Books on Calvinism/Arminianism

I have read Chosen But Free by Norman Geisler, The Potter's Freedom by James R. White, I have read portions of Calvin's Theology on the subject, I have read various treatments in systematic theologies like Ryrie, Barackman, Hodge, Gill, I have read Willing to Believe by Sproul, articles by Erwin Lutzer, and another prominent Baptist whose name escapes me at the moment.

 

THe Potter's Freedom is excellent, and does a great job at rebutting the completely inconsistant position of Chosen but Free, which I've also read.
The Doctrines of Grace, by Boice, is ok, but no where near the quality of White's book. It doesn't go very deep, but I guess it makes up for it with a decent overview of related issues, such as the history of reformed soteriology, and other soteriological issues.
Easy Chairs, Hard Words; by Douglas Wilson, is quite unique. It follows a fictional (but all too familiar) debate/discussion between a Calvinist pastor and Arminian layman, throughout the book. It is extremely Scripturally based, refrains from philosophical argumentation, and nails home Scripture after Scripture. I highly recommend it.
Right now I'm reading "The Christian View of Man", by Machen. I havn't finished it yet, but what I've read so far is excellent. It covers God's decrees, predestination, sovereignty in sin, etc. and that's only what I've read so far; it goes on to deal with man, his depravity, etc. Once agian, highly recommended.

 

Oh, that Baptist is Millard Erickson and his Christian Theology. Another writer who has an interesting contribution on the subject is D.A. Carson.

 

Quote from John Macarther:

"I remember one of the exercises that I had to do when I was a seminary student, in fact, I did it on my own; I don’t think it was an assignment, but I did it--it was to read Shank’s book on Life in the Son, which is I think the best, concise argument for the Arminian position. And it is a very carefully thought out, systematic argument. I also studied the theology of Arminians--Wiley and Miley--systematic theologies written by these men."

Jacob.

 

1.Beyond Five Points - Ernesct C. Reisinger & D. Matthew Allen
2.The doctrine of Absolute Predestination - Jerome Zanchius
3.Grace Unknown - R C Sproul
4.Evangelism & The Sovereignty of God - J.I. Packer
5.The Soveriegnty of God - A.W.Pink
6.An Antidote Against Arminianism - Christopher Ness
7.The Potter's Freedom - James R. White
8.The Sovereign Grace of God - James R. White
9.Drawn By the Father - James R. White
10.Salvation....When? - Conrad Murrell

 

I have read through this thread from the beginning and I was surprised not to find some of the best books out there on the subject (IMHO). Who said that it has to be contemporary? You can find excellent abridged versions of the following:

1. Martin Luther - The Bondage of the Will. A must read for all. He refutes Erasmus' Diatribe on the Free Will. Noone even comes close to his powerful exegesis! A great resource for defending 'T' and 'I' from TULIP.

2. John Owen - The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. I have to admit, this is my favorite. The hardest part in TULIP to defend scripturally is 'L', I believe. Owen deals extensively with this issue and - again - noone ever came even close to refute his arguments as he proves Limited Atonement from Scripture. Again, a must read....BTW. I can not find a contemporary book that would focus on this issue... Can someone help?

3. The list could go on, but I would like to point out that many of the old PURITAN writers deal with these issues very RICHLY. It is really true what someone said: they say more in a sentence than others in a whole book nowadays!!

4. I have to say it though, if I had to pick only one from the contemporary list, it would be The Potter's Freedom.

Enjoy
Felix

 

Amen! John Owen's book is also one of my favorites as well.

A contemporary "easy read" book on particular redemption is A Price for a People by Tom Wells. Published by Banner of Truth.

-kman

 

Spurgeon V. Hyper-Calvinism by Iain H. Murray

This little book is an excellent book highlighting the fine line that sets Calvinism in the middle between Arminianism and Hyper-Calvinism. I strongly recommend its reading.

What Love Is This? by Dave Hunt

Very well documented recent offering that covers many of the major themes found in Cal/Arm debates. Decidedly from the Arminian perspective. Thorough and practical, it gives an excellent insight into the controversy.

 

Do you know the difference between the 2002 edition and the yet to be released 2004 edition? The 2004 has some 62 additional pages it appears.

 

We like *The Five Points of Calvinism* By Curtis Thomas and David Steele for theoligical reasons and personal reasons...

It was written about 40 years ago. There will be a new edition of this one coming out in 2004. Should be excellent!

Molly

 

I imagine much of that additional material will be the "debate" correspondence between Dave Hunt and James White. That should prove to be very interesting reading, indeed.

 

Hunt's book is horrible!

He doesn't make good arguments at all. Accusations, innuendos, straw men, and ad hominem. Very weak book.

 

Grace1998 asked:

Do you know the difference between the 2002 edition and the yet to be released 2004 edition? The 2004 has some 62 additional pages it appears.

We can hope it's an apology for the fraud he foisted upon Christendom in the 2002 edition. 62 pages of groveling would be about adequate.

I suspect, however, that it is merely more whining about how he's been treated. He's Dave Hunt! He should be able to misrepresent anything he wants.

 

Likely the additional pages of Dave Hunt's new addition cover some of the purported "debate" between he and James White regarding the subject.

As far as so-called "Accusations, innuendos, straw men, and ad hominem" in What Love Is This?, that is standard Cal doctrinaire. They find themselves unable to make good on their false diatribes against Mr. Hunt's exposition of them to the light because he took such pains to supply documentation for his claims. That documentation is easily verified. But they cannot tear down that wall, so they resort to knee-jerk complaint.

And the documentation supporting their claims that his book is filled with mere fallacious attack is ....????? Somewhere ... out there ... I guess.

 

Dave Hunt's book, What Love Is This?, is worth the money even if you don't care a thing for Dave Hunt. The footnotes and documentation alone are wonderful equipage on the subject of the religion of Mr. Calvin.

 

Dave Hunt's 444 page book, "What Love Is This?" is a most wonderful explanation of Biblical theology. I highly recommend it. Usually when I read a book a find some things that I disagree about; I cannot say this about this outstanding man of God.

Rev. Dr. Ray Berrian

 

I have read Dave's book "What Love is This". I also think that that every one that has read this book should check out this link.

www.whatloveisthis.com/home.html

One of many of Dave's errors: p.54
Act 2:47 "And the Lord add to the church daily such as should be saved."

Dave writes: (Those who were bing saved,")

Act 13:48 "and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed."

Dave writes: (as many as were disposed toward eternal life.) NWT Jehovah's Witness bible.

Some people will go to great pains to remove God from salvation.

by HIS GRACE
mike

 

PappaBear said:

As far as so-called "Accusations, innuendos, straw men, and ad hominem" in What Love Is This?, that is standard Cal doctrinaire.

Yes, it is called "the truth," something Mr. Hunt ought to familiarize himself with.