Thursday, June 15, 2006

Calvinism and Irenic Encounters

I have seen this article referenced a couple times today, and when I got a chance to read it I appreciated the tone and demeanor taken by the two interlocutors regarding Calvinism/Reformed Theology and, what is in essence, general evangelical theological standards.  Albert Mohler and Paige Patterson, two university presidents in the SBC school system, interacted about the role of Calvinism within the Southern Baptist Convention and its role in the call to evangelize.

These two displayed an irenic spirit, and it seems a good grasp of the issues at hand.  As a non-Calvinist in my theology, I resonated with at least one of the points made by Patterson, the non-Calvinist in the debate:

But Patterson also said there are several areas of concern he has with “some Calvinists”:

-- the notion that if “you are not a Calvinist then you must be an Arminian.” He said he is neither.

I would modify that to say, “if you are not a Calvinist then you must be Pelagian.”  In some of my less irenic encounters, that is the bifurcation drawn by some deeply serious and evangelistic Calvinists.  But Patterson is right.  The evangelical theological world is not so easily divided into the orthodox Calvinists and the unorthodox Heretics.

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