Five Points of Calvinism, The

The Five Points of Calvinism was first published in 1972. Then again in 1980, the year of Edwin Palmer's death. And three decades later, you will still be hard pressed to find a more brief yet thorough treatment of the TULIP of theology. (No, really. I just spent ten minutes looking over my bookcase--to no avail.) Don't let the cover of this book fool you. Though it says "A Study Guide" on the front, it stands up perfectly fine for personal reading. However, every chapter is followed by over a dozen (sometimes two dozen) in-depth questions about the previous chapter. When I say in-depth, I mean you should probably have a good grasp on the material at hand before leading a group through such questions. If I had one disappointment, it was that Michael Horton didn't have more to say in the foreword. I thoroughly enjoyed both Christless Christianity and The Gospel-Driven Life and was hoping for more than just a glorified blurb in the front of the book. However the resource materials in the back were a pleasant surprise, making up for my disappointment in Michael Horton's brevity. Here you will find excerpts addressing the five points of Calvinism from The Belgic Confession of Faith, The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg Catechism. This book was a free review copy provided by Baker Books.

Palmer's book is a helpful guide to the so-called Five Points of Calvinism. He tells us at the very beginning of his book that there is much more to Calvinism than these 5 points, and that they were not invented by Calvin. It is also worth pointing out that they are a response to a submission to the Church of Holland and not an original statement by Calvinist believers.I found Palmer's presentation compelling. I think that if you believe the Bible is authoritative, he has shown that the so-called five points are its teaching [along with much, much else].Palmer's short account of Calvin's perseverance despite opposition and all sorts of illnesses is also a worthwhile feature of this book.If you want to pursue this topic further, I also recommend Loraine Boettner's Reformed Doctrine of Predestination and Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology for more detailed treatments.

When I picked up this book I thought I wasn't ready for such a "meaty" topic. I felt that I was still too young as a Christian to be reading something like this. I know that a Christian should try to go from a milk diet to meat but I regarded studying Calvinism as a step beyond merely graduating to meat. I thought it would be a step beyond the toughest steak I ever had. Closer to "chewing on an old boot". I found the book read so easily that I found myself not wanting to put it down but then not wanting to finish it either. The Church I go to is of the Arminian leaning but I'm finding out, based on the questions I've been asking in Bible Study, that I've been leaning toward Calvinism and this book has helped answer so many questions that I had asked but never got an answer to. "Ignorance is wisdom". Accepting that there are many passages in the Bible that "seem" to contradict but then realizing that there are things that God has chosen not to reveal to us at this time and that what seems to be a contradiction is only an example of how our finite minds can't comprehend. That both the Calvinist and the Arminian could both be right. I would suggest this book for anyone that wants to know God better. You don't have to be a Bible scholar to understand or appreciate it.

This is a great book. It is short, concise, easy to read and does an excellent job of explaining the five points of Calvinism (TULIP). It is not an exhaustive discussion, jut an overview.

Palmer's book provides a great study on predestination. Though it is such a hard concept to grasp, it is perfectly clear that scripture teaches it. Why so many sincere Christians want to try to deny its reality is trully a knock on God's soverignty. Once you study the facts and look at free willers arguments you see that the doctrine of free will is nothing more than humanism. To anyone who thinks other wise I challenge you to read this book. It does a great job of showing how absurd an Arminian's arguments are without being insensitive to the Arminian. A good book to add to your Christian collection.