Interview with Michael Horton: For Calvinism

Two books that you will want to pick up if you haven’t already are For Calvinism by Michael Horton and Against Calvinism by Roger Olson (Zondervan). Today both Olson and Horton join us to talk about their new books. Josh Hayes, writer for “Towers,” now turns to Michael Horton, Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California.

How did your research and writing for your book, For Calvinism, confirm or change any of your impressions or understanding of Arminian doctrine?

Roger Olson has hammered the point that Arminianism is not Semi-pelagian, since the former affirms total depravity and the need for prevenient grace and the latter does not. Fair enough. My further research, however, did confirm my conclusion that Arminianism represents a broad spectrum, including some who do in fact hold Semi-pelagian views. Even while Arminius was still living (though in decline), the Remonstrant movement was moving toward Socinianism. However, Arminius, Wesley and Roger Olson represent an authentic evangelical Arminianism that has always had a lively tradition in mainstream Christianity. So clarifying these distinctions more carefully was helpful.

What did you find most challenging about writing For Calvinism?

Summarizing. In fact, I didn’t want to write this book at first. I’ve made a case for these doctrines in a number of books already and the publisher originally wanted the title to be Against Arminianism. Finally I agreed to do it if I could write a positive case; hence, For Calvinism.

What are the best books in your mind that offer a positive case for Calvinism?

Edwin Palmer’s The Five Points of Calvinism is helpful, as well as the book by the same title written by Curtis Thomas and David Steele. R.C. Sproul’s Chosen By God clearly presents the doctrine of election. What Is Reformed Theology? offers a fuller yet still introductory-level exploration. I’d throw my own book, Putting Amazing Back Into Grace, in the mix. I highly recommend reading through the Reformed confessions and catechisms.

What has the Calvinist-Arminian debate taught you about the importance of holding the distinctive doctrines of the Reformed faith while also maintaining an ecumenical spirit with non-Calvinist evangelicals?

We need to recognize that we are all pilgrims on the way, growing in the grace and knowledge of our Savior. I have learned a lot from reading and interacting with brothers and sisters outside my own tradition. Even when I disagree, I come to understand a different position better and discover where I had assumed caricatures. As I say in this book and elsewhere, there is no Reformed Faith. There is only the Christian Faith and I affirm the Reformed confession and exposition of that one faith.

You comment in For Calvinism about the negative reputation Calvinists gain from those in the “cage phase.” What wisdom can you offer in order to help steer newly convinced Calvinists away from this tendency?

It’s not just freshly minted Calvinists. Some of the most irascible folks I’ve met are people who have switched from Calvinism to Arminianism or something else. Ordinarily. you don’t want someone who has just converted from Roman Catholicism to evangelical Christianity to be your church’s evangelistic liaison to Roman Catholics. What makes it especially ugly with Calvinists, though, is that spiritual pride and self-righteousness are the antithesis of what we profess. To proclaim the doctrines of grace ungraciously, God’s electing and redeeming love without loving others, and God’s patient preservation of sinful believers while lopping off the heads of our brothers and sisters is particularly offensive to God. But we are all growing in these areas and we will fail.

How have you found Calvinism helpful for evangelism and pastoral ministry?

In For Calvinism I summarize briefly the impact of the doctrines of grace on missions, evangelism and church life. It makes all the difference when you see your relationship to God as anchored in God’s electing, redeeming, regenerating, justifying and preserving grace. We live from the announcement that the Triune God alone has accomplished everything for us in Christ. The imperatives aren’t conditions for attaining salvation, but the “reasonable service” that the gospel indicatives provoke. The implications are myriad and I explore some of them in For Calvinism — many others in The Christian Faith.

Do you see the denial of limited atonement (particular redemption) as a tenable modification of the Reformed faith?

We confess a common faith together as churches, not just as individuals. So I don’t get to define “Reformed” by my own peculiar interests. As a member and minister of a Reformed church, I confess that the Canons of Dort and the Westminster Standards summarize the Bible’s teachings on these subjects, including particular redemption. The scriptures clearly teach that the Father has chosen unconditionally many sinners whom he gave to the Son and calls into union with his Son effectually by his Spirit. But that assertion has to be argued.

Since becoming a Calvinist, have you considered Arminianism plausible or compelling?

No. I am so convinced that Scripture grounds all of our salvation in the unconditional grace of the Triune God that if I were to embrace universal election and atonement, I would embrace (at least in principle) universal salvation. The Bible simply doesn’t speak of salvation being merely provided, enabled and offered. So I have sometimes found Karl Barth’s view logically coherent and in a sense attractive, but without exegetical support.

What do you think is the strongest argument for Arminianism or any of its distinctive?

Roger locates the Achilles heel of Calvinism: the problem of evil. However, that’s a problem for all of us. Even if God foreknows sin and evil actions of human beings, these actions are eternally certain to come to pass. That’s why open theists take the next step and deny God’s exhaustive foreknowledge.

What is your marketing strategy for selling For Calvinism when whomever is going to buy it has already been predestined to do so?

To quote Calvin, “Do not forget the secondary causes!” God has not only chosen the ends, but the means, and he brings about his purposes through human agency. To paraphrase the Apostle Paul quite badly, “How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless their books are published and marketed?”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview was conducted by “Towers” writer Josh Hayes and was first published in “Towers.”