Quote

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

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Oliver D. Crisp
Age: 52
Born: 1972
Born: January 1
Author
Theologian
Live
Arguments
Life
Sophisticated
Theology
Conclusion
Careful
Argument
Theologically
Christian
Reformed
Best
Conclusions

More quotes by Oliver D. Crisp

Image
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
Image
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
Image
God shows us in Christ what he would have to do if he were to punish us for our sins.
Oliver D. Crisp
Image
Here is the interesting twist:[McLeod] Campbell came to his views through reading Jonathan Edwards who suggested at one point in his ruminations on the atonement that Christ could have offered up a perfect act of penitence instead of punishment, and that this would have been an acceptable offering suitable to remit our sinfulness.
Oliver D. Crisp
Image
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
Image
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
Image
[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
Image
Reformed theology belongs to this confessional tradition, and Reformed theologians and churches continue to write confessions even today.
Oliver D. Crisp
Image
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
Image
For those who have only ever read about [John] Calvin, reading the man himself is an invigorating experience.
Oliver D. Crisp
Image
Jonathan Edwards developed a Calvinistic strand of the doctrine.
Oliver D. Crisp
Image
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
Image
We may think that our tradition is exactly the same as it has always been, but that is an illusion.
Oliver D. Crisp
Image
[ 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
Image
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
Image
[ Jonathan] Edwards is one of my heroes. I've learned much from him over the years.
Oliver D. Crisp
Image
There is no such thing as a stationary tradition. Traditions are always developing, living things.
Oliver D. Crisp
Image
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
Image
[I'm often called a Deviant Calvinist] but that only goes to underline the point I'm trying to make about the need to broaden our account of the tradition!
Oliver D. Crisp
Image
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