# Origin of the TULIP acrostic...it wasn't Boettner



## Semper Fidelis (Mar 12, 2011)

Some of you may remember this thread: http://www.puritanboard.com/f59/first-official-contest-puritans-mind-pb-13195/

Turns out it wasn't Boettner. I received this from Keith Mathison the other day:



> I just received a review copy of a new book titled Ten Myths About Calvinism: Recovering the Breadth of the Reformed Tradition. There is an appendix titled “The Earliest Known Reference to the TULIP acronym.” In it, they have reproduced an article from a New York periodical titled The Outlook from 1913. In it, the author William Vail refers to hearing a lecture earlier by a Dr. McAfee from Brooklyn, in which McAfee used the acronym as a mnemonic device.
> 
> In a chapter on the subject, he refers to earlier authors speaking abouyt the five points, but none of them ever use the TULIP acronym.
> 
> In short, it didn’t originate with Boettner.


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## Pergamum (Mar 12, 2011)

1913? Wow, less than 100 years old?


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## Gord (Mar 12, 2011)

The earliest use of TULIP in this regard appears to be in 1905 by Rev. Cleland Boyd McAfee, in a lecture before the Presbyterian Union, Newark, NJ, as recorded by William H. Vail, writing in The New Outlook (1913).

Theopedia


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## NaphtaliPress (Mar 12, 2011)

To give credit where it is due, Wayne noted this in this 2009 thread:
http://www.puritanboard.com/f48/muller-calvin-calvinist-55042/#post711521


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## Pergamum (Mar 12, 2011)

I would love to know more about Rev. McAfee.


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## DMcFadden (Mar 12, 2011)

Fair enough. I appreciate historical exactitude and gladly cede the honor to Rev. McAfee. It was (and is) a very clever and useful mnemonic. Even if you accept R.C. Sproul's "corrections" (e.g., "total depravity" = "complete inability," etc.), TULIP has been a most helpful tool for teaching Calvinist (Dordtian) soteriology. 

But, since few folks remember McAfee, three cheers for Boettner for popularizing the acrostic! People like Pink, Boettner, and Sproul have done enormous good by locating the lofting truths of Calvinism on the more accessible shelves in the marketplace of ideas. Even dummies like me can understand them!


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## matthew11v25 (Mar 12, 2011)

I sat in the library for hours researching this when the contest was originally posted...getting no where.


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## Wayne (Mar 12, 2011)

Here ya go, Pergy--more than you ever wanted to know (or need to! )

McAfee, Cleland Boyd [25 September 1866 - 4 February 1944]
Born in Ashley, Missouri to John Armstrong McAfee and his wife Anna Waddle (nee Bailey) McAfee. John was the founder of Park College in Parkville, Missouri [established in 1875]. Cleland had four brothers and one sister. [Dr. Lapsley A., Dr. Lowell M., Mr. Howard B. and Mr. J. Earnest, and Mrs. George S. McCune, all of whom were educated at Park. The McCunes were missionaries in Korea in the 1920s.]

Educated at Park College (in Missouri), B.A. 1884; M.A., 1888; Westminster College (also in MO), Ph.D., 1892.

Preparation for the ministry at Union Theological Seminary (NY), graduating there in 1888 [neat trick, graduating simultaneously from two schools in the same year!]

Ordained in 1888 by the Presbytery of Platte and installed as Stated Supply in Parkville, MO, 1888-1891.
Associate pastor at that same church, 1891-1898 [source published this year, may have continued longer there]

On 10 Aug 1892 when Cleland Boyd was 25, he married Harriet "Hattie" Lawson Brown, daughter of James Brown and born on 13 Aug 1867 in Whitby, Ontario, Canada. She worked as a teacher at Park College. Harriet survived Cleland and died in Hanover, Jefferson Co., Indiana, on 12 Jul 1959, at the age of 91. 

They had the following children:
i. Ruth Myrtle [Mrs. George William Brown, 1893-1968; her husband was pastor of West Presbyterian Church, Binghamton, NY and secretary of the American Bible Society]
ii. Katharine Agnes [Mrs. A.G. Parker, 1896-1980; wife of the president of Hanover College]
iii. Mildred Helen [1900-1994] [cf. Hendricks, Elizabeth G., "Mildred McAfee Horton (1900-1994): Portrait of a Pathbreaking Christian Leader," Journal of Presbyterian History, Vol. 76, Issue No. 2 (Summer, 1998), pp. 159-174.] Among other notable achievements, Mildred served as president of Wellesley College and was the first director of WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the United States Navy.

McAfee served as a professor of philosophy from 1899-1901, but also served concurrently as choir director, pastor and dean of Park College, again until 1901, at which time he answered a call to pastor the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. McAfee then removed in 1904 from First Presbyterian to pastor the Lafayette Avenue Church of Brooklyn, NY. McAfee also served as professor of systematic theology at McCormick Theological Seminary, from 1912-1930.

Honors included serving as moderator of the General Assembly of Presbyterian Church in the United States, circa 1930, and he led the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions from 1930 to 1936. Retiring from that latter post in 1936, he spent his next years traveling and lecturing. "He was resting between lecture trips" when he died in 1944 of a heart attack. [cf. "Former Park Leader Dies," Park College Stylus, Vol. XLVIII, No. 22, 11 Feb 1944]

He also composed a number of hymns, the best known of these being "Near to the Heart of God", written shortly after two young nieces died of diphtheria.

McAfee was prolific author, his publications included:

Outlines for a History of Philosophy (Park College Press)

1896
Outline for a history of philosophy for class use. Parkville, Mo., Park College Press, 1896

1897
The life and labors of the Rev. Elisha Barber Sherwood, D.D. : a sermon preached in McCormick Chapel, Park College. Parkville, Mo. : Park College Press, 1897

1898
Some southern problems. Paper read before the Historical Club, April 21, 1898. Parkville, Mo., Park College Press, 1898

1899
Where He is ... Chicago, New York [etc.], Fleming H. Revell Company, 1899.

Four great movements of thought. [Parkville, Mo., Printed by Park College Press, 1899

1902
Faith, fellowship and fealty. Chicago : Revell, 1902.

1903
The growing church : a study for the times. Chicago : Winona Pub., 1903; and Northfield, Mass., Northfield press 1903.
Other editions: Montrose, PA : Montrose Christian Literature Society, 1910s

The tenth commandment a present law. Chicago, Ill., Winona Lake, Ind. : Winona Pub. Co. 1903.

The worth of a man. Published for the young men's Presbyterian Union of Chicago. Chicago, Ill., Winona Lake, Ind., Winona Pub. Co. 1903

1904
What constitutes a Christian college? Chicago : Presbyterian Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies, 1904.

1906
The Mosaic law in modern life. New York, Chicago : Fleming H. Revell Co. 1906

1910
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. New York : Fleming H. Revell, 1910. Other editions in 1971

1911
The tonic of prayer : sermon preached Sunday, October 22nd, 1911. [Brooklyn, N.Y. : Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church?, 1911

1912
The greatest English classic; a study of the King James version of the Bible and its influence on life and literature. New York, Harper, 1912.
Other editions: Folcroft, Pa. : Folcroft Library Editions, 1977; Norwood, Pa. : Norwood Editions, 1978.; New York : Cosimo Classics, 2005.
Also under the title Study of the King James Bible. Memphis, Tenn. : General Books, 2010.

1913
"His peace". New York, Revell, 1913

The Old and the New in Theology : An Address. New York; Chicago : Fleming H. Revell Company, 1913.

The Westminster confession of faith and the present task of the church. New York, Chicago [etc.] Fleming H. Revell company 1913.

1916
Psalms of the social life. New York [etc.] Association Press and Philadelphia: Westminster press, 1916
Other editions:
Philadelphia : Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work, 1916; 1921.

1920
The Christian faith and the new day. New York : Macmillan, 1920. 

Robinson, Harold McAfee and Cleland Boyd McAfee, The prophet Amos : studies in social reconstruction. Philadelphia : Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work, 1920

1921
Keeping alive a family's thought of God. Philadelphia : The Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work, 1921.

1926
Christ wants you. New York : American Tract Society, 1926

1927
Changing foreign missions; a revaluation of the church's greatest enterprise. New York, Chicago [etc.] Fleming H. Revell company 1927.

The Christian conviction : lectures on the Joseph Cook foundation, 1924-25. New York : The Macmillan Co., 1927, ©1926
Other editions: Gardners Books, 2007

1928
Ministerial practices, some fraternal suggestions. New York, London, Harper & brothers, 1928.

1929
The Christian message and program, twelve studies for class use or personal reading. Philadelphia, Printed for the Leadership training Pub. association by the Westminster Press, 1929.

Address to the president : introducing the National Loyalty Commission. [S.l. : s.n., 1929

1930
McAfee, Cleland Boyd and Eliot Porter, Why a Presbyterian church? Philadelphia : Presbyterian Board of Christian Education, 1930.

1931
The ruling elder, his duties and his opportunities. Philadelphia, Presbyterian board of Christian education, 1931. Other editions in 1936; 1939; 1942; 1945; 1949; 1948; 1951.

1932
The uncut nerve of missions; an inquiry and an answer. New York [etc.] Fleming H. Revell company 1932

1933
The major Christian enterprise : the pastor's place in it. New York : Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., 1933.

The forming of missionary policy. 1933.

Buck, Pearl S. [1892-1973], Letter, dated 9 May 1933, Ithaca, N.Y. to Dr. Cleland B. McAfee, New York.

1934
Cooperation in missionary board administration. 1934.

1935
The foreign missionary enterprise and its sincere critics : a discussion of the theoretical and practical objections to missions with suggestions of the grounds of faith in the work which presists in spite of objections. New York : Fleming H. Revell, 1935.

1937
The communion service : a manual of helpful suggestions to aid ministers in their communion practice. Philadelphia : Field Committee on United Promotion of the General Council by the Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. 1937

1943
The high calling of God to the present church. Philadelphia : Westminster Press, 1943.

1954
McAfee, Cleland Boyd and Katherine McAfee Parker, Near to the heart of God. Indianapolis : Bobbs-Merrill, 1954. [A biographical account of Katherine's parents]

Of uncertain date:
1900s?
The church and the saloon as social institutions: a temperance sermon. New York City, National Temperance Society and Publication House, 1900s

McAfee, Cleland Boyd and Ralph E. Diffendorfer, The lure of Africa for the Methodist Episcopal Church : sermon suggestions exclusively for pastors. New York : Board of Foreign Missions, 1900s. 

1920s
How to conduct a communicants' class. Philadelphia, Penn. : Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work, 1920s

1920-1930s?
A church with the gospel in a world of need. New York The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. 1920-1930?

1920-1940s?
Evangelistic preaching. New York Issued by the General Assembly's Committee on Evangelisitc Work for the Correspondence School of Evangelism 1920-1940?

1900-1994
When you join the church : a booklet for those who are facing the question of their relationship to the church ; issued as a part of the adult program of Christian education. Philadelphia, Pa. : Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, 1900-1994?

1900-1999?
Your registration day. Philadelphia : American Sunday-School Union, 1900-1999?

1950-1999?
Being a church member. New York : Division of Evangelism, 1950-1999?


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## torstar (Mar 12, 2011)

Didn't know that the TULIP that has been a divider in causing angry rejection on the one hand and on the other fooling people into thinking the road to Geneva is mastered with a weak acronym is approx. 100 years old.


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## Puritan Sailor (Mar 12, 2011)

Cool. I had never heard of McAfee before. Always fun to learn the history of our terminology. I'm curious how he came up with it, or if perhaps he got it from someone else....


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## NaphtaliPress (Mar 12, 2011)

The 1905 lecture does not appear to have been published so the attribution is the secondary source who thoughtfully attributed it.


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