Foundational, Basic Calvinism

[Ivan]

As I posted in my response to my welcome to this wonderful board, I am not deeply educated in the tenets of Calvinsim. Could you good people suggest a book that deals with Calvinism? Also, I interested in understanding the nature of the Church from a Reformed perspective and the biblical basis for baptizing infants.

I truly want to know about the last two issues, the Church and Baptism. I want to understand the Reformed faith to determine whether I want to remain a Baptist.

 

[Me Died Blue]

Ivan, the best non-book-length treatment I have read of the Calvinistic doctrines of salvation and providence is J. I. Packer's primer, which can be found here. The best book I have personally read on those issues is Loraine Boettner's The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. I posted a list of Scriptures that were foundational to me coming to believe in the doctrines of grace here.

The issue of the church has been discussed here recently, and is continuing to be discussed, and some good discussions can be found here, here and here.

Baptism has been heavily discussed and debated on this board. One very recent discussion on the issue is here.

 

[BlackCalvinist]

If you're into online resources, Arthur Custances's book 'The Sovereignty of Grace' is excellent. It's online at www.custance.org. Feel free to print the entire book off of the site.

There's also Boice and Ryken's book 'The Doctrines of Grace'. Steele, Thomas and Quinn have an updated version of the classic work 'The Five Points of Calvinism' that is also a 'MUST' in any library.

And there are plenty of reformed baptists running around. Being a Calvinist or a believer in the doctrines of grace does not necessarily entail including infant baptism.

[Edited on 6-12-2004 by OS_X]

 

[Me Died Blue]

Originally posted by OS_X
Being a Calvinist or a believer in the doctrines of grace does not necessarily entail including infant baptism.

It doesn't?

 

[Me Died Blue]

j/k!

 

[Bryan]

A Short Explination and Defense of the Doctrines of Grace is always a good place to start when looking at Calvinism.

Bryan
SDG

 

[Ivan]

<<Being a Calvinist or a believer in the doctrines of grace does not necessarily entail including infant baptism.>>

Oh, I know. I still want to understand the thinking behind the practice.

I'm not saying I WILL join a Reformed church (other than Baptist). I want to understand my fellow Christian's beliefs, especially Reformed brethren. I was introduced to the Reformed faith by my college pastor, Roger Ellsworth, who is now pastor of the Immanuel Baptist Church of Benton, IL and very heavily involved in the Founders movement in the Southern Baptist Convention. That was in 1974.

Over the years, I have kept to the doctrines of grace, but I can't say that I understand them in their theological fulness. That is what I hope to accomplish here...a fuller understanding. Suffice it to say, however, that I am very much in the Reformed camp. That is the main reason I wanted to get a counseling degree from Whitefield Theological Seminary (along with the fact that it's nouthetic).

Thanks for all the suggestions given and those yet to come.