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For those who have only ever read about [John] Calvin, reading the man himself is an invigorating experience.

Oliver D. Crisp

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Oliver D. Crisp
Age: 52
Born: 1972
Born: January 1
Author
Theologian
Reading
Read
Experience
Ever
Men
Invigorating
Calvin
John

More quotes by Oliver D. Crisp

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One of the things we in the Reformed tradition are very good at is writing doctrinal theology!
Oliver D. Crisp
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Jonathan Edwards developed a Calvinistic strand of the doctrine.
Oliver D. Crisp
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Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not rubbishing penal substitution. But there are other options that have been advocated by Reformed thinkers of the past.
Oliver D. Crisp
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[John] Calvin is revered as a thinker of immense importance in Reformed thought, Jonathan Edwards could say in his preface to his treatise on Freedom of the Will that he had derived none of his views from the work of Calvin, though he was willing to be called a Calvinist for the sake of convention.
Oliver D. Crisp
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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.
Oliver D. Crisp
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The confessions don't speak with one voice. They are more like a cluster of closely-related but distinct voices - a kind of choir, if you like.
Oliver D. Crisp
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[ Jonathan] Edwards is the person who really made theological determinism a serious option for Reformed thinkers, and the influence his views had in nineteenth century Reformed thought, in the USA and the UK in particular, is enormous.
Oliver D. Crisp
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[John Calvin] writes clearly, directly, without artifice, and gets straight to the practical heart of the matter.
Oliver D. Crisp
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Reformed theology belongs to this confessional tradition, and Reformed theologians and churches continue to write confessions even today.
Oliver D. Crisp
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For instance, the notion of non-penal substitution. This idea, found in the work of the nineteenth century Scottish Reformed theologian John McLeod Campbell and based upon his reading of the letter to the Hebrews in particular, is that Christ offers up his life and death as a penitential act on our behalf, rather than as a punishment in our stead.
Oliver D. Crisp
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In the chapter on the nature of the atonement [in the book saving Calvinism] I argue that it is a mistake to think that penal substitution is the only option on the doctrine of atonement.
Oliver D. Crisp
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God shows us in Christ what he would have to do if he were to punish us for our sins.
Oliver D. Crisp
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I do think that I have been fortunate to make friendships with other scholars, and form reading groups where ideas are exchanged and papers are read. That is a real boon, and it is something I think every scholar or writer can benefit from.
Oliver D. Crisp
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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.
Oliver D. Crisp
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We are still living with the consequences of that today in popular Reformed thinking from the likes of John Piper, R. C. Sproul, and Tim Keller.
Oliver D. Crisp
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[John] Calvin is often identified with his account of predestination. Yet that appears in the third book of his Institutes, not the first.
Oliver D. Crisp
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We may think that our tradition is exactly the same as it has always been, but that is an illusion.
Oliver D. Crisp
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I recommend Doug Sweeney's recent book [Jonathan] Edwards the Exegete (Oxford University Press, 2015), which is a terrific treatment of the way in which Edwards was steeped in the Bible, so that it shaped the whole of his thinking.
Oliver D. Crisp
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[ Jonathan] Edwards is one of my heroes. I've learned much from him over the years.
Oliver D. Crisp
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The atonement chapter [from the book Saving Calvinism] shows how there are real riches in Reformed theology that most Christians today have no idea about.
Oliver D. Crisp