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Calling Evangelism Historical Theology Mission Soteriology Theology - General

Questions About the Atonement and Justification

Part 2 of Matthew Pinson’s book, 40 Questions About Arminianism, answers questions nine through fourteen, and it deals with questions about the atonement and justification, in two sections. Section A discusses “The Nature of the Atonement and Justification,” and Section B treats “The Extent of Atonement.” Q 9: Did Arminius Affirm Penal Substitutionary Atonement? Pinson […]

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Soteriology

Introductory and Historical Questions About Arminianism

Ten months ago, I started to write about Matthew Pinson’s very fine book, 40 Questions About Arminianism. At that time I indicated that my progress would not likely be rapid, but I did not then expect that it would take me this long to get back to it. A move across the country, from Ontario […]

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Books Historical Theology

40 Questions About Arminianism

I recently received a copy of J. Matthew Pinson’s new book, 40 Questions About Arminianism, published by Kregel Publications. I have looked forward to the appearance of this work because I had benefited from Pinson’s earlier work, Arminian and Baptist: Explorations in a Theological Tradition. I had appreciated Pinson’s appropriation of “Reformed Arminianism,” which is […]

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Books Divine Knowledge Theology Proper

Introducing Calvinism and Middle Knowledge: A Conversation

I am happy to report that a new book is hot off the press, Calvinism and Middle Knowledge: A Conversation, to which I contributed two chapters and half of a third one, which was co-authored with Paul Helm. I’ll give a brief introduction to the book, and then I will trace the history of my […]

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Providence Theology Proper

Who wrote/writes the script for the drama, ”The History of the World”?

Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking about the nature of the freedom God gave to moral creatures, both angelic and human, and how this correlates with the degree of control which God has reserved to himself, within the history of the world. I thought it might be helpful to think of […]

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Divine Knowledge Providence Theology Proper

Revisiting free will, in conversation with Robert Picirilli (1)

A four-way conversation Among the theological decisions we must make if we are to have a theology and practice which both have an inner coherence, one of the most far reaching is our choice of model regarding God’s work in the world. How we understand the nature of the freedom God has given to his […]

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Divine Knowledge Providence Theology Proper

My compatibilist model: a response to some questions

John Johnson wrote a lengthy comment on my post responding to Jerry Walls and my compatibilist proposal. He raises some substantive questions and I think it better to deal with them in another post rather than to reply in a lengthy comment or a number of smaller comments. Because John’s questions are of a sort […]

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Historical Theology

The distinction between Reformed Arminians and Wesleyan Arminians

In Roger Olson’s helpful review of Free Will Baptist theologian Matthew Pinson’s book, Arminian and Baptist: Explorations in a Theological Tradition, the distinction between “Reformed Arminianism” and “Wesleyan Arminianism” is described very helpfully. Olson explains that Pinson’s book is a defense of “Reformed Arminianism” which he treats as the historical theological tradition of Free Will […]

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Soteriology

Tensions regarding soteriology, within the Southern Baptist Convention

I am not a Southern Baptist, but I am a Baptist, and I watch with interest theological developments within the Southern Baptist Convention. Like many other Baptist associations, they have not clearly identified themselves as either Particular or General Baptists, that is, as Calvinistic or Arminian in their theology. This has caused significant tension in […]

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Providence Theology Proper

God “weakly actualizes” evil

I have been reading a fine paper that Greg Welty presented at the annual ETS meeting in 2013, entitled “Molinist Gun Control: A Flawed Proposal?” In that paper, Welty expands on his earlier (ETS 2010) contention that the Molinist model of divine causation “inherits all of the alleged liabilities” attributed to Calvinism, “with respect to […]