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Popular or Well Known Arminians?

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:04 am
by _darin-houston
Piper and Macarthur and Sproul et al. are so well-known it seems there is no visible support in the church today for mainstream Arminian teachers -- are there any?

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:39 am
by _Rick_C
Steve Gregg (I'm seeing links to him on lots of blogs lately) :wink:
Scot McKnight, Anabaptist tradition.
Ben Witherington III is pretty prominent (charismatic Methodist).
Roger Olson (his books on church history are popular even among Calvinists).
He might not be well known, but I really like Thomas Q. Robbins (Methodist in TX, Darin)...who I used to hear on radio in Memphis. I can't listen to him online, computer's too old (but some of y'all might be able too).

N.T. Wright, while not being an Arminian, per se, is probably closer to it than being a Calvinist. Men like Charles Stanley (Southern Baptist), and others, who are 4 Point Arminians, might fit the bill to some degree.

Unfortunately, I can't think of any more...other than the almost all of the "word of faith" teachers you see on t.v.

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 3:57 pm
by __id_2618
For those who's theology is Arminian, you have:
  • Thomas Oden (See his book: The Transforming power of Grace)
  • Robert E Picirilli (See his book: Grace, Faith, Free Will)
  • Jack W. Cottrell (See his book: What the Bible says about God the Ruler)
  • I. Howard Marshall (See his book: Kept by the Power of God and a chapter in The Grace of God-The Will of Man)
  • Roger Forster and Paul Marston (See their book: God's Strategy in Human History)
For those who's theology is Open Theism, you have:
  • Greg Boyd (See God of the Possible, God at War, Satan and the Problem of Evil)
  • John Sanders (See The God Who Risks)
  • Clark Pinnock (See Most Moved Mover, The Grace of God-The Will of Man, Grace Unlimited)
  • Richard Rice (See God's Foreknowledge & Man's Free Will, The Openness of God)

Both are alternatives to Calvinism, and each of them have works known for providing an alternative to Calvinsm which probably overlap on some points.

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 5:04 pm
by _Steve
I consider C.S. Lewis and A.W. Tozer to be fairly popular among evangelicals. They were both outspokenly non-Calvinistic.

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 5:35 pm
by _Jason Down with the King
I remember hearing Hank Hanegraaff speak against "hard determinism".

If I remember correctly, he spoke about growing up as a Calvinist, but then realizing that it had problems.

He quoted Steven before he was stoned (this is a great argument): "you stiff necked people, why do you always resist the Holy Spirit!" He then asked the question (on his show) well, what's going on here, either the Holy Spirit can be resisted or he can't !

It sound's like he believes that we can't loose our salvation when he uses his saying " you can slip on board...but not overboard". But, he might just mean that if you lose your salvation, it is no mistake, you must jump over board (on purpose). Who knows what this means.

And, Im not sure, I don’t want to try to quote him because I can’t remember very clearly, but I don't think that Ravi Zacarias is from the Cal camp either. It also sounds like he likes to stay out of the debate.

If I am right, these are some pritty big names to add to the list.

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:33 pm
by __id_2618
Jason,

You are right. Hank Hanegraaff is not a Calvinist, but he does adhere to eternal security.

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:21 pm
by _darin-houston
Roger Forster and Paul Marston (See their book: God's Strategy in Human History)
After hearing Steve mention that this book was a great influence on his theology, I checked it out from our local library and am reading it presently. So far, it's not put together well, but it's got some really good stuff in it.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 3:14 pm
by _TK
Andrew Wommack is strongly anti-calvinist.

TK

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:21 pm
by _mattrose
Interesting thread. I felt very odd in college b/c I was arminian and it seemed like all my favorite bible teachers were calvinists. But when I actually read what they wrote and heard what they said, a lot of them were just nominal calvinists. It almost seemed as if they were claiming to be calvinists just b/c it was expected.

Another angle to think about: A calvinist usually wants everyone to know they are a calvinist, but an arminian doesn't hold his arminianism in that high esteem. Arminianism is taken for granted b/c it's considered common sense by most.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:58 pm
by __id_2618
Another angle to think about: A calvinist usually wants everyone to know they are a calvinist, but an arminian doesn't hold his arminianism in that high esteem. Arminianism is taken for granted b/c it's considered common sense by most.
Now that, is a point worth noticing. Our redeemed intuition would not lead to the Calvinistic portrait of God's character. In fact, such a picture goes against our intuition.