Journal: Journal of Dispensational Theology
Volume: JODT 19:57 (Summer 2015)
Article: New Calvinism, Part III: A Calvinist Soteriology?
Author: Drew Curley

---

JODT 19:57 (Summer 2015) p. 133

New Calvinism, Part III: A Calvinist Soteriology?

Drew Curley

* Drew Curley, M.Div., Ph.D., associate professor, Carolina College of Biblical Studies, Fayetteville, North Carolina

Much has been written in recent years concerning the relationship between Calvin and those who are known today as Calvinists (i.e. the various Calvinisms). There are two basic approaches. The first is Calvin against the Calvinists as articulated by R. T. Kendall in Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649. His basic thesis: what is called Calvinism today is not the theology of John Calvin (this is especially true in regards to the doctrine of limited atonement). In response to this work, Paul Helm wrote Calvin and Calvinism, which sought to refute Kendall, and argued for the essential unity between Calvin and Calvinism. In a more recent work, Richard Muller agreed with neither Kendall nor Helm. Corresponding to this discussion is whether the entity referenced as reformed theology is truly the theology of the Reformation. Muller stated, “we have no indication from Calvin’s correspondence that his theology was viewed as the primary expression of Reformed thought in his generation.”1 The terms Calvinism and reformed theology are not necessarily indicative of Calvin or the Reformation, and this is a point that needs to be understood.

Most new Calvinists are inclined to equate Reformation theology with Calvin and TULIP, which forms the basis for their ecumenical agreement. Despite this, there remains a great deal of theological development between Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and the reformed response to the Remonstrants, known as the Canons of Dordt. As Kennedy observed, “there are striking dissimilarities between Calvin’s reading of scripture and that of the later Reformed tradition.2

Consequently, it will be shown that much of what is known as Calvinism follows in the line of others like Beza or Cocceius as much as it does from

JODT 19:57 (Summer 2015) p. 134

Calvin. No mater their origin, this theology eventually ruled the day in the Westminster Confession and the Three Forms of Unity, which are said to be the “north star” of Reformed Theology.3 At best, they only resemble Calvin in part.4

Are They Truly Calvinists?

Are they truly Calvinists? Is it reformed soteriology? The questions are similar but not exactly equivalent. What is called Calvinism today is typically equated with reformed theology, but o...

visitor : : uid: ()