Beyond Calvinism and Arminianism
C. Gordon Olson
The thesis of this book is that modern day Calvinism and Arminianism are both wrong in some respects, and right in others. That what’s needed is a “mediate” view of salvation; handily, the author has a mediate view he’s worked out over years of teaching theology and working as a missionary.
The Cons. This isn’t the book you want to read if you’re not into hard theological problems. While you probably don’t need to know what Calvinism and Arminianism are to read this book—because the author spends a good deal of time explaining these two camps within the Christian community—it’ll be a tough slog if you don’t understand have a good grounding in the Scriptures themselves. You will need to know something about the different translations available, and a passing knowledge of Greek grammar would be helpful.
The author tends to very missions focused, and towards the end of the book, around chapter 17, he begins to articulate a view that is centered around missions to a point I think he might have moved into the same position as the Calvinists and Arminians he decries, focusing on one aspect of God, or one specific point of theology, to the point that all other points become somewhat subsumed. The author argues that Romans and Timothy, for instance, are an essentially missions oriented books, something I find difficult to agree with. I think he slips in his discussion of Hebrews somewhat, as well.
The Pros. If you read this book with a good Bible, access to the Internet to look things up, and the time to actually look them up, you will be richly rewarded in the process. The authors discussion of Romans 9, for instance, is extremely interesting, discussing another reading of the section I hadn’t ever considered. Dr. Olson argues that Paul’s focus isn’t on individual salvation here at all, but rather on Israel and its relation to the other nations. For instance, one of Dr. Olson’s supporting points is that when Paul uses the example of Esau and Jacob, he cannot be talking about the individuals. The prophecy in question, that the older would serve the younger, didn’t even occur in their lifetimes. In fact, it didn’t occur until Edom and Israel met, generations later. To pull this out of context and apply it to Esau and Jacob themselves is problematic.
His discussion of the parable of the soils and the sower is fascinating, as well. If the people represent soils, and God the planter, then who prepares the soils? He brings the Holy Spirit into the picture here, an interesting take I’d not seen before, and he asks why these four soils should have reacted differently. Does the parable make sense if we read it so God controls the soil as well as the seed? And if there are only two groups in the world, the saved and unsaved, why are there four soils, and not two?
If you really want to do some serious digging, and understand a mediate view of salvation, I consider this a very useful and interesting book. It’s well worth taking the time to read it.
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