John Starke's correspondence with Fred Sanders is worth reading.
Sanders said the "sermons of John Wesley and the hymns of Charles Wesley were major factors for" him in coming to see the "Wesleyan-Arminian theological perspective as something worth claiming. ... These are simply excellent, and gradually they drew me to the conviction that these Wesley brothers must have had a grasp of something important if they could keep producing things like that. The Wesleys teach a form of evangelical Protestantism that goes straight to the heart and changes lives. That's what drew me in to the Wesleyan way of thinking."
He also said he wouldn't mind being signed up for the "Wesleyans who love Calvin" club. "I teach excerpts from The Institutes every year, and I've worked through the whole book cover to cover five times (three with students in seminar). There is no better way to learn the craft of theology than to work through The Institutes [bold emphasis mine]. Calvin shows his work: he always lets you know what he's after, what he's afraid of, and why he's doing things. He brings you along with him, and requires an active and responsive reader who is willing to make costly decisions all along the way."
Starke ends his post with Sanders' answers to the request to finish these sentences:
You haven't really considered Wesleyanism unless you've read ...
If you think Arminianism is semi-Pelagian, then ...
The one thing I wish Calvinists would stop accusing Wesleyans of is ...
Sure, Calvinists have J. I. Packer, but Wesleyans have ...
Read the entire article here.
Sanders said the "sermons of John Wesley and the hymns of Charles Wesley were major factors for" him in coming to see the "Wesleyan-Arminian theological perspective as something worth claiming. ... These are simply excellent, and gradually they drew me to the conviction that these Wesley brothers must have had a grasp of something important if they could keep producing things like that. The Wesleys teach a form of evangelical Protestantism that goes straight to the heart and changes lives. That's what drew me in to the Wesleyan way of thinking."
He also said he wouldn't mind being signed up for the "Wesleyans who love Calvin" club. "I teach excerpts from The Institutes every year, and I've worked through the whole book cover to cover five times (three with students in seminar). There is no better way to learn the craft of theology than to work through The Institutes [bold emphasis mine]. Calvin shows his work: he always lets you know what he's after, what he's afraid of, and why he's doing things. He brings you along with him, and requires an active and responsive reader who is willing to make costly decisions all along the way."
Starke ends his post with Sanders' answers to the request to finish these sentences:
You haven't really considered Wesleyanism unless you've read ...
If you think Arminianism is semi-Pelagian, then ...
The one thing I wish Calvinists would stop accusing Wesleyans of is ...
Sure, Calvinists have J. I. Packer, but Wesleyans have ...
Read the entire article here.
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