Southern Baptists Concerned about "Encroachment of Calvinism"

The Southern Baptists are concerned about the "presumbable encroachment of Calvinism."  This means TULIP or the "five points of Calvinism" associated with the Dutch Synod of Dordt, 1618-1619.  Reformation Anglicanism, of course, would subscribe to "5-point Calvinism." Such views are so basic to young and maturing Churchmen.  We well remember--with head-scratching--when Dr. Al Mohler burst onto the Baptyerian scene with his new found "Calvinism."  One would have thought the Second Coming occurred as Al, along with John Piper, enthused at a Ligonier Conference, sponsored by R.C. Sproul, Sr.  Bapyterians, like R.C. Sproul, Ligonier Ministries, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Ligon Duncan, and even James Boice, gave a voice and wide platform to these Baptyerians.  There's much more to "Calvinism" than five points:  covenant and infant baptism, the covenant of grace, consensus Reformed confessions, music, catechisms and memory work for children, doctrinal preaching (e.g. Heidelberg Catechetical instruction at evening services), educated clerics, synodical government, Psalm-singing and theologically-driven hymnals, etc. We would add an Anglican-Reformed liturgy of which the Bapyterians know nothing.  None of the Baptyerians have exposure, skill, or the piety of the  old Prayer Book.  Even the Reformed Seminary professors have little of that. But we briefly digress.  At this point, "predestinarian Baptists," or, as a more historical term, "particular Baptists" like Al Mohler, are giving pause to the revivalist and Arminianized SBC versions, their dominant faction.  Reformation Anglicanism will maintain that level of discernment that transcends these Anabaptists and Baptyerians...what one advisor to Queen Elizabeth the First said, a "faith for men of discerning spirits."  While one might rebut that point as elitist (etc.), we have sustained and substantive rebuttals.  We support Elizabeth's advisor while the Revivalists will object.  The article follows with the URL.

'Encroachment of Calvinism' concerns editor

Posted on Feb 10, 2012 | by Erin Roach

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- Southern Baptists must decide whether they are satisfied with a "presumable encroachment of Calvinism" in their leadership and their seminary graduates, Baptist paper editor Gerald Harris wrote Feb. 9, drawing responses from several SBC entities.

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J. Gerald Harris

In a column titled "The Calvinists are here," Harris, editor of The Christian Index, newsjournal of the Georgia Baptist Convention, set forth statements about Calvinism and quoted Southern Baptists on both sides of the issue.

"... It appears that some of our institutions and agencies are giving, at the least, tacit approval to Reformed theology or are, at the most, actively on a path to honor, if not implement Reformed theology and methodology in their institutions," Harris wrote at ChristianIndex.org.

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., was cited in the column as "a particular source" of recent graduates espousing Reformed doctrines.

"There is a growing perception that Southern Seminary has become a seedbed for a brand of Calvinism that is quite different from the Reformed theology of its founder, James Petigru Boyce, and also a training ground for Reformed church planters," Harris wrote.

In response, R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary, told Baptist Press, "I have no idea what Dr. Harris has in mind with this comment, and only he can explain it. The theological standard at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is the Baptist Faith & Message and the Abstract of Principles, upon which the institution was founded, and on which the first signature is that of James Petigru Boyce."

For more, see:

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37156