The doctrine of predestination has fallen on hard times. Not that it was ever very popular. Given today's theological climate, most Christians probably think that predestination-to the extent that they think about it at all-is an abstract, philosophical notion invented by a few cranks in the past. (1) In reality, though, most of the famous […]
Paul's Grief for National Israel [1] I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, [2] that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. [3] For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen […]
In the years immediately following Martin Luther's emerging fame after posting the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517, many European observers wondered how the Renaissance and Reformation movements might relate to one another in the future. After all, both were interested in a type of reform in the Church. Furthermore, each movement was led by a brilliant […]
Although its reception has been varied, the doctrine of predestin-ation-and particularly double predestination-has nevertheless had a sig-nificant impact throughout church history. Augustine, Fulgentius of Ruspe, Isodore of Seville, Got-tschalk of Orbais, Thomas Aquinas, the sixteenth-century Reformers, and, more recently, Karl Barth all devoted careful atten-tion to this question, even if the church did not always […]
Predestination is a doctrine which has occupied an uneasy place in the history of the church. Few have attempted to construct their theological system on the edifice of predestination. As most scholars now recognize, not even Calvin made it the central dogma from which all other doctrines derive. (1) If predestination generates uncomfortable questions, it […]
MR: Dr. Pinnock, you were once a Calvinist theologian. Today, you are at the vanguard of a movement among evangelical scholars away from Augustinian or Reformational theology. Do you believe your odyssey is illustrative of our moment? And if so, why? CP: People move in different directions over a lifetime. Some move to Calvinism, others […]
In the earliest editions of his Loci communes theologici ("Common Topics of Theology"), Luther's friend and colleague Philip Melanchthon did not address in great detail the doctrine of predestination. In the Loci of 1521, for instance, he discussed it only briefly in the section dealing with the freedom of the human will. Following the teaching […]
According to the most lengthy of the Church of England's Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion: The godly consid-eration of Predestin-ation and our Elec-tion in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh in […]
You put down the fork as your phone rings: "Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Target! You and your wife have just been awarded an all-expense-paid cruise on the Caribbean!" Or was it ten million dollars that was reserved for you according to the junk mail yesterday? Do you read the fine print on those million dollar […]
The division of history into various periods serves as a helpful pedagogical tool. I walked out of my courses in ancient, medieval, Reformation, and modern history with a sense of accomplishment in having somewhat mastered important events, individuals, and trends of thought that make each period distinct from one another. Such divisions offer convenient and […]
Boston College philosophy professor Peter Kreeft's Ecumenical Jihad: Ecumenism and the Culture War (Ignatius Press, 1996) is one of the most astonishing books I have ever come across. To begin with, the book's title is arresting. The somewhat frightening word "Jihad," associated in our Western culture with Islamic terrorists, means "holy war" that is carried […]
