Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology

by R.C. Sproul

Book Overview

R.C. Sproul has undertaken to make Reformed theology clear and comprehensible to the general reader, focusing on its most fundamental doctrines and locating their source in Scripture. At the heart of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801011213
• ISBN13: 9780801011214
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Baker Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.5" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

Love RC Sprouls presentation

Chock full of good Christian history and sound theology

Book

Arrived on time as described

What is Calvinism - or TULIP

There may be no subject in Christiandom that is more misunderstood by the average church-goer than Calvinism or TULIP. It is sad to see so many who reject Calvinism based upon such wrong information. In this book, Dr. Sproul helps the reader understand the key issues of the Reformation and walks you through the so-called 5 points of Calvinism - Total Depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistable grace and Perseverence of the Saints. Dr. Sproul not only unfolds the historic meaning of these doctrines but explains how they have been misunderstood. This book is longer and more developed than his earlier "Chosen by God." In the earlier work he was dealing with election in particular. In this work he tackles a broader set of related issues. As always, Dr. Sproul is gracious and instructive even for those who disagree with him. The positions he rejects, he deals with Christian grace and love. He has the ability to instruct not only those how agree but also those who disagree. If you want to know the real meaning of Calvinsim or TULIP - regardless of your accepting it or not, you will profit from reading this book.

Reformed Theology-Grace Displayed

In 'Grace Unknown', R.C.Sproul is concerned with answering the question, what is Reformed Theology? The first half of the book deals with 'The Foundations of Reformed Theology'. The five foundations are as follows: 1)Centered on God, 2)Based on God's Word Alone, 3)Commited to Faith Alone, 4)Devoted to the Prophet,Priest,and King and 5)Nicknamed Covenant Theology. The second half of the book gives a summary of 'The Doctrines of Grace' often referred to by the popular acrostic TULIP. Mr. Sproul never disappoints when it comes to analyzing terms that are used and how at times they can be misleading. For example, in the acrostic 'TULIP', the T stands for Total Depravity. Total Depravity is often thought to be utter depravity, which would mean that a person is as wicked as he could be. The author writes on p.118 ,"The term Total Depravity... refers to the effect of sin and corruption on the whole person." He then suggests that a better term to use might be radical corruption. Mr. Sproul's extensive knowledge of church history as it relates to Reformed Theology will give the reader much help in understanding how Reformed Theology and "The Church of Rome" differ. Historic Protestantism views the Bible as the only source of infallible revelation. Whereas the Roman Catholic Church has taught historically that there are two sources of infallible special revelation: scripture and church tradition. If you need or would like an answer to the question "What is Reformed Theology?",it would be difficult to find a more clear and concise answer to that important question than is found in the book "Grace Unknown".

Amen and Amen!

Dr. Sproul's book should be required reading in any seminary that considers itself to be theologically conservative. Whether you agree with him or not,(I do) he has penned an easy to read instruction manual on the "Doctrines of Grace". If you don't have a complete understanding of Reformed Theology or "Calvinism" you must read this book. As for anything else that can be said about the book, read the review by Thuyen Tran. To Brother Tran - Amen and Amen!

This book is an excellent source

To the previous person who made his claims: all of those claims are in errors. Calvinists do NOT hold to Calvin as some pope but merely defended the views of the five points, which was seen by them as biblical then, when those who held to views of Jacob Arminius remonstrated against those five points fifty years after Calvin's death! So, the five points of calvinism being same views as Calvin was incidental. Those who hold to the five points do so from biblical standpoint NOT because Calvin said so. Furthermore, the claim that Calvin did not hold to limited atonement is absurd. Anyone who makes that claim based on him citing verses that has atonement for world and all men apparently (apparently assuming falsely that calvinists do not hold to total and sola Scriptura, which they and Lutherans started the reformation to promote, as well as sola gratia, sola fide, sola Christos, and soli deo gloria) have never read Calvin when he defined what world, whold world, all men, every man, and whole human race means. In his commentary to 1 John, he asserted strongly that Christ did NOT atone for the reprobate, but that his atoning sacrifice for the whole world refers to the elect scattered all over the world. We see time and again how Calvin asserted that the atonement is for the elect only also in his commentary on gospel of John, especially on chapters 10, 11, and 17. The same goes for his views in his commentary on Romans, where he said on chapter 5, verse 18, that the atonement is common to all, but extended only to the elect, which is precisely the calvinist viewpoint (sufficient for all, but not only efficient but also designed for the elect). Read Calvin in Institutes of the Christian Religion on all men of 1 Timothy 2:3-4 and one sees that he holds to all men as all classes of people, and also that he does NOT seperate atonement and God choosing the elect for salvation. Another strawman the reviewer wrote was that holding to predestination was a view invented by calvinists to make themselves special. First of all, the calvinist view is that the elect can be calvinist, lutheran, arminian, etc, as long as that person believes and repents of his sins for the forgiveness of sins, that Christ secured at the cross. Second, the view of predestination and helplessness of man in sins apart from God's undeserved grace abounds in the Bible (Matthew 11:25-27; 22:14; Mark 13:20; Luke 18:7; John 1:12-13; 3:3-8; 5:21; 6:35-45, 61-70; 10:27-30; 12:39-40; 13:18; 15:16-19; 17:1-9, 20-26; Acts 13:48; Romans 1:18-32; 2:1; 3:9-20; 5:12-19; 8:7, 28-39; 9:6-24; 11:4-8; 1 Corinthians 1:18, 27-31; 2:14; 12:3; Galatians 1:15; Ephesians 1:3-12; 2:1-10; Colossians 2:13; 3:12; Philippians 1:6, 29; 2:12-13; 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5; 2 Thessalonians 2:12-13; Titus 1:1, 3:4-7; 1 Peter 1:2-5; 2:8-9; etc.). Third, NOT just Calvin and the calvinists held to predestination and denied man's free will of himself to repent, but also Athansasius, Augus

The One Point of Calvinism - God's Grace

As a member of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley (John MacArthur), I am blessed to be well taught when it comes to reformed theology. Still, I found R.C. Sproul's book to be a very clear and concise "refresher course" on both the history of Reformed Theology (part 1) and the 5 points of Calvanism (part 2). R.C. Sproul's book, Grace Unknown, is like the lense of a laser, bringing all the concepts of Reformed Theology into a clear and powerful focus. This book will be a tremendous help for those who have always had questions about concepts such as "Total Depravity", "Unconditional Election", and "Limited Atonement". It will also be helpful to those who question how or if God's sovereign election and man's "free will" can coexist. This is the best book on Theology I have read in a long time, and is well worth the short amount of time it will take to read.