Evangelical Calvinism

Essays Resourcing the Continuing Reformation of the Church

Habets, Grow

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781498276146
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Religione

In this exciting volume, new and emerging voices join senior Reformed scholars in presenting a coherent and impassioned articulation of Calvinism for today's world. Evangelical Calvinism represents a mood within current Reformed theology. The various contributors are in different ways articulating that mood, of which their very diversity is a significant element. In attempting to outline features of an Evangelical Calvinism, a number of the contributors compare and contrast this approach with that of Federal Calvinism currently dominant in North American Reformed theology, challenging the assumption that Federal Calvinism is the only possible expression of orthodox Reformed theology. This book does not, however, represent the arrival of a "new Calvinism" or even a "neo-Calvinism," if by those terms are meant a novel reading of the Reformed faith. An Evangelical Calvinism highlights a Calvinistic tradition that has developed particularly within Scotland, but is not unique to the Scots. The editors have picked up the baton passed on by John Calvin, Karl Barth, Thomas Torrance, and others, in order to offer the family of Reformed theologies a reinvigorated theological and spiritual ethos. This volume promises to set the agenda for Reformed-Calvinist discussion for some time to come.

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Introduction

Theologia Reformata et Semper Reformanda

Towards an Evangelical Calvinism

Myk Habets and Bobby Grow

Evangelical Calvinism1

The Quincentenary of Calvin’s birth in 2009 provided an opportunity for Calvinists around the world to celebrate his life, thought, and influence. The Calvin 500 Tribute Conference in Geneva, and the many other gatherings of Reformed thinkers around the globe, were occasions for joy and celebration as academic papers were read and expository sermons were preached, all under the banner of Calvinism.2 In addition to a celebration of the past, the Quincentenary was also an occasion to reconsider the future of Reformed thought: what it may look like, where it may go, and who may lead such a future. As questions such as these were considered it quickly became evident that there were no easy or even obvious answers. Calvinism, in various guises, has a global reach and influence. While there is geographical diversity there is also theological diversity. For the contributors to this book, this is not only to be expected but actually encouraged, for unity in diversity brings with it new perspectives, correctives, and opportunities for enrichment.

The contributors to this volume are Reformed theologians from various denominations who love their theological tradition and are committed to its truths, but understand that their tradition is a variegated one, with many tributaries and eddies. They represent a consistent feature of Reformed theology—the willingness and ability to enrich their tradition by mining its past and contributing to its future.3 This is not, however, an expression of a “new-Calvinism” or even a “neo-Calvinism,” if by those terms are meant a novel reading of the Reformed faith. We, along with the Reformed theologian Donald McKim, consider the Reformed faith an expansive tradition with many threads that make up the fabric of our tradition. McKim captures this well:

The Reformed faith impels persons to confess their faith as part of the ecumenical church, the whole people of God. The movement here is first from what Christians believe to what Reformed Christians believe. Reformed churches are a portion of the full household of faith. As such, Reformed theology and Reformed faith are open to hearing, dialoguing with, and learning from other theological viewpoints and Christian communions. Though some Reformed bodies have tended to become more narrow and almost assume that their formulations are the only means of expressing God’s truth, this impulse runs counter to the genuine heartbeat of Reformed faith. Reformed faith is open to God’s Spirit, who may encounter us at any time in any place. Reformed Christians should see and listen to other voices since perhaps through them an essential theological insight will be given.4

Evangelical Calvinism is not a new movement, it does not to belong to any particular denomination, nor is it aligned with any particular seminary; there are no catch words that it sponsors, nor are there any high profile media stars that campaign on its behalf. Evangelical Calvinism as we suggest here, is more of a mood than a movement. The various contributors to the present volume are in their own ways taking steps toward articulating what that mood might look like, and their differences are part of a necessary element in that very mood of witness and argument. In attempting to outline features of an Evangelical Calvinism a number of the contributors compare and contrast this approach with that of Federal Calvinism. This latter form of Calvinism is currently dominant in North American Reformed theology and is considered, by many, to be the only orthodox Reformed theology acceptable; the present volume clearly challenges such assumptions.5

In the preface to one of his later works, Scottish Theology from John Knox to John McLeod Campbell, Thomas Torrance set out his understanding of the differences that exist between Classical and Evangelical Calvinism:6

Following upon the teaching of the great Reformers there developed what is known as “federal theology,” in which the place John Calvin gave to the biblical conception of the covenant was radically altered through being schematised to a framework of law and grace governed by a severely contractual notion of covenant, with a stress upon a primitive “covenant of works,” resulting in a change in the Reformed understanding of “covenant of grace.” This was what Protestant scholastics called “a two-winged,” and not “a one-winged” covenant, which my brother James has called a bilateral and a unilateral conception of the Covenant. The former carries with it legal stipulations which have to be fulfilled in order for it to take effect, while the latter derives from the infinite love of God, and is freely proclaimed to all mankind in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the imposition of a rigidly logicalised federal system of thought upon Reformed theology that gave rise to many of the problems which have afflicted Scottish theology, and thereby made central doctrines of predestination, the limited or unlimited range of the atoning death of Christ, the problem of assurance, and the nature of what was called “the Gospel-offer” to sinners. This meant that relatively little attention after the middle of the seventeenth century was given to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and to a trinitarian understanding of redemption and worship.7

Torrance highlights the development of a tradition of Calvinism that is particular to Scotland but is not unique to the Scots. Elements of what we are calling an Evangelical Calvinism may be found, to a greater or lesser extent, in the theology of such figures as John Calvin, John Knox, aspects of Scottish Reformed theology,8 and Scottish divines specifically Henry Scougal, John Craig, Hugh Binning, The Marrow Men,9 John McLeod Campbell, Thomas Torrance, and James Torrance. Evangelical Calvinism, though, is not limited to Scottish theology. One might naturally think of the English Particular Baptist John Gill who emphasized the duplex gratia as did Calvin,10 or the Baptist pastor Charles Spurgeon, one of the few preachers in history able to preach adequately an evangelistic sermon based on the “Five Points of Calvinism”!11 In American history one may think of Augustus H. Strong, the Reformed Baptist theologian who came to reject Federal Theology and its account of imputation in favor of something her termed “ethical monism.”12 In this briefest of surveys we should also mention such thinkers as what Janice Knight has called “The Spiritual Brethren,”13 among many others, who could be considered its forebears. On the Continent it is, of course, Karl Barth who stands above all others in what we believe approximates an Evangelical Calvinist orientation.

This encapsulates something of the motivation for the present volume. The editors have picked up the baton passed on by Torrance and others in order to offer the family of Reformed theologies a theological and spiritual ethos. In terms of its confessional stance, Evangelical Calvinism follows the trajectory more in line with the Scots Confession (1560) than with the Westminster Confession (1647). It is not that the theology of the two is antithetical, despite there being substantial differences, but more in the tone of the two.14 The inclusion of Matthew 24:14 on the title page of the first printing of the Scots Confession in 1561 already gives the reader reason to pause: “And this glaid tydinges of the kingdom shalbe preached throught the hole world of a witness to all nations and then shall the end cum.” As T. F. Torrance remarks, “This is quite startling, for, in contrast to every other confessional statement issued during the Reformation, it gives primary importance to the missionary calling of the Church.”15 Wright says of the confession “it illustrates the characteristically kerygmatic and pastoral tone that, through Knox, informed Scottish reformation theology.”16 In effect, then, Evangelical Calvinism stands in a heritage that provides theological ground to heed God’s...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contributors
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Prologue: Union in Christ: A Declaration for the Church
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Part One: Prolegomena—Historical Theology
• Part Two: Systematic Theology
• Part Three: Applied Theology
• Part Four: Prospect