After Arminius —— A Historical Introduction to Arminian Theology

This is an excellent book on the history of Arminianism. Everyone in the Arminian tradition should read this book (such as the Methodist, Holiness, Pentacostals, certain Anglicans etc...) Calvinist and other Non-Arminians should read this book too! The authors examine the teachings of Simon Episcopius and other Remonstrant theologians, various Anglicans and the early Methodist theologians (such as Richard Watson, John Miley etc....). This book is an excellent introduction to many of the leading Arminian theologians of the past. It is disgraceful, that so many in the Methodist traditon have abandoned their own heritage. The Methodist tradition is rich in its theological history, with many great intellecuals. However, many of the great thinkers examined in this book are fogotten nowadays. I suggest to any Methodist reading these comments of mine to buy this book and rediscover our past! Ever since Albert Outler, Methodist have rediscovered John Wesley, an excellent and wonderfull thing and perhaps Albert Outler's one and only positive influence on the UMC. Now it is time for Methodist to rediscover those theologians who came after Mr. Wesley. This book serves as a good starting point. On the downsides of this book.... 1.) This book is the place to begin, not end. The section covering Anglican Arminiansim can be expanded to include more on soteriology. (The discussion on the Trinity is very important and should be retained, however more needs to be said on their soteriology.) 2.) Chapters on Arminian theology from the General/Free-will Baptist, Pentacostals and Holiness movement should be included (one chapter each, for a total of three more chapters). Im actually shocked that McCall and Stanglin so neglected the Holiness movement. 3.) Here is probably my biggest criticism..... I dont fully agree with their interpretation. They overemphasize the diversity within Arminianism. I would argue that Arminianism is ultimately a SOTERIOLOGICAL system. Thus there are Arminians that baptize infants, others do Adult baptism by imersion only, some Arminians have an episcopal church goverment others do not etc.... In fact Arminus' original rebellion against Calvinism was a soteriological rebellion, Arminius kept to Calvin's view on things like baptism, amillenialism etc.... By viewing Arminianism as a viewpoint on soteriology only we greatly narrow the focus and see that there is less diversity than expected. I would argue that there is really just two types of Arminianism: "Evangelical Armianism" and a "Decadent Arminianism"/ "Psuedo-Arminianism" also called SEMI-PELAGIANISM or full blown PELAGIANISM. I agree with McCall and Stanglin in their rejection of the idiotic "Arminianism of the Heart" vs. "Arminianism of the Head" narrative. In "Volume 12: Doctrinal and Controversial Treatises I" of The Works of John Wesley, Ranndy Maddox also makes the idiotic distinction between "Evangelical Arminianism" vs. "Rational Arminianism". NO! The so called Rational Arminians are just plain pelagian heretics. In this book, "After Arminius", one clearly sees the distinction that I make. There are orthodox, evangelical Arminians who hold to the biblical view of Orginal Sin, Free Grace, Salvation etc... whereas there has always been another parallel stream of so called Arminians who over-emphasize Free Will to much, they water down Original Sin, they fall into salvation by good works etc.... Again I would argue that there exist in Arminianism two parallel movements that have battled each other for the past 400 years or so: Arminianism and Pelagianism. We need to purge ourselves of the pelagian element once and for all. In conclusion, this is a good book and I highly recoment it despite certain differences I have with the authors. However it must be kept in mind that I am in agreement with MOST of what they say,80 to 90% probably. Compared to the Calvinist, we have a long ways to go in writting history books and other studies on our own theological heratige. Thomas H. McCall and Keith D. Stanglin have done an excellent job and have provided a place to begin...