“The book [Saving Calvinism] argues in each case that the Reformed tradition is broader and deeper than we might think at first glance - not that there are people on the margins of the tradition saying crazy things we should pay attention to, but rather that there are resources within the "mainstream" so to speak, which give us reason to think that the tradition is nowhere near as doctrinally narrow as the so-called "Five Points of Calvinism" might lead one to believe.” PeopleThinkingGivingShouldFirstsBelieveBookReasonMightSpeakPayAttentionCasesFiveCrazyResourcesTraditionDeeperArguingSavingPay AttentionMainstreamGlancesMarginsCrazy ThingsCalvinism Author:Oliver D. Crisp
“What I am trying to argue here [Save Calvinism] and in other works before this one is that the Reformed tradition as I have characterized it is much broader and richer than many of us today imagine. It is not just about "Five Points," and it was never just about [John ] Calvin's thought.” TryingTodayFiveImagineTraditionArguingCalvinism Author:Oliver D. Crisp
“For instance, there are many mainstream Reformed theologians that deny the doctrine of "limited" atonement (the "L" in TULIP, the acrostic for the Five Points of Calvinism). These are not thinkers on the margins or troublemakers. They are leaders at the center of Reformed thinking like Bishop John Davenant.” ThinkingLeaderFiveDenyDoctrineInstanceThinkerMainstreamTheologianMarginsBishopsAtonementCalvinismTroublemaker Author:Oliver D. Crisp
“It is often reported that the Five Points of Calvinism are the conceptual hard-core of Reformed thought. That is very misleading. The Five Points supposedly originate with the Synod of Dort in the early seventeenth century. Yet we find important Reformed leaders who were signatories to that documentation who don't think that limited atonement is the right way to think about the scope of Christ's saving work. How can this be? The answer that recent historical theology has thrown up is that the canons of the Synod don't require adherence to the doctrine of limited atonement.” ThinkingWayImportantHardChristAnswersLeaderFiveCenturyHistoricalCoreTheologyDoctrineSavingThrownRight WayScopeMisleadAtonementCanonAdherenceCalvinismDocumentationHard Core Author:Oliver D. Crisp
“The alternative of hypothetical universalism, according to which Christ's work is sufficient for all but efficient only for the elect, was alive and well in early Reformed thought. Moreover - and importantly for our purposes - this view was not regarded as an aberration but as a legitimate position that could be taken within the confessional bounds of Reformed thought. But that means that the Five Points aren't the non-negotiable conceptual core of Calvinism after all.” WellsMeanPurposeChristViewsTakenFiveAlivePositionBoundsCoreAlternativesSufficientEfficientAberrationHypotheticalCalvinismUniversalism Author:Oliver D. Crisp
