{"id":1807,"date":"2011-01-17T12:49:47","date_gmt":"2011-01-17T20:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2011\/01\/17\/a-side-bar-issue-biblicist\/"},"modified":"2011-01-17T12:49:47","modified_gmt":"2011-01-17T20:49:47","slug":"a-side-bar-issue-biblicist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2011\/01\/17\/a-side-bar-issue-biblicist\/","title":{"rendered":"a side-bar issue: biblicist"},"content":{"rendered":"
A recent discussion<\/a> at Mike Riley\u2019s blog raised the term \u2018biblicist\u2019. It is a term that seem to raise the ire of some. Mike Harding, in post #5 calls it a \u2018euphemistic term\u2019 and a \u2018circumlocution\u2019. Mike Riley, responding to me in post #6 says it is \u2018unhelpful\u2019 and \u2018presumptuous\u2019.<\/p>\n Mike rightly pointed out that my focus on the term would distract from the subject matter of his post. But I thought I would do some thinking about the term here on oxgoad and invite the response of readers. (By the way, Mike\u2019s post and the discussion that follows are quite interesting. You should also read Mark Snoberger\u2019s follow-up<\/a> and Mike\u2019s response<\/a>. And also, congratulations to Mike and his wife on the arrival of their first-born daughter!)<\/p>\n So\u2026 Biblicist<\/strong>\u2026 what does the term mean and is it presumptuous or a circumlocution<\/em>?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first thing that should be said is that biblicist<\/em> is an unfortunate term at best. As a defining term, it isn\u2019t very definitive. Perhaps this is why Mike Harding prefers the term Calvinistic<\/em> over the term Amyraldian<\/em>, which, as I understand it, is the correct term for his position. While Amyraldian<\/em> might be more correct, almost nobody knows what it means. Calvinistic<\/em> might be a more definitive term.<\/p>\n Mike Riley doesn\u2019t seem too willing to concede mediating positions between Calvinism and Arminianism, but the reality of Amyraldians, at least, seems to prove that such mediating positions exist. Another such term that I recently learned is Molinism<\/em>, which has been described to me as \u2018three-point Calvinism\u2019. (It is named after a Jesuit monk, alas, so besides being barely known it has an added repugnance for me.)<\/p>\n In any case, as men have wrestled with the theological problems expressed by Arminianism and Calvinism, there have been many who hold to positions that are not identical to either extreme. It seems obvious to me that there are more than two positions on these issues, regardless what the advocates of pure Calvinism might think. I have never talked to a pure Arminian on these subjects, though I was raised in an Arminian church.<\/p>\n