Do We Need a Revival of Neo-Calvinism?

By SI Filings
Nov 29 2022
Theology
Worldview
Books
Neo-Calvinism

"...these streams don’t represent neo-Calvinism as it originated. In our forthcoming book and our podcast (Grace in Common) we seek to disambiguate and broaden the term by showing its theological roots." - Cory Brock and N. Gray Sutanto

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Aaron Blumer's picture

EditorAdmin
Aaron Blumer -

Just what we need. More confusion about what "Calvinism" is!

In other words, “Calvinism” is often thought of as a more limited term than “Reformed.” Bavinck and Kuyper, however, thought it was the reverse. While Reformed orthodoxy refers to the broad theological and confessional identity of the Reformed churches, Calvinism refers to a whole world-and-life view

There are a lot of serious and worthwhile ideas in the Bavinck/Kuyper movement. I do wish the authors weren't focusing so much on what to call it.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Donn R Arms's picture

Donn R Arms -

Disambiguate? Someone who writes like this is going to clarify things?

Donn R Arms

dcbii's picture

EditorModerator
dcbii -

Donn R Arms wrote:

Disambiguate? Someone who writes like this is going to clarify things?

I'm probably showing my age here, but is "disambiguate" really a term that is considered too technical or hard to understand?  While it is certainly a less-common word, to me it still sounds like perfectly normal English...

Dave Barnhart

Kevin Miller's picture

Kevin Miller -

dcbii wrote:

 

Donn R Arms wrote:

 

Disambiguate? Someone who writes like this is going to clarify things?

 

 

I'm probably showing my age here, but is "disambiguate" really a term that is considered too technical or hard to understand?  While it is certainly a less-common word, to me it still sounds like perfectly normal English...

I think you're showing your level of education more than your age. Because the word is less common, it's not as perspicuous as it could be.

dcbii's picture

EditorModerator
dcbii -

Kevin Miller wrote:

I think you're showing your level of education more than your age. Because the word is less common, it's not as perspicuous as it could be.

I guess that could be true.  I never really think about it that way, since I was hardly an English/composition/journalism/pre-law major (all STEM for me).  All I had in college for English was at the general "liberal-arts-for-everyone" level.  When I talk about math/statistics/computer science, that all directly correlates with my higher education, so I don't expect even most M.D.s to have the same knowledge in those fields.   

I suppose it's actually a combination of education and age, since I don't expect many millenials/gen-Z members  to have the same knowledge in the core liberal-arts fields as was once more common, due to the shift in focus of today's education.  That makes me think we've lost something important...

Dave Barnhart

Aaron Blumer's picture

EditorAdmin
Aaron Blumer -

I think I learned "disambiguate" from Wikipedia. Anytime there are multiple entries with the same or very similar name...    It's a useful word. And kind of fun to say. Try it. :-)    Life seems better "disambiguated."

@Wally - I think I agree. There are some good ideas in Kuyper et al though, and the worldview of the average American Christian (like the avg American anything) is pretty gappy from what I've seen. (And I find gaps in my own as well still)

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.