Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
Name	Calvinists
Population	90 million
Religions	Calvinism, Presbyterianism }}

Calvinism (also called Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology) is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life. The Reformed tradition was advanced by several theologians such as Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Huldrych Zwingli, but this branch of Christianity bears the name of the French reformer John Calvin (Jean Cauvin in Old French) because of his prominent influence on it and because of his role in the confessional and ecclesiastical debates throughout the 16th century. Today, this term also refers to the doctrines and practices of the Reformed churches of which Calvin was an early leader. Less commonly, it can refer to the individual, biblical teachings of Calvin himself. The system is often summarized in the Five Points of Calvinism and is best known for its doctrines of predestination and total depravity, stressing the absolute sovereignty of God.

Historical background

John Calvin's international influence on the development of the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation began in 1534 when Calvin was 25. That marks his start on the first edition of ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'' (published 1536). He revised this work several times, and produced a French vernacular translation. The ''Institutes'', together with Calvin's polemical and pastoral works, his contributions to confessional documents for use in churches, and his massive outpouring of commentary on the Bible, meant that Calvin had a direct personal influence on Protestantism. Along with Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Huldrych Zwingli, Calvin influenced the doctrines of the Reformed churches. He eventually became the most prominent of those reformers.

The rising importance of the Reformed churches and of Calvin belongs to the second phase of the Protestant Reformation. Evangelical churches began to form after Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Calvin was a French exile in Geneva. He had signed the Lutheran Augsburg Confession as it was revised by Melancthon in 1540. However, his influence was first felt in the Swiss Reformation whose leader was Huldrych Zwingli. It soon became evident that doctrine in the Reformed churches was developing in a direction independent of Martin Luther's, under the influence of numerous writers and reformers among whom Calvin eventually became preeminent. Much later, when his fame was attached to the Reformed churches, their whole body of doctrine came to be called "Calvinism".

Spread

Although much of Calvin's practice was in Geneva, his publications spread his ideas of a "correctly" reformed church to many parts of Europe. Calvinism became the theological system of the majority in Scotland (see John Knox), the Netherlands, with men such as William Ames, T J Frelinghuysen and Wilhelmus à Brakel and parts of Germany (especially those adjacent to the Netherlands) with the likes of Olevianus and his colleague Zacharias Ursinus. It was influential in France, Hungary, then-independent Transylvania, Lithuania and Poland. Calvinism gained some popularity in Scandinavia, especially Sweden, but was rejected in favor of Lutheranism after the synod of Uppsala in 1593.

Most settlers in the American Mid-Atlantic and New England were Calvinists, including the English Puritans, the French Huguenot and Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam (New York), and the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of the Appalachian back country. Dutch Calvinist settlers were also the first successful European colonizers of South Africa, beginning in the 17th century, who became known as Boers or Afrikaners.

Sierra Leone was largely colonized by Calvinist settlers from Nova Scotia, who were largely Black Loyalists, blacks who had fought for the British during the American War of Independence. John Marrant had organized a congregation there under the auspices of the Huntingdon Connection. Some of the largest Calvinist communions were started by 19th and 20th century missionaries. Especially large are those in Indonesia, Korea and Nigeria.

Today, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches has 75 million believers.

Theology

The particulars of Calvinist theology may be stated in a number of ways. Perhaps the best known summary is contained in the five points of Calvinism, though these points identify the Calvinist view on soteriology rather than summarizing the system as a whole. Broadly speaking, Calvinism stresses the sovereignty or rule of God in all things — in salvation but also in all of life.

Sovereign grace

Calvinism stresses the total depravity or total inability of humanity's ethical nature against a backdrop of the sovereign grace of God in salvation. It teaches that fallen people are morally and spiritually unable to follow God or escape their condemnation before him. It is seen as the work of God (divine intervention) in which God changes their unwilling hearts from rebellion to willing obedience.

In this view, all people are entirely at the mercy of God, who would be just in condemning all people for their sins, but who has chosen to be merciful to some. Thus, one person is saved while another is condemned, not because of a foreseen willingness, faith, or any other virtue in the first person, but because God sovereignly chose to have mercy on him. Although the person must believe the gospel and respond to be saved, this obedience of faith is God's gift, and thus God completely and sovereignly accomplishes the salvation of sinners. Views of predestination to damnation (the doctrine of reprobation) are less uniform than is the view of predestination to salvation (the doctrine of election) among self-described Calvinists (see Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism).

In practice, Calvinists teach sovereign grace primarily for the encouragement of the church because they believe the doctrine demonstrates the extent of God's love in saving those who could not and would not follow him, as well as quashing pride and self-reliance and emphasizing the Christian's total dependence on the grace of God. In the same way, sanctification in the Calvinist view requires a continual reliance on God to purge the Christian's depraved heart from the power of sin and to further the Christian's joy.

Five points of Calvinism

Calvinist theology is sometimes identified with the five points of Calvinism, also called the doctrines of grace, which are a point-by-point response to the five points of the Arminian Remonstrance (see History of Calvinist-Arminian debate) and which serve as a summation of the judgments rendered by the Synod of Dort in 1619. Calvin himself never used such a model and never combated Arminianism directly. In fact, Calvin died in 1564 and Jacob Arminias was born in 1560, and so the men were not contemporaries. The Articles of Remonstrance were authored by opponents of reformed doctrine and Biblical Monergism. They were rejected in 1619 at the Synod of Dort, more than 50 years after the death of Calvin.

The five points therefore function as a summary of the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism, but not as a complete summation of Calvin's writings or of the theology of the Reformed churches in general. In English, they are sometimes referred to by the acronym TULIP (see below), though this puts them in a different order than the Canons of Dort.

The central assertion of these canons is that God is able to save every person upon whom he has mercy, and that his efforts are not frustrated by the unrighteousness or inability of humans.

"Total depravity": This doctrine, also called "total inability", asserts that as a consequence of the fall of man into sin, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin. People are not by nature inclined to love God with their whole heart, mind, or strength, but rather all are inclined to serve their own interests over those of their neighbor and to reject the rule of God. Thus, all people by their own faculties are morally unable to choose to follow God and be saved because they are unwilling to do so out of the necessity of their own natures. (The term "total" in this context refers to sin affecting every part of a person, not that every person is as evil as possible.) This doctrine is borrowed from Augustine who was a member of a Manichaean sect in his youth. "Unconditional election": This doctrine asserts that God has chosen from eternity those whom he will bring to himself not based on foreseen virtue, merit, or faith in those people; rather, it is unconditionally grounded in God's mercy alone. God has chosen from eternity to extend mercy to those He has chosen and to withhold mercy from those not chosen. Those chosen receive salvation through Christ alone. Those not chosen receive the just wrath that is warranted for their sins against God "Limited atonement": Also called "particular redemption" or "definite atonement", this doctrine asserts that Jesus's substitutionary atonement was definite and certain in its design and accomplishment. This implies that only the sins of the elect were atoned for by Jesus's death. Calvinists do not believe, however, that the atonement is limited in its value or power, but rather that the atonement is limited in the sense that it is designed for some and not all. Hence, Calvinists hold that the atonement is sufficient for all and efficient for the elect. The doctrine is driven by the Calvinistic concept of the sovereignty of God in salvation and their understanding of the nature of the atonement. "Irresistible grace": This doctrine, also called "efficacious grace", asserts that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save (that is, the elect) and, in God's timing, overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to a saving faith. This means that when God sovereignly purposes to save someone, that individual certainly will be saved. The doctrine holds that every influence of God's Holy Spirit cannot be resisted, but that the Holy Spirit, "graciously causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ." "Perseverance of the saints": Perseverance (or preservation) of the saints (the word "saints" is used in the Biblical sense to refer to all who are set apart by God, and not in the technical sense of one who is exceptionally holy, canonized, or in heaven). The doctrine asserts that since God is sovereign and his will cannot be frustrated by humans or anything else, those whom God has called into communion with himself will continue in faith until the end. Those who apparently fall away either never had true faith to begin with or will return.

Nature of the atonement

An additional point of disagreement with Arminianism implicit in the five points is the Calvinist understanding of the doctrine of Jesus's substitutionary atonement as a punishment for the sins of the elect, which was developed by St. Augustine and especially St. Anselm and Calvin himself. Calvinists argue that if Christ takes the punishment in the place of a particular sinner, that person must be saved since it would be unjust for him then to be condemned for the same sins. The definitive and binding nature of this satisfaction model has strong implications for each of the five points, and it has led some Arminians to subscribe instead to the governmental theory of the atonement. Under that theory, no particular sins or sinners are in view, but all of humanity are included in those whose sins have been taken away. The atonement was not the penalty of the law, but a substitute for the penalty, which allows God to remit the penalty by his grace when any sinner repents and believes in Jesus as the Christ.

Covenant theology

Although the doctrines of grace have generally received the greater focus in contemporary Calvinism, covenant theology is the historic superstructure that unifies the entire system of doctrine.

Calvinists take God's transcendence to mean that the relationship between God and his creation must be by voluntary condescension on God's part. This relationship he establishes is covenantal: the terms of the relationship are unchangeably decreed by God alone.

Reformed writings commonly refer to an intra-Trinitarian covenant of redemption. The greater focus is the relationship between God and man, which in historic Calvinism is seen as bi-covenantal, reflecting the early Reformation distinction between Law and Gospel. The covenant of works encompasses the moral and natural law, dictating the terms of creation. By its terms, man would enjoy eternal life and blessedness based on his continued personal and perfect righteousness. With the fall of man, this covenant continues to operate, but only to condemn sinful man. The covenant of grace is instituted at the fall, and administered through successive historic covenants seen in Scripture for the purpose of redemption. By its terms, salvation comes not by any personal performance, but by promise. Peace with God comes only through a mediator, the fulfillment of which is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ is seen as the federal head of his elect people, and thus the covenant is the basis of the doctrines of the substitutionary atonement and the imputation of the active obedience of Christ.

Covenant theology has had a resurgence around key participants in the Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar (SAHS), a project first based in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Gloucestershire (Cheltenham, England), where it was headed by Dr Craig Bartholomew and engaged such hermeneuticians as Anthony Thistleton, Nicolas Wolterstorff, and Kevin Vanhoozer. Bartholomew became professor at Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada, in religion and philosophy. He has been a key figure in the migration of SAHS ("The Seminar") from England to America, now housed at the Paideia Centre for Public Theology with which Dr Batholomew is also associated as a Senior Member. Besides writing many books himself, he also supervized SASH's extensive publication program, himself editing some 8 annual volumes. In the course of its deliberations over the years, SAHS faced the Christian scholarly problem of interpreting the Hebrew-Bible-sourced Old Testament. All through these new developments in covenant theology we see (1) a thematic resurgence of "interpreting the Old Testament through Christ" including the notion of Christ the Creator and now King (Abraham Kuyper, Pro Rege; and (2) retaining, stressing, and re-exploring Genesis 1-3 toward a renewed discipline of biblical interpretation in terms of the religious ground motive of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Communion in the Holy Spirit as the core of the covenant in the OT, biblically speaking (as taught by Christian philosophers Herman Dooyeweed and Evan Runner). A third major nuancing of the covenant theology resurgence today is the motif of ecumenical dialogue in this task which now includes evangelical Protestants and Catholics as the main denominational demographics of its participants, and the scholarly dialogue with the Canon Criticism school of the last 30 years. An active proponent of all of these concerns is Albert M. Wolters. Wolters is himself a philosopher turned biblical scholar; he is about to publish his many years of research to produce a model exegesis and interpretation of the Book of Zachariah; he is also an expert on the Copper Scroll of Qumran, and famous for his book on worldview basics which has been translated into many languages. Another forthcoming event will occur in November 2011 where Anglican Bible scholar Bishop N. T. Wright will present his hermeneutics with responses by missiologist Dr Michael Goheen (Protestant), and biblical theology expert on covenant, Scott Hahn (Catholic). The event will take place in San Francisco in November.

Worship regulated by God

The regulative principle regarding worship, which distinguishes the Calvinist approach to the public worship of God from other views, is that only those elements that are instituted or appointed by command or example in the New Testament are permissible in worship. In other words, the regulative principle maintains that God institutes in the scriptures what he requires for worship in the church, and everything else is prohibited. As the regulative principle is reflected in Calvin's own thought, it is driven by his evident antipathy toward the Roman Catholic Church and her worship, and it associates musical instruments with icons, which he considered violations of the Ten Commandments' prohibition of graven images.

On this basis, many early Calvinists also eschewed musical instruments and advocated exclusive psalmody in worship, though Calvin himself allowed other scriptural songs as well as psalms, and this practice typified presbyterian worship and the worship of other Reformed churches for some time. The original Lord's Day service designed by John Calvin was a highly liturgical service with the Creed, Alms, Confession and Absolution, the Lord's supper, Doxologies, prayers, Psalms being sung, the Lords prayer being sung, Benedictions. The following are Orders of Service for the Lords Day as designed by John Calvin (Collect is a short prayer; Lection is a Scripture reading; Fraction and Delivery are the breaking of the bread and distribution thereof, respectively):

Calvin: Strasbourg, 1540 !! Calvin: Geneva, 1542
Scripture Sentence (Psalm	124,8)
Confession of sins	Confession of sins
Scriptural words of pardon	Prayer for pardon
Absolution
Metrical Decalogue sung with	''Kyrie eleison'' after each	Law
Collect for Illumination	Collect for Illumination
Lection	Lection
Sermon	Sermon
''Liturgy of the Upper Room''
Collection of alms	Collection of alms
Intercessions	Intercessions
Lord’s Prayer in long paraphrase	Lord’s Prayer in long paraphrase
Preparation of elements while Apostles' Creed sung	Preparation of elements while Apostles' Creed sung
Consecration Prayer
Words of Institution	Words of Institution
Exhortation	Exhortation
	Consecration Prayer
Fraction	Fraction
Delivery	Delivery
Communion, while psalm sung	Communion, while psalm or	Scriptures read
Post-communion collect	Post-communion collect
''Nunc dimittis'' in metre
Aaronic Blessing	Aaronic Blessing

Since the 19th century, however, most of the Reformed churches have modified their understanding of the regulative principle and make use of musical instruments, believing that Calvin and his early followers went beyond the biblical requirements and that such things are circumstances of worship requiring biblically rooted wisdom, rather than an explicit command. Despite the protestations of those few who hold to a strict view of the regulative principle, today hymns and musical instruments are in common use, as are contemporary worship music styles and worship bands.

Variants

Many efforts have been undertaken to reform or expand on Calvinism, and these variations appear to a greater or lesser degree throughout the history of Calvinism.

Lapsarianism

Within scholastic Calvinist theology, there are two schools of thought over ''when'' and ''whom'' God predestined: supralapsarianism (from the Latin: ''supra'', "above", here meaning "before" + ''lapsus'', "fall") and infralapsarianism (from the Latin: ''infra'', "beneath", here meaning "after" + ''lapsus'', "fall"). The former view, sometimes called "high Calvinism", argues that the Fall occurred partly to facilitate God's purpose to choose some individuals for salvation and some for damnation. Infralapsarianism, sometimes called "low Calvinism", is the position that, while the Fall was indeed planned, it was not planned with reference to who would be saved.

Supralapsarians believe that God chose which individuals to save before he decided to allow the race to fall and that the Fall serves as the means of realization of that prior decision to send some individuals to hell and others to heaven (that is, it provides the grounds of condemnation in the reprobate and the need for salvation in the elect). In contrast, infralapsarians hold that God planned the race to fall logically prior to the decision to save or damn any individuals because, it is argued, in order to be "saved", one must first need to be saved from something and therefore the decree of the Fall must precede predestination to salvation or damnation.

These two views vied with each other at the Synod of Dort (1618), an international body representing Calvinist Christian churches from around Europe, and the judgments that came out of that council sided with infralapsarianism (Canons of Dort, First Point of Doctrine, Article 7). The influential Westminster Confession of Faith also teaches (in Hodge's words "clearly impl[ies]") the infralapsarian view, but is sensitive to those holding to supralapsarianism. The Lapsarian controversy has a few vocal proponents on each side today, but overall it does not receive much attention among modern Calvinists.

Four-point Calvinism

Another revision of Calvinism is called "Amyraldism", "hypothetical universalism", or "four-point Calvinism", also known as Four-point Calvinism, Moderate Calvinism, Modified Calvinism, or Unlimited Limited Atonement. This drops the limited atonement in favor of an unlimited atonement saying that God has provided Christ's atonement for all alike, but seeing that none would believe on their own, he then elects those whom he will bring to faith in Christ, thereby preserving the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election.

This doctrine was most thoroughly systematized by the French Reformed theologian at the Academy of Saumur, Moses Amyraut, for whom it is named. His formulation was an attempt to bring Calvinism more nearly alongside the Lutheran view. In England, hypothetical universalism (which is not entirely consistent with Amyraldianism) was held by the early 17th century theologians John Davenant and John Preston and was propounded at the Westminster Assembly by the English Presbyterian leaders Edmund Calamy the Elder, Lazarus Seaman and Stephen Marshall. In a different, more idiosyncratic form, it was expounded in England by the writings of the Reformed pastor Richard Baxter and gained strong adherence among the Congregationalists and some Presbyterians in the American colonies, during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Amyraldism can be found among various evangelical groups in the United States and within the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. "Four point" Calvinism is prevalent in conservative and moderate groups among Presbyterian churches, Reformed churches, Reformed Baptists and some non-denominational churches, and is not uncommon among evangelical members of the Church of England.

Historically, Amyraldism has been called "moderate Calvinism", but Norman Geisler uses this term to describe his own views, which James R. White calls "merely a modified form of historic Arminianism."

R. C. Sproul believes there is confusion about what the doctrine of limited atonement actually teaches. While he considers it possible for a person to believe four points without believing the fifth, he claims that a person who really understands the other four points ''must'' believe in limited atonement because of what Martin Luther called a resistless logic.

Mark Driscoll calls this "Unlimited Limited Atonement", or "Four-and-a-half point Calvinism", whereby Jesus, ''by dying for everyone, purchased everyone as His possession and He then applies His forgiveness to the elect by grace and applies His wrath to the non-elect. Objectively, Jesus' death was sufficient to save anyone, and, subjectively, only efficient to save those who repent of their sin and trust in Him.''

Hyper-Calvinism

Hyper-Calvinism first referred to an eccentric view that appeared among the early English Particular Baptists in the 18th century. Their system denied that the call of the gospel to "repent and believe" is directed to every single person and that it is the duty of every person to trust in Christ for salvation. While this doctrine has always been a minority view, it has not been relegated to the past and may still be found in some small denominations and church communities today, most notably Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, which is infamous for its picketing of soldiers' funerals. The term also occasionally appears in both theological and secular controversial contexts, where it usually connotes a negative opinion about some variety of theological determinism, predestination, or a version of Evangelical Christianity or Calvinism that is deemed by the critic to be unenlightened, harsh, or extreme.

Neo-orthodoxy

In the mainline Reformed churches, Calvinism has undergone expansion and revision through the influence of Karl Barth and neo-orthodox theology. Barth was an important Swiss Reformed theologian who began writing early in the 20th century, whose chief accomplishment was to counter-act the influence of the Enlightenment in the churches. The Barmen declaration is an expression of the Barthian reform of Calvinism. Conservative Calvinists (as well as some liberal reformers) regard it as confusing to use the name "Calvinism" to refer to neo-orthodoxy or other liberal revisions stemming from Calvinist churches due to their differing theological views.

Neo-Calvinism

Besides the traditional movements within the conservative Reformed churches, several trends have arisen through the attempt to provide a contemporary, but theologically conservative approach to the world.

A version of Calvinism that has been adopted by both theological conservatives and liberals gained influence in the Dutch Reformed churches, late in the 19th century, dubbed "neo-Calvinism", which developed along lines of the theories of Dutch theologian, statesman and journalist, Abraham Kuyper. More traditional Calvinist critics of the movement characterize it as a revision of Calvinism, although a conservative one in comparison to modernist Christianity or neo-orthodoxy. Neo-Calvinism, "Calvinianism", or the "reformational movement", is a response to the influences of the Enlightenment, but generally speaking it does not touch directly on the articles of salvation. Neo-Calvinists intend their work to be understood as an update of the Calvinist worldview in response to modern circumstances, which is an extension of the Calvinist understanding of religion to scientific, social and political issues. To show their consistency with the historic Reformed movement, supporters may cite Calvin's ''Institutes'', book 1, chapters 1-3, and other works. In the United States, Kuyperian neo-Calvinism is represented among others, by the ''Center for Public Justice'', a faith-based political think-tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Neo-Calvinism branched off in more theologically conservative movements in the United States. The first of these to rise to prominence became apparent through the writings of Francis Schaeffer, who had gathered around himself a group of scholars, and propagated their ideas in writing and through L'Abri, a Calvinist study center in Switzerland. This movement generated a reawakened social consciousness among Evangelicals.

Christian Reconstructionism

A neo-Calvinist movement called "Christian Reconstructionism" is much smaller, more radical, and theocratic, but by some believed to be widely influential in American family and political life. Reconstructionism is a distinct revision of Kuyper's approach, which sharply departs from that root influence through the complete rejection of pluralism, and by formulating suggested applications of the sanctions of Biblical Law for modern civil governments. These distinctives are the least influential aspects of the movement. Its intellectual founder, the late Rousas J. Rushdoony, based much of his understanding on the apologetical insights of Cornelius Van Til, father of presuppositionalism and professor at Westminster Theological Seminary (although Van Til himself did not hold to such a view). It has some influence in the conservative Reformed churches in which it was born, and in Calvinistic Baptist and Charismatic churches mostly in the United States, Canada, and to a lesser extent in the UK.

Reconstructionism aims toward the complete rebuilding of the structures of society on Christian and Biblical presuppositions, not, according to its promoters, in terms of "top down" structural changes, but through the steady advance of the Gospel of Christ as men and women are converted, who then live out their obedience to God in the areas for which they are responsible. In keeping with the Theonomic Principle, it seeks to establish laws and structures that will best instantiate the ethical principles of the Bible, including the Old Testament as expounded in the case laws and summarized in the Decalogue. Not a political movement, strictly speaking, Reconstructionism has nonetheless been influential in the development of aspects of the Christian Right that some critics have called "Dominionism". Reconstructionism assumes that God institutes in the Scriptures everything he requires for the ordering of self and society, extending the regulative principle of worship to all areas of life.

Calvinism Today

Calvinism has undergone a resurgence in North America in recent years. ''TIME'' magazine described the New Calvinism as one of the "10 ideas changing the world" in 2009 and cited its adherents to be largely Reformed Baptist or Presbyterians. Figures today which are associated with Calvinism include R.C. Sproul, Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, Ligon Duncan, Matt Chandler, Tim Keller, C.J. Mahaney, Al Mohler,, J.I. Packer, Steve Lawson, Brandon Smith, and John Piper.

Social and Religious Influences of Calvinism

Usury and capitalism

One school of thought attributes Calvinism with setting the stage for the later development of capitalism in northern Europe. In this view, elements of Calvinism represented a revolt against the medieval condemnation of usury and, implicitly, of profit in general. Such a connection was advanced in influential works by R. H. Tawney (1880–1962) and by Max Weber (1864–1920).

Calvin expressed himself on usury in a 1545 letter to a friend, Claude de Sachin, in which he criticized the use of certain passages of scripture invoked by people opposed to the charging of interest. He reinterpreted some of these passages, and suggested that others of them had been rendered irrelevant by changed conditions. He also dismissed the argument (based upon the writings of Aristotle) that it is wrong to charge interest for money because money itself is barren. He said that the walls and the roof of a house are barren, too, but it is permissible to charge someone for allowing him to use them. In the same way, money can be made fruitful.

He qualified his view, however, by saying that money should be lent to people in dire need without hope of interest, while a modest interest rate of 5% should be permitted in relation to other borrowers.

Arminianism

A theological and political movement in opposition to Calvinism, now called "Arminianism", was founded by Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius and revised and pursued by the Remonstrants. Arminius rejected several tenets of the Calvinist doctrines of salvation — namely, the latter four of what would later be known as the five points of Calvinism. The term "Arminianism" today often serves as an umbrella term for both Arminius's doctrine and the Remonstrants', but Arminius's followers sometimes distinguish themselves as "Reformed Arminians."

The Remonstrants' doctrine was condemned at the Synod of Dort held in Dordrecht, Holland, in 1618/1619, and followers of either Arminius or the Remonstrants are not generally considered "Reformed" by most Calvinists. Many Evangelical Christians adopted the position advocated by the Remonstrants, and Arminius's system was revived by evangelist John Wesley and is common today, particularly in Methodism.

Comparison among Protestants

This table summarizes the classical views of three different Protestant beliefs about salvation. {| align=center width=75% style="border: 1px solid #333333;"

Topic	Lutheranism	Calvinism	Arminianism
Human will
Election		Unconditional election to salvation with those outside the elect foreordained to damnation (''double-predestination'')	Conditional election on the basis of foreseen faith or unbelief
Justification			Justification made Atonement_(unlimited_view)#The_Doctrine
Conversion	[[Monergism
Preservation and apostasy		[[Perseverance of the saints: the eternally elect in Christ will necessarily persevere in faith and subsequent holiness until the end

|}

See also

List of Calvinist educational institutions

Moderate Calvinism

Synod of Jerusalem (1672)

Cage Stage Calvinism

History

Crypto-Calvinism: German Protestants accused of Calvinist leanings within the Lutheran church in the late 16th century

Jansenism: a radical Augustinian group within the Catholic Church with doctrinal distinctives very similar to Calvinism

Max Weber: ''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism''

Welsh Methodist revival, 1904-1905 Welsh Revival

Doctrine

Common grace and free offer of the Gospel

Moderate Calvinism

Monergism, as opposed to synergism

People groups

:Category:Calvinists

Boer Calvinists: Boere-Afrikaners that hold to Reformed Theology.

Huguenots: followers of Calvinism in France, the 16th and 17th century.

Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony): Puritan separatists who left Europe for America in search of religious toleration.

Puritans: Calvinists in England.

Reformed churches: denominations that have historically adhered to Calvinist doctrine.

References

48. Calvins liturgy :William D. Maxwell, An Outline of Christian Worship: Its Development and Forms (London: Oxford University Press, 1936),

Further reading

David N. Steele, Curtis C. Thomas, and S. Lance Quinn, ''The Five Points of Calvinism Defined, Defended, and Documented'' (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R; Publishing, 2004).

Ford Lewis Battles and John Walchenbach, ''Analysis of the "Institutes of the Christian Religion" of John Calvin'' (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1980).

John Calvin, ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'', ed. John T. McNeil, trans. Ford L. Battles (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1960).

John Thomas McNeill, ''The History and Character of Calvinism'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1954).

Philip Benedict, ''Christ's Churches Purely Reformed: A Social History of Calvinism'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002).

External links

Calvinist websites

What are the doctrines of grace? - related article from TheologyForums.org.

Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics - offers many materials from a Calvinist perspective.

Monergism.com - many Reformed and Calvinist resources

Calvinism Index by Colin Maxwell

Calvinist Theological Seminary - Calvinist Education & Resources

Sola Scriptura - a Reformed theology resource.

International Center for Reformation of Faith and Life Calvinist resources and reading

Calvinism and other theological systems

''Argument on the Arminian Controversy - Five Points of Gospel Truth Asserted and Defended'' (1836) by Moses Roney, defending Calvinism against Arminianism.

Calvinism & Arminianism - a brief comparison of Calvinism and Arminianism from ''The Five Points of Calvinism - Defined, Defended, Documented'' by Steele and Thomas

"Calvinism" from the Catholic Encyclopedia

The five points of Calvinism

Category:Calvinist theology Category:Chalcedonianism Category:Christian terms

af:Calvinisme ar:كالفينية frp:Calvinismo az:Kalvinizm be:Кальвінізм be-x-old:Кальвінізм bg:Калвинизъм ca:Calvinisme cs:Kalvinismus cy:Calfiniaeth da:Calvinisme de:Calvinismus et:Kalvinism el:Καλβινισμός es:Calvinismo eo:Kalvinismo eu:Kalbinismo fa:کالونیسم fr:Calvinisme fy:Kalvinisme ko:칼뱅주의 hr:Kalvinizam id:Calvinisme ia:Calvinismo is:Kalvínismi it:Calvinismo he:קלוויניזם ka:კალვინიზმი kk:Кальвинизм la:Calvinismus lt:Kalvinizmas li:Calvinisme hu:Kálvinizmus ms:Calvinisme nl:Calvinisme ja:カルヴァン主義 no:Kalvinisme nds:Calvinismus pl:Kalwinizm pt:Calvinismo ru:Кальвинизм scn:Calvinismu simple:Calvinism sk:Kalvinizmus sr:Калвинизам fi:Kalvinismi tr:Kalvenizm uk:Кальвіністська церква vi:Thần học Calvin zh:加爾文主義

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Ergun Caner
birth name	Ergun Michael Caner
birth date	November 03, 1966
birth place	Stockholm, Sweden
occupation	Professor of theology
spouse
residency	Lynchburg, Virgina
employer	Arlington Baptist College
religion	Southern Baptist Convention
website	erguncaner.com
parents	Acar Martin Caner (father) Monica Inez Caner (mother)
footnotes	}}

Ergun Michael Caner (born 1966), also known as ''Ergun Mehmet Caner'', is an evangelical minister. He was born in Sweden to a Muslim Turkish immigrant and a Swedish mother and claimed to have been raised as a Sunni Muslim. He immigrated with his family to the United States as a toddler. Later he became a Christian.

He is a former professor of theology and church history, as well as a former dean at the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School of Liberty University. Caner has co-authored several books with his brother Emir, many of which are critical of Islam and have generated international controversy. In 2010 it emerged that he had made false claims about having been been raised as a Muslim and linked to Muslim terrorist groups as a young man. After assembling a panel to investigate the accusations, Liberty University chose not to renew Caner's contract as dean because of "factual statements that are self-contradictory."

In May 2011 it was announced that he was appointed professor of theology and church history, as well as the Provost and Vice President of Academics at Arlington Baptist College.

Early biography

Ergun Caner and his brother Erdem were born in Sweden, the sons of a Muslim Turkish father and a Swedish mother. Conflicting versions exist about his mother's religion. Some sources claim that his mother Monica Inez was a Muslim. She was an only child raised in Stockholm and educated all over Europe. By age 20, she had attended the Sorbonne in Paris. She had traveled the world. Early in his career Caner claimed to have been born in Turkey, where he was "entrenched in Muslim extremism when he moved to the United States from Turkey as a teenager and found Jesus." His parents immigrated to Ohio and Caner began frequenting a Baptist church in Columbus and in 1982 embraced Christianity. His two brothers, mother and grandmother were Christians but his father remained a Muslim; and was the architect who built a mosque in Columbus.

Sahih al-Bukhari Vol. 9, Book 84, Number 57 says:

Narrated 'Ikrima: Some Zanadiqa (atheists) were brought to 'Ali and he burnt them. The news of this event reached Ibn 'Abbas who said, "If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah's Apostle forbade it, saying, 'Do not punish anybody with Allah's punishment (fire).' I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah's Apostle, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.'"

According to Ergun's brother, Emir Caner, their father interpreted the above hadith as an allegory rather than literally. They claim that after he had consulted with his imam and other Islamic leaders, their father made them figuratively dead by disowning them.

Caner studied at Criswell College in Dallas with his brother Emir who went on to teach at Truett-McConnell College, a Baptist school in Cleveland, Georgia, and both attended Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina for postgraduate work.

Columbine High School

The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado. Twelve students and a teacher were killed and numerous others wounded by two classmates who then killed themselves. Caner at the time was pastor of the Central Baptist Church in Aurora, Colorado. Caner was referring to himself as E. Michael "Butch" Caner according to the ''Baptist Press''.

He was among the first ministers that were brought to counsel the students after the tragedy. First hand he witnessed the large amounts of blood, students being carted off on gurneys, and parents weeping. He consoled people by telling them "that God is not the author of sin and that he wanted to bring them peace." He noted that the "secular counselors" were giving "no hope" to the victims and it was a great opportunity to "share Jesus".

Near the one year anniversary of the massacre, Caner authored a "reflection" for the Baptist Press about the continuing effects of the massacre on the students. He noted that the students were largely shunning the media with the help of their parents and churches. He wrote, "They have developed an uneasy sense of exploitation which they cannot articulate." From his perspectives the students felt that they and their deceased friends were being exploited by politicians and national pundits for multiple causes. Some students held youth events in secret to avoid the press. One teenager admitted that he changed churches after his pastor kept asking him to speak at conferences and other youth groups. This teenager "wanted to concentrate on sharing the power of God, not just the pain of his loss."

After September 11th

In 2002, the brothers gained national notoriety after publishing ''Unveiling Islam'', a critique of Islam; ''IslamOnline'''s Ali Asadullah called it "a diatribe against Muslims and their faith." The book gained modest success, selling 100,000 copies in a year. In the years after the September 11 attacks, Caner became a well-known and popular speaker at evangelical schools and churches, helped by his charisma and conversion story, and after teaching at Criswell College for two years became a popular professor at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. In February 2005, Falwell announced that Caner was to become dean of the college's seminary, a move criticized by Muslim groups. Caner's charisma and his humorous and sometimes politically incorrect style of teaching, however, proved very popular among students, and enrollment at the seminary tripled.

He ignited controversy largely due to the criticism and scrutiny of an alliance of Muslim and Christian bloggers which found numerous errors in Caner's lectures and books and glaring discrepancies in his biography; He had claimed to have been raised as a teenager in Turkey to become a Muslim extremist and only immigrated to the US in 1978. It was during these years that he claimed to have attended a Muslim extremist training center in Beirut. However, court records show that he had actually immigrated to the United States in 1969 at age 3.

thumb|left|Ergun Caner instructs Marines in New River, North CarolinaOn April 25, 2005, he conducted two training sessions for the United States Marines in New River, North Carolina. During these sessions he was introduced as having moved to the United States from Turkey at the age of 14. He claimed that he did not know anything about America until he came to the country at age 14. He told the Marines that he did not learn English until after age 14. He said he watched American television in Turkey, but he had to watch it with Turkish captions. He claimed that he had been educated (before coming to America) in madrassas in both Istanbul, Turkey and Cairo, Egypt. The unedited videos of these sessions were obtained by a Freedom of Information Request in August 2010.

Moreover, in a statement released on his own website and reproduced by the Southern Baptist Convention, Caner stated in February 2010, that he had actually been born in Sweden, and that possible errors in his "pronunciation of Arabic" as he's from a Turkish background and other matters were not intended to mislead but were bound to happen in two decades of ministry and hundreds of sermons. The Associated Baptist Press reported in May 2010 that Liberty University backed Caner after having investigated the allegations of untruths, but a few days later the university announced that it would continue investigating. "Because of "factual statements that are self-contradictory", he was forced to step down from his position as dean in June 2010, though he was retained as a professor.

September 24, 2010, Ergun Caner was the keynote speaker for the Twin City's 12th Annual Community Prayer Breakfast in Bristol, Virginia. When interviewed about the controversy, the chairman of the local prayer breakfast committee said that members were aware of the controversy, but the invitation had been issued before the controversy became apparent. He also noted that the Community Prayer Breakfast does not delve into the backgrounds of their motivation/inspiration speakers. At the meeting, Caner claimed that he and his brother had seen the controversy coming for years. The bloggers were simply "frustrated people in their basements", he said. He claimed that it would take more than edited videos to take him down. All of his false statements explained by the fact that he has more than 200 hours of combined sermons which would yield random misstatements.

He left LU in June 2011 to become Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs for the Arlington Baptist College. The President of Arlington Baptist College, Dr. Dan Moody stated that Ergun Caner's controversy was in the past and the new Vice President had his full confidence. However, one anonymous faculty member told News 8: "I find it reprehensible that the leadership of the Arlington Baptist College would hire a man who is very clearly profiteering from the tragedy of September 11."

Teachings about Islam

During a 2005 Marine training session in New River, North Carolina, Ergun Caner taught that there were only three times in the history of Islam that all Shia, Sunni, and Sufi Muslims were united. The first was against the grandfather of Charlemagne, Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in AD 732. The second was in the Third Crusade under Saladin from AD 1189–1192. The third was the signing of Al Qaeda's second fatwa by Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri on February 23, 1998.

According to Ergun Caner, during 1998 all forms of Islam were united behind Osama Bin Laden. However, a contemporaneous report by PBS's ''New Hour'' in 1998 stated that Al Qaeda was a fringe group that had few places in the Islamic world that they could find sanctuary. Most Islamic groups were using the ballot rather than violence to advance their cause. Sudan and Afghanistan were great places for Osama Bin Laden to hide, because they were war torn and militant Islamic governments.

Books

Caner, Ergun, and Emir Fethi Caner. ''Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs.'' Updated and Expanded ed. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2009. ISBN 0825424283

Caner, Emir Fethi, and Ergun Mehmet Caner. ''More Than a Prophet: an Insider's Response to Muslim Beliefs About Jesus and Christianity.'' Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2003. ISBN 0825424011

Caner Emir, and Ergun Caner. ''The Sacred Trust: Sketches of the Southern Baptist Convention Presidents.'' Nashville, Tenn.: B&H; Academic, 2003. ISBN 080542668X

Caner, Ergun Mehmet, and Emir Fethi Caner, eds. ''The Sacred Desk: Sermons of the Southern Baptist Convention Presidents.'' Nashville, Tenn.: B&H; Publishing Group, 2004. ISBN 0805430598

Caner, Ergun Mehmet, ed. ''Voices Behind the Veil: the World of Islam through the Eyes of Women.'' Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 2004. ISBN 082542402X

Caner, Ergun Mehmet, and Emir Fethi Caner. ''Christian Jihad: Two Former Muslims Look at the Crusades and Killing in the Name of Christ.'' Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 2004. ISBN 0825424038

Brunson, Mac & Caner, Ergun. ''Why Churches Die: Diagnosing Lethal Poisons in the Body of Christ.'' Nashville: B&H; Books, 2005. ISBN 0805431810

Hoffman, Paul K., and Norman L. Geisler, eds. ''Why I Am a Christian: Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe.'' Rev. and expanded ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2006. ISBN 080106712X

Cabal, Ted, ed. ''The Apologetics Study Bible: Understand Why You Believe.'' Nashville, Tennessee: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007. ISBN 158640024X

Pollock, Forrest. ''The Last Sermon I Would Preach If Jesus Were Coming Tomorrow.'' Encouraging Word, 2007. ISBN 0615159400

Hindson, Ed, and Caner, Ergun, general editors. ''The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics.'' Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, 2008. ISBN 0736920846

Falwell, Jonathan, general editor. ''InnovateChurch.'' Nashville, Tenn.: B&H; Books, 2008. ISBN 0805448268

Caner, Ergun Mehmet. ''Holier Than Thou: When Faith Becomes Toxic.'' Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2009. ISBN 0687658403

Allen, David L., and Steve W Lemke, eds. ''The Return of Christ: A Premillennial Perspective.'' Nashville: B&H; Academic, 2011. ISBN 1433669722

See also

Southern Baptist Convention

List of Southern Baptist Convention affiliated people

World Baptist Fellowship

References

External links

Official site of Ergun Caner

Ergun Caner's biography on Liberty University website

In Defense of Dr. Ergun Caner, by Norman Geisler

"Ergun Caner Out as Seminary Dean", from ''Christianity Today''

Mohammad Khan's blog, one of the sites that started the controversy about Caner's background.

Category:1966 births Category:American evangelicals Category:Christian apologists Category:Converts to Baptist denominations Category:Converts to Protestantism from Islam Category:Liberty University faculty Category:Living people Category:Southern Baptist ministers Category:American people of Turkish descent

ar:أرغون جانير es:Ergun Caner tr:Ergun Caner

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Charles Haddon Spurgeon
birth date	June 19, 1834
birth place	Kelvedon, Essex, England
death date	January 31, 1892
death place	Menton, Alpes-Maritimes, France
occupation	Pastor, author
religion	Christian (Reformed Baptist)
spouse	Susannah Spurgeon (née Thompson)(January 8, 1856)
parents	John and Eliza Spurgeon
children	Charles and Thomas Spurgeon (twins) (1856)
nationality	British }}

Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon (19 June 1834 – 31 January 1892) was a British Particular Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among Christians of different denominations, among whom he is still known as the "Prince of Preachers". He was a strong figure in the Reformed Baptist tradition, defending the Church in agreement with the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith understanding, and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church of his day.

In his lifetime, Spurgeon preached to around 10,000,000 people, often up to 10 times each week at different places. His sermons have been translated into many languages. Spurgeon was the pastor of the congregation of the New Park Street Chapel (later the Metropolitan Tabernacle) in London for 38 years. He was part of several controversies with the Baptist Union of Great Britain and later had to leave the denomination. In 1857, he started a charity organization called Spurgeon's which now works globally. He also founded Spurgeon's College, which was named after him posthumously.

Spurgeon was a prolific author of many types of works including sermons, an autobiography, commentaries, books on prayer, devotionals, magazines, poetry, hymns and more. Many sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many languages during his lifetime. Spurgeon produced powerful sermons of penetrating thought and precise exposition. His oratory skills held throngs of listeners spellbound in the Metropolitan Tabernacle and many Christians have discovered Spurgeon's messages to be among the best in Christian literature.

Biography

Early life

Born in Kelvedon, Essex, Spurgeon's conversion to Christianity came on 6 January 1850, at age 15. On his way to a scheduled appointment, a snow storm forced him to cut short his intended journey and to turn into a Primitive Methodist chapel in Colchester where "God opened his heart to the salvation message." The text that moved him was Isaiah 45:22 - "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else." Later that year on 4 April 1850, he was admitted to the church at Newmarket.

His baptism followed on May 3 in the river Lark, at Isleham. Later that same year he moved to Cambridge, where he later became a sunday school teacher. He preached his first sermon in the winter of 1850-51 in a cottage at Teversham while filling in for a friend. From the beginning of his ministry his style and ability were considered to be far above average. In the same year, he was installed as pastor of the small Baptist church at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, where he published his first literary work, a Gospel tract written in 1853.

New Park Street Chapel

In April 1854, after preaching three months on probation and just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 19, was called to the pastorate of London's famed New Park Street Chapel, Southwark (formerly pastored by the Particular Baptists Benjamin Keach, theologian John Gill and John Rippon). This was the largest Baptist congregation in London at the time, although it had dwindled in numbers for several years. Spurgeon found friends in London among his fellow pastors, such as William Garrett Lewis of Westbourne Grove Church, an older man who along with Spurgeon went on to found the London Baptist Association.

Within a few months of Spurgeon's arrival at Park Street, his ability as a preacher made him famous. The following year the first of his sermons in the "New Park Street Pulpit" was published. Spurgeon's sermons were published in printed form every week and had a high circulation. By the time of his death in 1892, he had preached nearly 3,600 sermons and published 49 volumes of commentaries, sayings, anecdotes, illustrations and devotions.

Immediately following his fame was criticism. The first attack in the press appeared in the ''Earthen Vessel'' in January 1855. His preaching, although not revolutionary in substance, was a plain-spoken and direct appeal to the people, using the Bible to provoke them to consider the teachings of Jesus Christ. Critical attacks from the media persisted throughout his life. The congregation quickly outgrew their building, and moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000. At 22, Spurgeon was the most popular preacher of the day.

On 8 January 1856, Spurgeon married Susannah, daughter of Robert Thompson of Falcon Square, London, by whom he had twin sons, Charles and Thomas born on 20 September 1856. At the end of that year, tragedy struck on October 19, 1856, as Spurgeon was preaching at the Surrey Gardens Music Hall for the first time. Someone in the crowd yelled, "Fire!" The ensuing panic and stampede left several dead. Spurgeon was emotionally devastated by the event and it had a sobering influence on his life. He struggled against depression for many years and spoke of being moved to tears for no reason known to himself.

Walter Thornbury later wrote in "Old and New London" (1897) describing a subsequent meeting at Surrey:

Spurgeon's work went on. A Pastors' College was founded in 1857 by Spurgeon and was renamed Spurgeon's College in 1923, when it moved to its present building in South Norwood Hill, London;. At the Fast Day, 7 October 1857, he preached to the largest crowd ever – 23,654 people – at The Crystal Palace in London. Spurgeon noted:

Metropolitan Tabernacle

On 18 March 1861, the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed purpose-built Metropolitan Tabernacle at Elephant and Castle, Southwark, seating 5000 people with standing room for another 1000. The Metropolitan Tabernacle was the largest church edifice of its day and can be considered a precursor to the modern "megachurch". Spurgeon continued to preach there several times per week until his death 31 years later. He never gave altar calls at the conclusion of his sermons, but he always extended the invitation that if anyone was moved to seek an interest in Christ by his preaching on a Sunday, they could meet with him at his vestry on Monday morning.

Without fail, there was always someone at his door the next day. He wrote his sermons out fully before he preached, but what he carried up to the pulpit was a note card with an outline sketch. Stenographers would take down the sermon as it was delivered and Spurgeon would then have opportunity to make revisions to the transcripts the following day for immediate publication. His weekly sermons, which sold for a penny each, were widely circulated and still remain one of the all-time best selling series of writings published in history.

Besides sermons, Spurgeon also wrote several hymns and published a new collection of worship songs in 1866 called "Our Own Hymn Book". It was mostly a compilation of Isaac Watts's Psalms and Hymns that had been originally selected by John Rippon, a Baptist predecessor to Spurgeon. Singing in the congregation was exclusively a cappella under his pastorate. Thousands heard the preaching and were led in the singing without any amplification of sound that exists today. Hymns were a subject that he took seriously. While Spurgeon was still preaching at New Park Street, a hymn book called "The Rivulet" was published. Spurgeon aroused controversy because of his critique of its theology, which was largely deistic. At the end of his review, Spurgeon warned:

On June 5, 1862, Spurgeon challenged the Church of England when he preached against baptismal regeneration. However, Spurgeon taught across denominational lines as well. It was during this period at the new Tabernacle that Spurgeon found a friend in James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the inter-denominational China Inland Mission. Spurgeon supported the work of the mission financially and directed many missionary candidates to apply for service with Taylor. He also aided in the work of cross-cultural evangelism by promoting "The Wordless Book", a teaching tool that he described in a message given on January 11, 1866, regarding Psalm 51:7: "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." The book has been and is still used to teach illiterate people and people of other cultures and languages – young and old – around the globe about the Gospel message.

Following the example of George Müller, Spurgeon founded the Stockwell Orphanage, which opened for boys in 1867 and for girls in 1879, and which continued in London until it was bombed in the Second World War. The orphanage became Spurgeon's Child Care which still exists today. On the death of missionary David Livingstone in 1873, a discolored and much-used copy of one of Spurgeon's printed sermons, "Accidents, Not Punishments," was found among his few possessions much later, along with the handwritten comment at the top of the first page: "Very good, D.L." He had carried it with him throughout his travels in Africa. It was returned to Spurgeon and treasured by him.

Downgrade Controversy

A controversy among the Baptists flared in 1887 with Spurgeon's first "Down-grade" article, published in ''The Sword & the Trowel''. In the ensuing "Downgrade Controversy," the Metropolitan Tabernacle became disaffiliated from the Baptist Union, effectuating Spurgeon's congregation as the world's largest self-standing church. Contextually the Downgrade Controversy was British Baptists' equivalent of hermeneutic tensions which were starting to sunder Protestant fellowships in general.

The Controversy took its name from Spurgeon's use of the term "Downgrade" to describe certain other Baptists' outlook toward the Bible (''i.e.'', they had "downgraded" the Bible and the principle of ''sola scriptura''). Spurgeon alleged that an incremental creeping of the Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis , Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and other concepts was weakening the Baptist Union and reciprocally explaining the success of his own evangelistic efforts. The standoff even split his pupils trained at the College, each side accused the other of raising issues which did not need to be raised.

Final years and death

Spurgeon's wife was often too ill to leave home to hear him preach. Spurgeon also suffered ill health toward the end of his life, afflicted by a combination of rheumatism, gout and Bright's disease. He often recuperated at Menton, near Nice, France, where he eventually died on 1892 January 31. Spurgeon was survived by his wife and sons. His remains were buried at West Norwood Cemetery in London, where the tomb is still visited by admirers. His son Tom became the Pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle after he died.

Library

William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri purchased Spurgeon's 5,103-volume library collection for £500 ($2500) in 1906. The collection was purchased by Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri in 2006 for $400,000 and is currently undergoing restoration. A special collection of Spurgeon's handwritten sermon notes and galley proofs from 1879–1891 resides at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Spurgeon's College in London also has a small number of notes and proofs.

Works

''2200 Quotations from the Writings of Charles H. Spurgeon''

''Able To The Uttermost''

''According To Promise''

''All of Grace'' : ISBN 1-60206-436-9

''An All Round Ministry''

''Around the Wicket Gate''

''Barbed Arrows''

''C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography'' : ISBN 0-85151-076-0

''Chequebook of the Bank of Faith'' : ISBN 1-85792-221-2

''Christ’s Incarnation''

''Come Ye Children''

''Commenting and Commentaries''

''The Dawn of Revival, (Prayer Speedily Answered)''

''Down Grade Controversy, The''

''Eccentric Preachers''

''Feathers For Arrows''

''Flashes Of Thought''

''Gleanings Among The Sheaves''

''God Promises You'' : ISBN 0-88368-459-4

''Good Start, A''

''Greatest Fight In The World, The''

''Home Worship And The Use of the Bible in the Home''

''Interpreter, The or Scripture for Family Worship''

''John Ploughman’s Pictures''

''John Ploughman’s Talks''

''Lectures to My Students'' : ISBN 0-310-32911-6

''Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, The''

''Miracles and Parables of Our Lord''

''Morning & Evening'' : ISBN 1-84550-014-8

''New Park Street Pulpit, The''

''Only A Prayer Meeting''

''Our Own Hymn Book''

''Pictures From Pilgrim’s Progress''

''The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life'' : ISBN 0-88368-441-1

''The Preachers Power and the Conditions of Obtaining it''

''Saint And His Saviour, The''

''Sermons In Candles''

''Sermons On Unusual Occasions''

''Smooth Stones taken from Ancient Brooks - Selections from Thomas Brooks'' : ISBN 9781848711136

''Soul Winner, The'' : ISBN 1-60206-770-8

''Speeches At Home And Abroad''

''Spurgeon's Commentary on Great Chapters of the Bible''

''Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening''

''Spurgeon's Sermon Notes'' : ISBN 0-8254-3768-7

''Sword and The Trowel, The''

''Till He Come''

''The Salt Cellar''

''Treasury of David, The'' : ISBN 0-8254-3683-4

''We Endeavour''

''The Wordless Book''

''Word and Spirit'' : ISBN 0-85234-545-3

''Words Of Advice''

''Words Of Cheer''

''Words Of Counsel''

Spurgeon's works have been translated into many languages, including: Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Castilian (for the Argentine Republic), Chinese, Kongo, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, French, Gaelic, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Kaffir, Karen, Lettish, Maori, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Syriac, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, and Welsh, with a few sermons in Moon's and Braille type for the blind. He also wrote many volumes of commentaries, sayings, and other types of literature.

References

Further reading

''C H Spurgeon "The People's Preacher"''. Christian Television Association 2010 (of the UK)

External links

More information on Charles Spurgeon

Spurgeon Gems – All 63 Volumes of Spurgeon's sermons in today's language

Spurgeon quotes

Metropolitan Tabernacle official site

''Autobiography of Charles Spurgeon'', volume 1

''Autobiography of Charles Spurgeon'', volume 2

''Autobiography of Charles Spurgeon'', volume 3

''Autobiography of Charles Spurgeon'', volume 4

''Charles Haddon Spurgeon, A Biography'' – By William Young Fullerton

''Traits of Character: Being Twenty-five Years' Literary and Personal Recollections'', with a chapter on Spurgeon, by Eliza Rennie

-- Spurgeon's College

{{s-ttl|title=Pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle |years=1854-1892}}

Category:1834 births Category:1892 deaths Category:19th-century Baptist clergy Category:19th century in London Category:Baptist theologians Category:Burials at West Norwood Cemetery Category:Calvinist ministers and theologians Category:Christian hymnwriters Category:Christianity in London Category:Deaths from nephritis Category:English Baptist ministers Category:English Calvinists Category:English evangelists Category:English hymnwriters Category:English sermon writers Category:English theologians Category:People from Braintree (district)

cs:Charles Spurgeon da:Charles Spurgeon de:Charles Haddon Spurgeon es:Charles Spurgeon fr:Charles Spurgeon fy:Charles Spurgeon hr:Charles Haddon Spurgeon id:Charles Spurgeon it:Charles Spurgeon hu:Charles Haddon Spurgeon nl:Charles Spurgeon ja:チャールズ・スポルジョン no:Charles Spurgeon pl:Charles Spurgeon pt:Charles Spurgeon ru:Сперджен, Чарльз Гаддон simple:Charles Spurgeon fi:Charles Spurgeon sv:Charles Spurgeon vi:Charles Spurgeon zh:查爾斯·司布真

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
Name	Hugh Alan Craig Cairns
Birth date	March 02, 1930
Birth place	Galt, Ontario
Alma mater	University of TorontoSt Antony's College, Oxford
Awards	Order of Canada }}

Hugh Alan Craig Cairns, (born March 2, 1930) is a Canadian political science professor emeritus.

Born in Galt (now part of Cambridge, Ontario), he received his BA in 1953 and his MA degree in 1957 from the University of Toronto. In 1963, he obtained a D.Phil from St Antony's College, Oxford. He was a member of the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia from 1960 until his retirement in 1995 and served as head of the department from 1973 to 1980.

Cairns' most famous piece of writing on Canadian politics is likely his 1971 article "The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and its Critics" which discusses judicial activism in Canada. It is often listed as one of the most-cited academic works concerned with the Canadian political system.

Cairns’ scholarship has explored a multitude of issues within Canadian political science, sparking decades of debate and refinement of his ideas. In reference to Cairn’s intellectual legacy, Gerald Kernerman and Philip Resnick state: “On a remarkably wide range of topics – from the regional impact of Canada’s electoral system, the role of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and the development of Canadian federalism to the ongoing efforts to constitutionally reshape the federation and the effects on minorities of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Cairns has initiated and shaped many of our most pivotal debates.” Cairns’ work focuses extensively on the question of citizenship in the Canadian federation, a theme important to a discussion of Indigenous rights and citizenship. In addressing the situation facing Indigenous communities across Canada, Cairns acknowledges that there is a great challenge in speaking about a group to which one does not belong. He suggests that the present “discontents” between Indigenous peoples and the state are “largely due to the past silencing of Aboriginal voices. The resolution of this set of circumstances can only occur if we talk to each other in a way that both articulates our differences and seeks with empathy to reconcile them in the search for at least a limited version of membership in a common community.”

In his seminal work, ''Citizens Plus'', Cairns draws on H.B. Hawthorne’s idea of the “citizens plus” label as articulated in the Hawthorne Report of the 1960s of which Cairns was a part. As Cairns explains, the Hawthorne Report concluded that, “In addition to the normal rights and duties of citizenship, Indians possess certain additional rights as charter members of the Canadian community.” Cairns calls for an institutional resolution to the “plight” of Indigenous peoples within Canada; however, despite his insistence on a form of citizenship as the answer to the uncertainties and challenges facing their communities, he admits, “Citizenship is a malleable and contested institution that can serve different purposes… In Canada, Aboriginal nationalism leads to the idea of an Aboriginal citizenship in the self-governing Aboriginal nations of the future, the nature of whose reconciliation with Canadian citizenship is unclear.”

Honours

In 1982, he received the Molson Prize. In 1998, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2003, he was inducted into the City of Cambridge Hall of Fame. He has received honorary degrees from Carleton University (1994), the University of Toronto (1996), the University of British Columbia (1998) and the University of Saskatchewan (2002).

References

Cairns, Alan C. Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State. Toronto: UBC Press, 2000.

Cairns, Alan C., ed. Citizenship, diversity, and pluralism: Canadian and comparative perspectives. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1999.

Cairns, Alan C. First nations and the Canadian State: in search of coexistence. Kingston, Ont.: Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, Queen's University, 2005.

Kernerman, Gerald and Philip Resnick, eds. Insiders and outsiders: Alan Cairns and the reshaping of Canadian citizenship. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005.

Category:1930 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Category:Canadian political scientists Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:University of British Columbia faculty Category:University of Toronto alumni