Justin Taylor: Calvinism Poster-Boy

Over at Rachel Evan’s blog, Justin Taylor features as the “Ask a Calvinist” in her survey of different religious perspectives. Justin is a wonderful chap, he publishes a few good books, and I look forward to what he has to say in the dialogue.

I feel sorry for Justin Taylor, because the initials JT stands for the greatest rugby league player at the moment, Johnathan Thurston!

In a forthcoming volume on Evangelical Theology, I describe Calvinism like this:

As a self-identified reformed type I thereby gravitate towards the Calvinistic scheme of theology. I am a Calvinist because I think it is broadly biblical and because it corresponds with my experience of slavery in sin and receiving God’s efficacious grace in salvation. Calvinism often gets a bad rap as being a rather cold, wooden, and unfeeling system of doctrine. So when I explain Calvinism to people I usually say this: “People suck, they suck in sin, they are suckness unto death. And the God who is rich in mercy takes the initiative to save people from the penalty, the power, and even the presence of this sin. This is Calvinism, the rest is commentary.”