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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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Oliver D. Crisp
Age: 52
Born: 1972
Born: January 1
Author
Theologian
Heart
Directly
Clearly
John
Straight
Calvin
Gets
Artifice
Without
Writes
Matter
Practicals
Writing
Practical

More quotes by Oliver D. Crisp

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These days I'm often called a Deviant Calvinist, but I don't really think my views do deviate from the Reformed tradition, though in some respects they may represent views that are not as popular now as they once were, or that may represent a minority report in the tradition.
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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[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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Jonathan Edwards developed a Calvinistic strand of the doctrine.
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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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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[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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The best Reformed theology isn't just about careful arguments for theologically sophisticated conclusions. It is about how to live the Christian life.
Oliver D. Crisp
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There is no such thing as a stationary tradition. Traditions are always developing, living things.
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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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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I'm sometimes asked about my productivity, which I find a bit embarrassing to be honest. I don't really have a particularly interesting answer to this question.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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One of the things we in the Reformed tradition are very good at is writing doctrinal theology!
Oliver D. Crisp