This Week in Calvinism - February 16, 2018

• As Roger Olson suspects, "Many Young, Restless, Reformed Christians simply have not thought about Calvinism deeply enough to discover and have to wrestle with its problems. They are taught to focus solely on God's grace and mercy toward the elect and ignore the issue of God's role in sin and evil."
  
  
• The doctrine of total depravity "is classic fallacious Calvinist doctrine," writes Dave Armstrong. "The reasoning is that 'only God is good; therefore nothing [unregenerate] man does is good.' It's the old, tiresome 'either/or' mentality again."
  
  
• Alpha and Omega Ministries has launched its e-newsletter. Sign up today.
  
  
• John Piper answers the question: In what sense did Christ die for the non-elect?
  
  
• $5 Friday at Ligonier brings you resources dealing with justification, atonement, redemption, art, suffering, and more.
  
  
• More free stuff from Challies.com.

This Week in Calvinism - January 26, 2018

• A Calvinist and an Arminian walk into a Bible study...
  
  
• "Some have suggested our differences are nothing more than a generational divide," Rick Patrick writes of the Southern Baptist Convention, "but I find that assessment lacking. Yes, most of the Calvinists in the convention are younger, but not all of the younger people in the SBC are Calvinists."
  
  
• European Calvinism and church discipline.
  
  
• According to G. Shane Morris, C. S. Lewis did not teach a ransom view of the atonement.
  
  
• John Piper believes that if a woman should be biblically excluded from the role of pastor, then she should not be a seminary professor.
  
  
• Needless to say, Piper's position doesn't sit well with egalitarians.
  
  
• This week's Free Stuff Friday is brought to you by The Master's University.

This Week in Calvinism - January 12, 2018

• What is it like to enjoy God?
  
  
• Gossip blogs like to wonder if Calvinism is the cause of division in the Duggar family.
  
  
• Abraham Kuyper on Calvinism and the necessity of interracial societies.
  
  
• J. D. Hall wants you to know that he isn't a hyper-Calvinist and Arminianism isn't (but sort of is) heresy. Glad he cleared that up.
  
  
• James White spent the latter part of the most recent episode of The Dividing Line addressing the brouhaha surrounding his show with Arminian Michael Brown.
  
  
• Is it possible for non-Christians to please God? John Piper discusses.

This Week in Calvinism - January 5, 2018

• Pastor Ron Craig believes "that Calvinism, and other isms, have reduced the Gospel message to a set of moral rules and regulations, thereby stripping the Gospel of its miraculous power to deliver people from those evils running rampant in this fallen world system."
  
  
• John Piper stresses the importance of developing strategies for digging deep into God's Word.
  
  
• He explains more here.
  
  
• Joe Aguillard, former president of Louisiana College, is once again suing the school, this time for "discrimination based on his religious beliefs, claiming the current college president, Rick Brewer, is a Calvinist."
  
  
• Did you know that picture books were once considered dangerous for children? Apparently, we can blame John Calvin for that.
  
  
• Sinclair Ferguson on faith and repentance.
  
  
• James White and Michael Brown set the record straight.

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?