Calvinist, Arminian, Baptist Perspectives on Soteriology
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary sponsors a research center called The Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry. The Baptist Center was founded by Stan Norman, now provost at Oklahoma Baptist University, and is currently led by NOBTS provost Steve Lemke. The Baptist Center publishes a journal titled The Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry (JBTM), which is available online for free. Over the years, I’ve read almost everything published in JBTM; they’ve engaged many interesting and helpful topics, often representing a variety of Baptist perspectives. I’d encourage you to make a habit of reading JBTM.
The most recent issue of JBTM is dedicated to “Calvinist, Arminian, Baptist Perspectives on Soteriology.” This has been a perennial topic for the journal in recent years, perhaps in part because of Dr. Lemke’s own well-known interest in these matters. The JBTM always includes a range of voices when they address soteriology (or other controversial topics), and that’s again the case with the new issue. Contributors include several NOBTS faculty members, respected Free Will Baptist and Presbyterian scholars, and the pastor of a historic Baptist church in the Deep South. At least one of the contributors is a Calvinist, while a couple of others are self-confessed Arminians. Most of the contributors imply or openly advocate a so-called Baptist approach that is somewhere in between Calvinism and Arminianism as the soteriological “best practice” for Southern Baptists. It would be fair to say that the bulk of the essays are critical of Calvinism, but they are by no means uncharitable to Calvinists.
As a historical theologian, I was especially encouraged by the journal’s forum on Thomas Grantham, the influential General Baptist theologian who is experiencing something of a renaissance among scholars. Contemporary Baptists have been greatly blessed by renewed interest in Andrew Fuller, Charles Spurgeon, James P. Boyce, and John Dagg over the past generation. While Grantham is very different from these brothers, we need to hear from him, Daniel Taylor, and other voices from the more Arminian Baptist theological stream. And while we’re at it, I think it would be worth giving more controversial theologians such as John Gill and E.Y. Mullins a fresh reading as well. All of Baptist theology is our theology–even the parts with which we may disagree. A renewal of Baptist theology will only be advanced by a careful reading and critical appropriation of all of our theological forebears, alongside other theological voices from the wider Christian tradition.
Back to the journal. While no one is likely to resonate with every article in the latest issue of JBTM, each of them is worth considering. Lots of folks are interested in this topic, and anyone who reads Baptist blogs with any regularity knows that this discussion evokes great emotion (and frequently bombast), often generating at least as much heat as it does light. Though the new issue of JBTM makes no claim to be a balanced point-counterpoint forum on these issues (and it doesn’t have to be), it’s certainly a constructive contribution to the ongoing soteriological debates among Southern Baptists. While consensus may not be forthcoming, I’m hopeful that these types of conversations will contribute to greater fraternal appreciation and gospel cooperation among Southern Baptists of different soteriological persuasions.
If you’re interested in the debate over the doctrines of grace, especially as it pertains to the contemporary SBC, I’d encourage you to read the latest issue of The Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry. If you have time, I’d urge you to read it in conjunction with the Spring 2010 issue of the same journal, which included several review essays of Ken Keathley’s Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach and Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism, edited by David Allen and Steve Lemke. I’d also encourage you to read the multiperspectival Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialog, edited by Brad Waggoner and Ray Clendenen, as well as Tom Nettles’ By His Grace and For His Glory, an overtly Calvinistic treatise that is part historical survey and part doctrinal exposition. For other reviews, you should check out the Summer 2010 and Fall 2010 issues of Founders Journal, which includes Calvinist critiques of the Keathley and Allen-Lemke books, and Allen’s lengthy non-Calvinist review of the Waggoner-Clendenen book, which was published as a white paper for Southwestern Seminary’s Baptist Theology website. There are also loads of bloggers who’ve engaged this issue (including yours truly), but blogs need to be read discerningly on this issue for the reason mentioned earlier.
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Nathan A. Finn serves as Associate Professor of Historical Theology and Baptist Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He's a husband, father, elder, baseball enthusiast, and Broadway musical fan. He's still trying to figure out why we drive on parkways and park on driveways.
I will assume it is mere coincidence that the man on the left in the cartoon strongly resembles NOBTS President Dr. Chuck Kelly.
Thanks for posting the links. They will, I’m sure, prove helpful for many.
Wow, Joshua you are right. My goodness, that does strongly resemble Dr. Kelly. I’m not too sure he would like to be the one representing Calvinism : )
[...] Arminian, and Baptist Perspectives on Salvation,” by Peter Lumpkins in SBC Tomorrow, and “Calvinist, Arminian, and Baptist Perspectives on Soteriology,” by Nathan Finn on the Christian Thought and Tradition blog. Both articles offer an overview of [...]