Recently there has been some discussion of the claim by the editors of Whosever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism (B&H Academic, 2010) that they are not Arminians.\u00a0 Here I responded to that claim as have others.<\/p>\n
Please read my review of Whosoever Will in The Southwestern Journal of Theology at:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.baptisttheology.org\/WhosoeverWill.cfm<\/p>\n
There I make clear that, whether the editors and authors of the book claim the title Arminian or not, the theology of the book and its authors is consistent with classical Arminianism and some of them fall into the common errors about what Arminianism is that are spread mostly by Calvinists.<\/p>\n
I contend that anyone who rejects unconditional election, limited atonement and irresistible grace is de facto an Arminian (assuming he or she is Protestant and not Catholic).\u00a0 The only exception I can think of are Anabaptists (e.g., Mennonites) whose rejections of those doctrines of Calvinism pre-dates Arminius by almost a century.<\/p>\n
Now, of course, anyone can reject a label even if it fits him or her perfectly.\u00a0 Imagine that I live in a state where \u201cBaptist\u201d is almost universally treated as a pejorative term\u2013equated with extremists who picket funerals with signs that say things like \u201cThank God for dead soldiers.\u201d\u00a0 (I don\u2019t live in such a state, but I used to live in one where many, if not most, citizens tended to equate \u201cBaptist\u201d with hard core fundamentalism.)\u00a0 Suppose I claim I\u2019m NOT a \u201cBaptist\u201d because of that connotation of the label.\u00a0 Well, fine.\u00a0 I would have that right.\u00a0 But suppose someone else described me as a Baptist because of my writings and my public theological affirmations of historical baptist doctrines and practices.\u00a0 What would people think if I kept on insisting I\u2019m not a Baptist?<\/p>\n
In such a case, I would be right (because I actually own the right to label myself) and the someone else who labels me a Baptist would also be right (because that label fits my theology).\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 I think so.<\/p>\n
Actually, that\u2019s not a totally imaginary scenario.\u00a0 Many Baptist churches in Minnesota, for example, and at least one Baptist denomination I know, have dropped the label \u201cBaptist\u201d because of the contexts they find themselves in where the label is almost universally negative (in non-Baptists\u2019 minds).\u00a0 Does that mean such churches aren\u2019t Baptist anymore?\u00a0 Well, yes and no.\u00a0 Insofar as they continue to affirm Baptist beliefs and practice Baptist practices (e.g., requiring believer baptism of all members) they are still Baptist even if that label appears nowhere in their churches and even if they eschew the label.<\/p>\n