This chapter is divided into seven sections. Because European Calvinism in the nineteenth century is of relatively little interest to most American preachers, my remarks about this chapter will be somewhat more superficial than I have been to this point. This is the first chapter in which I have detected a factual error by the author. It is also the first chapter that I have read what appears to me to be unsupported speculation related to eschatology.
German Reformed
This portion of the chapter contains five paragraphs. Most American preachers are somewhat familiar with the slide into liberalism in Germany at this time. Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) is mentioned. Although the author does not refer to Schleiermacher as the founder of “The Social Gospel,” he does identify him as “The Father of Liberal Theology.”
Swiss Reformed
This portion of the chapter contains four paragraphs. New to me was the impact of Robert and James Haldane, Scottish Baptist Calvinists who visited Europe in 1810 and ignited revival fires in Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands.
The Dutch Reformed
This portion of the chapter contains four paragraphs. Of course, the University of Leiden is where the Arminian controversy broke out. Not mentioned by the author were the five points of Arminianism put forth by Arminians. The so-called Five Points of Calvinism responded to Arminianism’s five points, formulated after John Calvin’s time. New to me is that the Documentary Hypothesis of the Pentateuch, later popularized by Julius Wellhausen of Germany, was developed by two Dutch theologians, Hendrik Scholten and Abraham Kuenen. Abraham Kuyper is acknowledged to be the most important Dutch Calvinist of all time.
English Calvinism
This portion of the chapter contains four paragraphs. Mention is made of Rowland Hill, Charles Simeon, John Newton, William Jay, John Angell James, E. A. Litton, Octavius Winslow, and the great J. C. Ryle. An entire paragraph is devoted to the greatest Reformed preacher of them all, the Prince of preachers, C. H. Spurgeon. The author writes, “Anyone who says that Baptist Calvinism is a contradiction in terms must explain Spurgeon or admit defeat.” Among Spurgeon’s published works are Lectures To My Students, All Of Grace, and the monumental Treasury Of David. The factual error I found on page 141 is the sentence that begins, “Converted and baptized as a teenager of Methodist stock ….” Spurgeon was the son and grandson of Congregationalist pastors. His connection with Methodism was the cold winter day he stepped into a Methodist Chapel, heard a lay preacher’s sermon, and trusted Christ as his Savior. Though he did write a biography of John Wesley and acknowledged Wesley to have been a godly man who bore much fruit for the Savior, He was never tempted to embrace Arminian or Wesleyan theology.
Scottish Calvinism
This portion of the chapter contains five paragraphs. My issue with the author relates to his treatment of Edward Irving (1792-1834). He mentions three things about Irving, who I had never heard of before, with the author providing no footnotes establishing his sources related to his remarks. “First, he taught that Christ was born with a sinful nature like Adam’s after the Fall, though he never sinned. Second, he preached that the Second Coming was near. Irving was premillennial and one of the first at that time to teach what has come to be known as the pre-tribulation rapture theory. Irving got his views from an obscure Spanish book called The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty by one “Juan Josaphat Ben-Ezra” who claimed to be a converted Jew but was in fact the Jesuit Diaz Y Lacunza. Irving translated the book and wrote a large introduction some have speculated whether this was the source of the theory. Third, Irving thought that another Pentecost would occur shortly before the Second Coming, so he welcomed speaking in tongues and prophesying in his church. All this led to his defrocking in 1833. Some eight hundred members left with him to start a new church associated with the Catholic Apostolic Church sect. Soon Irving died, despite a “prophecy” that he would be miraculously healed. Unfortunately, there has been much interest and appreciation of Irving by Thomas Torrence and others.” I would have liked for the author to have included pertinent footnotes connected with the second point he makes about Edward Irving to dispel my concern that this is yet another of the swipes I have read by Reformed theologians against an eschatology they disagree with and dismiss. I very much wish men would read the stupendous three volume set written by George N. H. Peters, The Theocratic Kingdom, with his 1000+ footnotes that establish premillennialism as a first, second, and third century position held by notable Christian leaders.
The Disruption
The author spends seven paragraphs dealing with the controversy that embroiled the Church of Scotland.
Conclusion
“The nineteenth
century showed what happens with the anchor of evangelical Reformed orthodoxy
is pulled up. Churches, seminaries, and individuals make shipwreck of their
faith. But God continued to raise up new ships with stalwart captains and
crews.”
