September 18, 2013

A Word-Honoring Debate on Calvinism

The debates between the New Calvinists and Traditionalists within the Southern Baptist Convention have often generated more heat than light in recent years. (Traditionalists are also known as non-Calvinists or even Biblicists.) However, there are positive dialogues that have taken place, too. 

Recently, Dr. John Mark Caton, Senior Pastor of Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, moderated a dialogue on Calvinism between Dr. Matthew McKellar and yours truly. Dr. McKellar, a longtime pastor and expository preacher and also a former trustee, is now Associate Professor of Preaching here at Southwestern Seminary. It is a privilege to have this avowed Calvinist on our faculty working alongside this avowed Biblicist/Traditionalist/non-Calvinist.

If you are interested in this hotly debated topic, please take a moment to hear the hearts of academic theologians and a pastor-theologian, who each seek to deal with the issue from a biblical-theological foundation even as they arrive at different responses to the Calvinist system of interpretation.