This Week in Calvinism - December 29, 2017

• Hope you had a merry (Calvinist) Christmas!
  
  
• Oh, you didn't receive a Christmas gift? That's probably because Santa Claus recently became a Calvinist, and everyone is now on the naughty list.
  
  
• What better way to close out the year than with yet another anti-Calvinism sermon? *SPOILER ALERT!* Straw men abound. Case in point: For the un-elect, "[God] will make sure you go to Hell, whether you want to go or not."
  
  
• Ligonier presents four Christian principles for making resolutions for the new year.
  
  
• Start the new year off right, with some free stuff from Challies.com.
  
  
• Some challenges for "libertarian Calvinism."
  
  
• Closing 2017 with hope.

This Week in Calvinism - December 22, 2017

• As you all know, Dr. R. C. Sproul was called home last week. You can view his memorial service here.
  
  
• David Robertson on R. C.'s legacy.
  
  
• Even the Washington Post took notice of Dr. Sproul's passing.
  
  
• So did the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  
  
• Advice from C. H. Spurgeon on how to share your story this Christmas.
  
  
• Matthew Boffey reviews Les Lanphere's film Calvinist.
  
  
• It's a Logos-sponsored Free Stuff Friday at Challies.com.

This Week in Calvinism - December 8, 2017

• Dave Armstrong discusses the problems he sees in "John Calvin's erroneous mystical view of the Eucharist."
  
  
• "It is impossible to understate the impact of Calvin on Christianity," writes Jarrod Belcher. "The theology of the Presbyterians, the Puritans, and the early Baptists was thoroughly Calvinistic."
  
  
• John Piper on Bethlehem's supernatural star.
  
  
• Take a look at the theology behind the hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."
  
  
• To live is Christ.
  
  
• It's another $5 Friday at Ligonier.org.
  
  
• A new series of booklets from author Tim Challies.

This Week in Calvinism - November 17, 2017

• The visual storytelling in Les Lanphere's documentary Calvinist "does for Reformed theology what The Bible Project is doing for biblical books and themes: making it more graspable and beautiful for an increasingly image-based world."
  
  
• Martin E. Marty talks about Calvin.
  
  
• Beware the hyper-Calvinist atheists!
  
  
• Paul Flynn responds to Andy Woods and Brannon Howse on Calvinism.
  
  
• "We must base our teaching squarely on biblical theology," writes Dave Armstrong, "and not the arbitrary, self-contradictory traditions of men (folks like Calvin), who eisegete Holy Scripture and substitute for biblical thought, their own traditions."
  
  
• Enter to win some free stuff from Missional Wear.

What was the Reformation all about?

This brief video from Ligonier explains...

This Week in Calvinism - October 27, 2017

• Historian Dr. Michael W. Bruening has discovered early Reformation writings "hiding in plain sight."
  
  
• You know you've rocked a boat or two when people are writing books about what you did 500 years ago.
  
  
• Tim Challies discusses evidences of God's grace in the New Calvinism.
  
  
• Desiring God introduces us to some heroes of the faith in Reformation-era Europe. Among those featured are Robert Estienne (publisher)...
  
  
• ...Theodore Beza (the first Calvinist)...
  
  
• ...and Lady Jane Grey (teenage martyr).
  
  
• Even the Reformation heroes were far from perfect.
  
  
• Today's edition of Free Stuff Fridays at Challies.com is brought to you by The Good Book Company.
  
  
• It's a Reformation-themed $5 Friday at Ligonier.
  
  
• Check out the Illuminated Bible (ESV) from the Westminster Bookstore.

This Week in Calvinism - October 20, 2017

• Among Catholicism's new saints: 30 people killed by Calvinists in Brazil in 1645.
  
  
• "Calvinism is like rat poison. There's some good food in there, but it's got poison in it, so it's not something you would want to ingest."
  
  
• Where did the Reformation really begin?
  
  
• Round out your week with free stuff from Tim Challies...
  
  
• ...$5 deals from Ligonier...
  
  
• ...and Reformation downloads from Christian Audio.

This Week in Calvinism - September 29, 2017

• Joe and Jimmy of Doctrine and Devotion finish up their series on the five kinds of Calvinists.
  
  
• Are good works sins?
  
  
• If you're looking for another podcast, join Desiring God on a "31-day journey of short biographies of the many heroes of the Reformation."
  
  
• Enter to win a copy of the ESV Systematic Theology Study Bible.
  
  
• The Babylon Bee reports that a new Baskin-Robbins is "targeting the lucrative Calvinist market" by offering customers just one preselected flavor to choose from. Care to guess which one?

This Week in Calvinism - September 22, 2017

• Rockytopva dislikes Calvinism because "it gives people a false sense of eternal security."
  
  
• Which of the five points of Calvinism are most difficult for you?
  
  
• Orthodox priest John Strickland discusses the spirit of Calvinism.
  
  
• Tim Challies reviews Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids, by David Murray.
  
  
• Roger Olson talks about the legacy of the Reformation (Luther, Calvin, et al) in contemporary evangelicalism.
  
  
• John Piper discusses the origin of Desiring God's slogan: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him."

This Week in Calvinism - September 8, 2017

• How would Calvinists explain these verses in Jonah? Well, we would probably explain them in the context of story about a God who is sovereign over the weather, sea life, and the hardened hearts of men.
  
  
• Click here to find out why Arminian Roger Olson says, "I stand with true Calvinists."
  
  
• Trusting God when the pain seems pointless.
  
  
• Tim Challies discusses the purpose of marriage...
  
  
• ...and, of course, offers some free stuff.
  
  
• James White addresses the racialism that seems to be dividing the church...
  
  
• ... and responds to a Catholic video criticizing Calvinism.

Is the gospel no longer enough for black Christians?

Darrell B. Harrison asks the question, "Is the gospel no longer enough for black Christians?":

I believe this question to be germane to the current milieu in America, as many black Christians have begun to advocate a purely activist theology borne of a soteriology that proffers the idea that the preeminent, if not sole, mandate of the gospel is the pursuit of “social justice”, the manifestation of which is evidenced primarily by the bringing about of such realities as socio-ethno egalitarianism and the eradication of all human suffering and oppression, particularly of those whose melanin happens to be of a black or brown hue.

You can (and should) read the rest here, and ask yourself: Is the gospel no longer enough for me?

This Week in Calvinism - August 25, 2017

• Do you read the Bible like an unbeliever?
  
  
• "Jehovah's grace is sufficient," writes Stephen Pyle, "but mankind remains with a God given free will to choose eternal life or death. We retain our salvation through faith, and free will, as we did to receive it." So, what exactly is the meaning of "sufficient" if we are able to use our free will to thwart God's grace?
  
  
• The Sheologians finally talk about Calvinism.
  
  
• Is Calvinism synonymous with fatalism?
  
  
• According to an article in the Sidney Herald, our nation's cultural decline coincides with our abandonment of Calvinism: "That journey to error began by watering down the Gospel and embracing a person-centered rather than God-centered religion."
  
  
• The 50%-off sale at Christian Audio ends today!

This Week in Calvinism - August 18, 2017

• Dr. Michael A. Cox continues his series critiquing Calvinism.
  
  
• Take a gander at Theologies of the American Revivalists: From Whitefield to Finney.
  
  
• Enter to win tickets to the G3 Conference taking place January 18-20 in Atlanta.
  
  
• Kick back to a little Huguenot music.
  
  
• From the University of Helsinki:

  Religious and cultural Lutheran values have shaped Nordic societies for centuries. But instead of encouraging capitalism as in Calvinist Europe, Lutheranism promoted a social-democratic welfare state in the Nordic world.

  So, Calvinism gave us capitalism and Lutheranism gave us democratic socialism? Add that to the list of reasons why I'm thankful to be a Calvinist.
  
  
• BREAKING: Angry Arminian mob pulls down statue of John Calvin.

This Week in Calvinism - August 11, 2017

• "Baptist life in America was deeply shaped by the Reformed tradition," writes Curtis Freeman, "but what has been coming back is not the recovery of the theology of Luther and Calvin. It is something very different—something more radical and extreme."
  
  
• According to Salon, it is the Republicans' "belief in the 'prosperity gospel' and a crude form of Calvinism" that makes them despise poor people.
  
  
• Sheila Kennedy essentially echoes that same sentiment.
  
  
• A member of the Recovery from Mormonism discussion forum asks, "Why are Calvinists trying to attract Mormons?" She is concerned because "it is the most horrific Christian theology ever."
  
  
• Did Reformer theologians make heavy use of pagan sources in their writings?
  
  
• God will bring you through.
  
  
• Leighton Flowers critiques Les Lanphere's film Calvinist.

This Week in Calvinism - July 21, 2017

• Neil Phelan Jr. discusses why Primitive Baptists are not Calvinists, calling Calvinism a "Pharisaical doctrine." Oh, and he also brings up the "God is the author of sin" argument.
  
  
• One thing Roger Olson likes about the new Eerdmans publication, Christian Dogmatics: An Introduction, is that "[t]here is no hint here of the aggressive 'five point Calvinism' of many American Calvinists."
  
  
• National Review's David French describes HBO's Game of Thrones as "Calvinism without Christ--natural human depravity unleashed." My advice: don't waste your time watching it.
  
  
• Take the "No-Straw-Man Calvinism Challenge."
  
  
• "[O]ne of the concepts I have the most venom for," writes atheist Daniel Fincke, "is original sin as interpreted in the Calvinist way, as total depravity. This is a major crux of my moral hostility towards Christianity."
  
  
• The prayers you need most are not your own.