Grace Faith Free Will: Contrasting Views of Salvation: Calvinism & Arminianism

Robert Picirilli renews the discussion of issues that have divided Calvinism and Arminianism since the Reformation. Jacobus Arminius, a Dutch theologian of the 16th century, contested the dominant theological ideas advanced by the well-known Protestant reformer John Calvin and his disciples. Historically, Arminius has been frequently misunderstood and often reinterpreted by friend and foe alike. Even today, one who calls himself "Arminian" does so with considerable risk, as the name means different things to different people and comes in various flavors. Though he presents both classic Calvinism and Arminianism in order to help readers intelligently decide for themselves, Dr. Picirilli unashamedly advocates a very specific form of Arminianism as the best resolution of the tensions between the two doctrinal postions. In what he calls "Reformation Arminianism," Picirilli reclaims the original views of Arminius and his defenders. This is an Arminianism that defends: total depravity, the sovereignty of God to control all things for the certain accomplishment of His will, God's perfect foreknowledge of, and the certainty of, all future events including the free, moral choices of human beings, the penal satisfaction view of the atonement, salvaiton by grace through faith and not by works, from beginning to end, an apostasy that cannot be remedied.