Calvinistic Paths Retraced

by Samuel Fisk

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0914012258
• ISBN13: 9780914012252
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Biblical Evangelism Pr
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Historical Facts About Calvinism & Its Influences

Fisk does it again! This book is a great sequal to his other book - "Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom". While the first book focuses on Scripture passages, this book focuses on historical events, denominational doctrines, and several issues dealing with how Calvinist interpret these Scripture passages.Fisk does a brilliant job in reviewing TULIP. He demonstrates how three out of the five points of Calvinism can be refuted from Scripture. He clearly makes the connection that when someone shows how one of the points is disproved, the other two are also refuted from Scripture rather easily. He looks at the negative early historical view of Calvinism towards missions which was eye-opening (even up through the 1800s and early 1900s). And while today, many Calvinists are not as "Hyper" as during previous periods of history, Fisk clearly implies and shows how "5 pointers" are "Hyper-Calvinist" when you draw their own arguements to their own logical conclusion. Again, like the first book, it is difficult to read the book and come away saying that this book is just the author's own biased opinion. Fisk documents references and footnotes profusely (literally in almost every paragraph). He also commonly refers to quotes from many scholars and commentators who have a Calvinistic perspective. This makes this book a must resource for anyone seriously interested in a Scriptural and historical review of the topic. Fisk brings up points that I was not familiar with concerning the Synod of Dort. It was a secular event sponsored by the government at the time which severally biased any attempt to present an Arminian view. It was not the free-thinking theological event that soundly refuted Arminianism that most of us are lead to believe. Fisk also reviews Augustine, the effect of Calvinism on the English translations of the Bible (very interesting!), and the views of Calvin himself. Some of Calvins views towards government, capital punishment, and towards those who disagreed with him are very extreme and actually scarry (let alone not Scriptural!). Again Fisk footnotes everything. And some of the references that he uses are even familiar to me. Fisk ends the book with 10 reasons why studying about Calvinism really is important. He shows that understanding the facts regarding this issue does matter and should be engaged Scripturely with other Christians. This book is a MUST RESOURCE from anyone who is an Arminian to moderate Calvinist (which Fisk considers himself). For the more "Hyper-leaning-Calvinist" (for lack of a better term), this book will challenge your views - which again makes this a resource to you also. Overall, this is an excellent book! I would recommend reading this after his first book (which is even better because of its focus on Scripture) - "Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom". Because it is sometimes hard to get, I have found his first book as an unlock on WordSearch 4.