Karl Barth: An Introductory Biography for Evangelicals<\/em> (Eerdmans, 2017).<\/p>\nI recently here reviewed a recent and excellent biography of S\u00f8ren Kierkegaard. Now comes this recent and excellent biography of Karl Barth. I highly recommend both.<\/p>\n
However, my purpose here is not so much to review Mark\u2019s biography of Barth as to recommend it and raise a question about something in it.<\/p>\n
Mark\u2019s biography of Barth is especially aimed at evangelical Christians. Evangelical Christians have long wrestled with Barth and there is a very wide spectrum of evangelical opinions about Barth\u2019s theology.<\/p>\n
*Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions expressed here reflect those of any other person, group or organization unless I say so specifically. Before commenting read the entire post and the \u201cNote to commenters\u201d at its end.*<\/em><\/p>\nIn Chapter 12, \u201cChurch Dogmatics\u2014Universal Reconciliation\u201d Mark wrestles with whether Barth believed in what others call \u201capokatastasis\u201d\u2014or \u201cuniversal reconciliation.\u201d Here is my brief summary of what seems to be his conclusion in agreement with theologian Oliver Crisp: The logic of Barth\u2019s doctrine of election, if pushed to its logical conclusion, which Barth never did, seems to lead to universalism. However, there are aspects in Barth\u2019s Church Dogmatics<\/em> that seem to deny universalism. So, the best approach and response to the question \u201cWas Barth a universalist?\u201d is reverent agnosticism<\/em>. We don\u2019t know.<\/p>\nThen, in the middle of this chapter, Mark goes off on a kind of \u201csidebar\u201d about a position some have labeled \u201cevangelical Calvinism.\u201d He mentions disciples of T. F. Torrance<\/em>\u2014Barth\u2019s most influential English-speaking interpreter and a great theologian in his own right. Mark mentions especially respectfully Jeff McSwain of Young Life and founder of Reality Ministries.<\/p>\nMcSwain seems to be typical of those Torrance-followers who are now calling themselves \u201cevangelical Calvinists\u201d and representing that view as the solution to the old question of universal salvation versus the real need for a decision of faith.<\/p>\n
McSwain, if not Mark Galli, seems to believe this is the much sought for \u201cmiddle ground\u201d between Calvinism and Arminianism. (I blogged here recently that there is no such thing and that all attempts to find one that I have read and heard are really either Calvinistic or Arminian.)<\/p>\n
So here is\u00a0 my interpretation (open to correction) of this view which claims to be rooted in Barth\u2019s very strong emphasis on universal election in Christ (denial of the \u201cL\u201d of TULIP)\u2014which with Torrance strongly agreed\u2014and in Torrance\u2019s emphasis also<\/em> on the importance of a decision of faith for complete salvation.<\/p>\nMcSwain and other Torrance-following \u201cevangelical Calvinists\u201d (possibly including Mark) agree with Barth \u201clike Calvinists\u201d that \u201cthe atoning work of Christ actually accomplished reconciliation and forgiveness for everyone for whom Christ died.\u201d And yet, seemingly on the other hand, for this reconciliation and forgiveness to be actualized (my word) \u201cpeople have to respond\u201d with a free decision of faith.<\/p>\n
Now, I urge you\u2014very strongly\u2014to actually read<\/em> this chapter in Mark\u2019s book. It\u2019s worth the price of the book and<\/em> you will benefit from reading the whole of the book as well.<\/p>\nBut here, right now, just for the purpose of this blog post, I must ask Mark and others who think this approach may be a kind of middle ground between or \u201cboth-and\u201d or way around the Calvinist-Arminian divide:<\/em> Where is the real disagreement with classical Arminian theology in it?<\/em><\/p>\nI\u2019m not asking \u201cWill all who call themselves \u2018Arminians\u2019 agree with this (that some have called) \u201cevangelical Calvinism?\u201d As everyone who knows me well knows, even though my writings (including here at my blog), I do not define theological categories by what the majority of people who call themselves by that category\u2019s label think<\/em>. I suspect the majority of people who think they are \u201cArminian\u201d (and there aren\u2019t many) are really closers to Semi-Pelagianism. And the vast majority of Arminianism\u2019s critics confuse true, classical Arminianism with Semi-Pelagianism<\/em>.<\/p>\nIt seems to me that true, historical Arminianism is fully compatible with belief that Christ\u2019s death on the cross reconciled everyone who ever lived and will live to God and God to them such that every person\u2019s \u201cdefault position\u201d at birth is \u201csaved.\u201d On the other hand, true, historical Arminianism insists that every person must somehow, in some way, make a free<\/em>\u00a0decision of faith for Christ\u2019s reconciling death on the cross to become actualized<\/em> for him or her\u2014at some point in life.<\/p>\nHow is this different from the Torrance-based view now being called (if not by Mark by others) \u201cevangelical Calvinism?\u201d Why can\u2019t it be called \u201cevangelical Arminianism?\u201d Where exactly is the difference?<\/p>\n
To me, this view, which Mark seems to espouse, is not<\/em> a middle ground or hybrid between Calvinism and Arminianism; it is classical Arminianism.<\/p>\nSo why this extreme reluctance to call it \u201cArminianism?\u201d Is it only because of the stigma so widely and deeply wrongly<\/em> associated with Arminianism\u2014among American (probably also European)<\/p>\nI suspect that here, with regard to this view (so-called \u201cevangelical Calvinism\u201d) I stand with true Calvinists and say (putting words in their mouths with apology) \u201cThat view is not Calvinism; it is Arminianism.\u201d I believe it is also \u201cfour point Calvinism\u201d taken to its logical conclusion.<\/p>\n
*Note to commenters:<\/em> This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment only to me. If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective (very broadly defined), feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives\/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and \u201con topic.\u201d Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to minimal length; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger\u2019s (or guest writers\u2019) opinions and constructive dialogue among evangelical Christians (very broadly defined).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Good New Biography of Karl Barth Reviewed and a Question for So-Called \u201cEvangelical Calvinists\u201d Mark Galli is a good friend (I\u2019m not saying he would say the same about me) and a brilliant and influential contemporary evangelical theologian and editor. He is the Editor in Chief of Christianity Today\u2014the flagship publication of evangelicalism in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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