An Intention to Teach
The Evangelical Calvinist
by Bobby Grow
2d ago
I am thinking that it’s time to start “teaching” through some of my blog posts. In other words, it is time, at points, to take the time to nuance the precision theological language often used here in my posts. That is my intention, anyway. There will still be many posts where I am thinking out loud (which is my normal cadence here at the blog). But I think it would serve others well, and myself included, if I took the time to break down what some of these technical jargony words entail, and write posts focusing purely on that. Indeed, one single post could be explaining a single term by way o ..read more
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An Athanasian Reformed Reading of John 6:44-45: On Unconditional Election and the Effectual Call
The Evangelical Calvinist
by Bobby Grow
6d ago
There was a debate, very recently, between Dr. James White and Dr. Leighton Flowers with reference to John 6:44-45. The theological locus under disputation was on the Calvinist doctrines of unconditional election and the effectual call. White argued the positive position, i.e., affirming unconditional election and the effectual call; whilst Flowers argued the negative, i.e., denying unconditional election and the effectual call. For the purposes of this post, I am just going to assume the reader understands the entailments of said doctrines, and cut right to the chase in offering the Athanasia ..read more
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The Christ, as God’s Unconditionally Elect Human for the World
The Evangelical Calvinist
by Bobby Grow
1w ago
Christ’s atonement is limited to Christ’s vicarious humanity for the world. As the ‘firstborn from the dead’ He is the second and greater Adam, wherein all of humanity, from Christ’s elect humanity, comes to have the capacity, in echo of Christ’s Yes and Amen for us, to say Yes and Amen by the Spirit, to the Father. Christ is God’s unconditionally elect human for the world, and it is in His humanity that we come to have the capacity to truly be human; insofar that the entailments of what it means to be genuinely human is to be in right and reconciled relationship with the triune God. ‘In Him a ..read more
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A Brief Word on the Biblical Languages and a Theological Ontology
The Evangelical Calvinist
by Bobby Grow
1w ago
The biblical languages often come with a perception of objectivity, like math or something. But the biblical languages are, indeed, languages. Language is fluid, and highly contextual. Learning the biblical languages can be very helpful for studying the Bible; but they aren’t definitive in regard to establishing this or that theological doctrine as true or false, per se. The more significant languages to learn are the theological languages; indeed, what could be called a theological ontology. This is not separate from biblical study; indeed, it establishes it, one way or the other, in a supra ..read more
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The Christian Humanists versus the Scholastic Theologians: The Bible versus the Philosophers
The Evangelical Calvinist
by Bobby Grow
1w ago
Charles Partee in his book Calvin and Classical Philosophy, by way of introduction, offers a nice treatment on the entailments of a mediaeval Christian Humanism versus a theological Scholasticism, as both of those were present in the early formation of the Protestant Reformation; with, of course, particular reference to John Calvin. I am going to share a long passage from Partee because it is rather pertinent to the way I see myself operating; as far as both mood and method goes. I will provide the passage, and then offer up some closing thoughts (the usual). In the sixteenth century, however ..read more
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Ecclesiastical versus State Accreditation for Christian Institutions of Higher Learning
The Evangelical Calvinist
by Bobby Grow
1w ago
Quae Genus at Oxford, from “The History of Johnny Quae Genus, The Little Foundling of the Late Doctor Syntax”, November 1, 1821. Artist Thomas Rowlandson. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images) In order to be an accredited school in America in the 21st century, per the US Department of Education, both the recognized accrediting agencies, and the schools accredited by those agencies must submit to and integrate DEI statutes and protocols into their procedures as institutions. Without such submission said schools (and their accreditors) are not recognized by the US Department ..read more
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The Captivity of God: Against Scholastic and Philosophical Theology
The Evangelical Calvinist
by Bobby Grow
1w ago
Just to reiterate, once again, the way scholastic theology, particularly with reference to Thomas Aquinas directly, and the scholastic trad after Thomas (whether Catholic or Protestant) indirectly, affects the way contemporary orthodox theologians do theology, let me share a passage from David Kelsey as he sketches the entailments of scholastic methodology vis-à-vis the ‘revelation’ found in Holy Scripture. In this instance it is with reference to the way that Aristotelian metaphysics are deployed in an effort to explicate the loci deposited in Holy Scripture. What is of import for our purpose ..read more
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Countering the Abstract Faith of Augustine and Pelagius with the Concrete Faith of Christ
The Evangelical Calvinist
by Bobby Grow
2w ago
An abstract notion of saving faith, based on an abstract, or even undefined doctrine of election, always must attempt to make itself concrete. It must seek a way to fill in the gap created by a notion of faith wherein the believer believes out of an idea of faith that is seemingly inherent to them, or individually gifted to THEM. The antidote to this abstract notion of faith is to come to understand that people believe or trust out of Christ’s vicarious faith for us. It is by His poverty for us that we have become rich; that we can become rich; by saying Yes and Amen in echo of his Yes and Ame ..read more
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On the Degree
The Evangelical Calvinist
by Bobby Grow
2w ago
Okay, seriously, my final word on this. The drama has almost spun out of control, seemingly, at this point; but it hasn’t really. The ThD degree I was awarded, which had been tied into what came to be a fraudulent university, has been re-awarded to me. Indeed, the seminary it had been awarded through was always a school called International Faith Theological Seminary in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the school that Dr. Fred Maina Macharia is, and has been president of for years. It is also one of the seminaries that makes up the Concordia Academic Theology Consortium, Intl. of the General Lutheran Ch ..read more
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The Theological and Ideational History Behind the Deconstructed Culture Writ Large
The Evangelical Calvinist
by Bobby Grow
3w ago
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. –Judges 21:25 The human heart has never changed. Ironically, in our secular times humanity, in the main, has come to believe that we have “progressed” beyond our primitive forebears. Secular humanity of the 21st century generally maintains that it has moved beyond the religious platitudes and superstitions of the pre-critical past, and moved onto greener and more enlightened pastures. But the secular age, in fact, is really just a mythology that needs to be demythologized by the lights of sound and theolog ..read more
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