WHO SAVES, GOD OR ME?
By Erroll Hulse
Evangelical Press. 144 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978-0-85234-685-3
Last year was the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. Amid the welter of books produced for that occasion, this one got forgotten.
This book focuses not so much on Calvin himself but on the so-called ‘five points of Calvinism’, summarised in the well-known acronym TULIP, which have become known as the doctrines of grace. These are Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace and the Perseverance of the saints.
The book gives an excellent historical background to Jacob Arminius and the reaction to his teachings produced by the Synod of Dort from which the five points emerged. The book expounds the five points, explores Calvin’s own connection to them, steers us clearly away from both Arminianism and Hyper-Calvinism, underlines the free offer of the gospel to all and presses upon us the theological stability and blessed pastoral applications of the doctrines of grace.
Along the way there are many interesting tangents and, though some chapters seem to stop rather abruptly, this is an excellent overview to Reformed theology and a great read.
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