For those who have only ever read about [John] Calvin, reading the man himself is an invigorating experience. Oliver D. Crisp More Quotes by Oliver D. Crisp More Quotes From Oliver D. Crisp [John Calvin's] Humanist training makes him an excellent writer. What is more, he is as relevant today as he was 500 years ago. Oliver D. Crisp training today years [John Calvin] writes clearly, directly, without artifice, and gets straight to the practical heart of the matter. Oliver D. Crisp matter heart writing [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 thirds book firsts The expansion I have in mind isn't the same as distortion. Of course, there are those who say their views represent Reformed thought, but what they end up with is a caricature of what Reformed thinking is really about. I hope I am not one of those people, but readers [of the Saving Calvinism] will have to make up their own minds on that score! Oliver D. Crisp views people thinking 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 real christian book Christ's work is a kind of deterrent to us, and a way of upholding the justice of God's divine government of the world. Oliver D. Crisp justice-of-god government world In many ways the book [Saving Calvinism] is trying to argue for a more popular audience things I've said in some more scholarly works, namely, that the Reformed tradition is broader and more variegated than is often reported today, and that we need to recapture something of this in order that we don't end up unnecessarily narrow in our doctrine and in order to keep some perspective. Oliver D. Crisp perspective order book To my mind [ Jonathan Edwards] is an interesting figure because he is both a canonical Reformed thinker, and yet also someone that pushed the envelope in a number of key areas of theology. Oliver D. Crisp keys numbers interesting Sometimes we can lose the wood for the trees. Some specific issues dealt with in the book [Saving Calvinism]: the scope of election (who is saved?); the nature of the atonement (do we have to hold to penal substitution if we're Reformed?); the scope of the atonement (for whom did Christ die?); whether we have to hold to some sort of theological determinism (God ordains all that comes to pass). Oliver D. Crisp issues tree book [ Jonathan] Edwards is one of my heroes. I've learned much from him over the years. Oliver D. Crisp ive-learned hero years The book [Saving Calvinism] argues in each case that the Reformed tradition is broader and deeper than we might think at first glance - not that there are people on the margins of the tradition saying crazy things we should pay attention to, but rather that there are resources within the "mainstream" so to speak, which give us reason to think that the tradition is nowhere near as doctrinally narrow as the so-called "Five Points of Calvinism" might lead one to believe. Oliver D. Crisp crazy believe book [Jonathan] Edwards definitely shows up in the book [Saving Calvinism]. He appears as one of the interlocutors in the chapter on free will, the other being the Southern Presbyterian theologian John Girardeau. Oliver D. Crisp saving southern book [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 tradition trying needs 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 minorities views thinking 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 real reading thinking 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 honest answers interesting How many people in the pews know that [ Jonathan Edwards] is both a founder of evangelicalism and, say, an idealist who denied that the material world exists? Oliver D. Crisp founders people world Jonathan Edwards developed a Calvinistic strand of the doctrine. Oliver D. Crisp strands doctrine 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 offering reading views 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 punishment reading ideas