite of anyone who might be interested in reading the book.
Iain H. Murray writes this in the Foreward:
"Sometimes the impression can be given to other Christians that we regard `Calvinism' as co-terminus with Christianity and that we think all gospel preaching can be fitted into the five points. The five points are not to be depreciated, but God is incomprehensibly greater than our understanding, and there are other truths to be preached far beyond our capacity to harmonize.
Calvin cautions us here. In speaking of the indiscriminate invitations of Christ in John 5, he observes, `He is ready to give himself, provided that they are only willing to believe.' He can say that `nothing of all that God wishes to be saved shall perish' and yet warn his hearers lest the opportunity of salvation `pass away from us.' He speaks of Christ's `great kindness' to Judas and affirms, `Christ does not lay Judas under the necessity of perishing.' If on occasions, when in controversy with opponents of Scripture, Calvin unduly presses the implications of a doctrine, he guards against that temptation in his general preaching and teaching. He does not hesitate to teach that God loves those who will not be saved; indeed, he writes that God `wishes all men to be saved,' and to the objection that God cannot wish what He has not ordained, it is enough for Calvin to confess: `Although God's will is simple, yet great variety is involved in it, as far as our senses are concerned. Besides, it is not surprising that our eyes should be blinded by intense light.' Our duty, he would say, is to adore the loftiness of God rather than investigate it."
The book is very accessible to any audience and has very few words that need to be looked up unless the reader is a very new Christian and very unfamiliar with Biblical terms.
Some of the first few chapters about Calvin's life (each written by a different author) have some repeated information. To put it in software terms, I'm not sure if this is a feature or a bug. Meaning, I'm not sure if more editing should have been done or if it was intentional to let each author's account be left alone. In any case, each account fills in some details that others hadn't and none of it is conflicting.
For the most part the book is not defensive or polemic. Arminianism isn't brought up much until the chapter by John MacArthur entitled Man's Radical Corruption. I'm not sure if he's the best person to be talking about Arminianism, especially since he calls it a "scheme." Other than that there is occasional mention of Calvin's objectors but the book just gives an account of how he counters them.
Since the book is written by contemporary authors, we can get a glimpse of how Calvin contrasts with some of our typical current evangelical thought and vocabulary. A couple of examples:
"His language here is strikingly different from that of contemporary evangelicalism. It is hard to imagine him speaking about `letting Jesus into my heart' or `praying to accept Jesus'; indeed, for Calvin, the movement of conversion is not `getting Christ in' but `getting into Christ.'"
"Calvin resisted the temptation to redesign the church and followed the Reformation pattern of returning the church to its biblical design and apostolic simplicity. He was convinced the church had a sufficient designer, Jesus Christ, and an effective design, which was delineated in Scripture and displayed in the church of the first century. Clearly, Calvin would abhor the efforts of today's church leaders to `redesign' the church. He was aware that the Lord does not call us to pray for church designers, since the designer of the church is Christ, but to pray for `builders and laborers' to faithfully build on `the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone' (Eph. 2:20)."
This book is not only good for those who aren't familiar with Calvinism, but also for those who would call themselves Calvinists but don't know a lot about Calvin himself and what classical Calvinism really is. Since each chapter is relatively short, none of the subjects are gone into in great depth but this gives the reader an idea of whether or not they would like to go further in investigating Calvin and reformed theology. It also sheds light on the fact that he's not just about theology and TULIP. For myself, I learned how much he emphasizes prayer and will be reading more about that from him.
I enjoyed this book very much and wholeheartedly recommend it.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great and timely introduction, January 11, 2009
This review is from: John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, Doxology (Hardcover)
Have you ever wanted to read those authors of old? The ones who wrote with incredibly good grammar, a few words you'd never heard before? Well I have and I've put it off for a long time. That is until I picked up a few cheap re-prints on a recent trip to Wellington . Its funny how cheap they are. I bet it cost more to print them than they made selling them. The old writers had a way to engage their readers, drawing them into a world of three dimensional characters. They were master wordsmiths. But times change and so do peoples tastes. Thats why we always need a new generation of writers to make sense of the past and contextualise it for today.
This is critical for those who want to read Calvin. He is often depicted as a cold, stoic and heartless man. That's partly due to the system of theology that bears his name , and more correctly by those who follow his system of theology. But after this book, hopefully your opinions will change. If you've read my new years resolutions you'll know I'm tired of defending the five points of Calvinism, and that is exactly why I enjoyed this book. The preface by Iain Murray blew me away. He's worth quoting at length:
We believe that divine revelation has come to us in words and in propositions, and for these we must contend. But truth is only rightly believed to the extent that it is embodied in life. (page xiv)
Too often, in our time, beliefs associated with the name Calvin, have been identified with the lecture hall and the academy. We have found it easier to be "teachers" and "defenders" of the truth than to be evangelists who are willing to die that men might be converted. We regard "Calvinism" as co-terminus with Christianity and think that all gospel preaching can be fitted into the five points. (page xv)
His preface is a sharp critique at the way Reformed theology has gone in current times and it hit me like a tonne of bricks. To paraphrase Ghandi (and perhaps a lot of people out there) I like your Calvin, but I do not like your Calvinists. Murrays preface alone is worth the price of the book. Burk echoes Murray saying that we need to "Bible Calvinists" and not just "System Calvinists".
The book consists of 19 short chapters written by some of the great names in reformed theology today. They give a short history of Calvin's life, Pastoral heart and Theology. Each chapter reads like a self contained unit. You could start anywhere in the book, but its probably best to read it right the way through.
What becomes abundantly clear, as you read through the book, is that John Calvin is nothing like the caricatures. He may have been a quiet and reserved man, but never a cold hard stoic. For him the starting point of his theology was not justification by faith, but rather Union with Christ. How different our theological arguments would be if we all started from this point and worked outwards? What has always impressed me with John Calvin was not just his academic abilities, but his pastoral heart. For Calvin, nothing gave him more comfort than to meditate on the providence of God. "The Bitterest afflications in life are sweet when Christians know they come from God, serve his purposes and ultimately contribute to their good" He lived out what he taught. Lawson handles the question of Calvin's style of preaching and rightly so since he did a great job in "The expository genius of John Calvin".
Of course the question of Calvinism and Arminianism has to come up in a book like this. If you've read my previous post "The Road Ahead" you'll know my stance on this. John MacArthur handled the "Radical Depravity" Chapter. I'm not a fan of MacArthur, I've always found him a little too dogmatic. This chapter was no exception. Lets be clear here, Arminianism and Pelagianism are quite different things. Calvinism believes that God irresistably draws the elect, while Arminianism says that God draws people to a point where they can say "yes or no". The problem with MacArthurs approach in the chapter is that is what Murray wrote to counter in his preface. For all MacArthurs talk about Grace, he seems to conduct himself without a lot of it.
I enjoyed the treatment of Calvins more controversial doctrine of election and reprobation which followed MacArthurs chapter. Many who learn about election and reprobation for the first time decry the doctrines as unjust and incompatible with a loving God. Justice is not the category we should invoke in these discussions, as Phillips points out Justice would result in condemnation as all have sinned and falled short of the Glory of God. Calvin was humbled by this doctrine. The fact that the creator of the universe chose him to be a part of his family, for no other reason than his love for him, would prove very humbling for Calvin.
Books like this are difficult to sum up. Thats the problem with reviewing a series of essays. While they have a common subject they are as diverse as the authors themselves. I enjoyed the content, but am repeatedly annoyed by some of the sideswipes taken against those who disagree with Calvinism. I've come to see disagreement as a healthy expression of an honest struggle with a doctrine. Any disagreements should, as the reformers said, take us back to the sources. Of course we need debate, and discussion. If we all agreed on everything life would be pretty boring.
This book would serve as a good introduction to Calvins works. I would reccomend a brief study of the issues leading up to and surrounding the reformation. You'd be a lot better equipped to understand Calvin. This year if Calvin were still alive, he would be 500 years old (a youngster compared to Metheusala). What better time to get aquainted with a theological giant than now?
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Good One, April 20, 2009
This review is from: John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, Doxology (Hardcover)
If you are like me and you listen to a lot of different people and you here a lot of different stories, you know how varied a view on historical people such as Calvin you can get. While it is natural for people to have different perspectives and opinions on people, these are often formed with little information and facts. The stories are filtered through the personalities of storytellers and often may be distorted because of personal opinions. That being said facts are facts and they stand the test of time. What i appreciated about this book was that presentation. The facts of John Calvins life have effected many in todays society without our knowing it. I especially enjoyed and found encouraging the story of his life in the many different facets. In today's society I can get very discouraged and look at many of the things he went through and see a comparison to todays assault and need for Reformation. Today doesn't compare to what he went through and had to deal with but the need for John Calvins is certainly needed just as bad. While looking at his life we can get encouragement and see that with the life of one man, God can do much. Every act of obedience prevents an act of Disobedience. I encourage any and all that desire to learn of Calvin to pick up this book and have the facts for yourself so that one more person has the facts for them self and can know the man as best they could.
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