‘Salvation Belongs to the Lord’: The History and Theology of Calvinism

Calvinism is more than a system of five points. It is a way of doing theology that emphasises the sovereignty of God at every point in the system of dogmatics. The five points of Calvinism summarised by the acronym TULIP (total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints) were originally written in response to the five points of the Remonstrants. This was a Protestant movement that spilt from the Dutch Reformed Church in the early seventeenth century, and which was roundly condemned by the Synod of Dort in 1618/19. Although popularly known as Calvinism, the movement was greater than John Calvin (1509–64) himself who was simply one of many Reformed theologians during the early modern period. Scholars prefer to use the term ‘Reformed’ to capture the essence of this broader socio-theological movement, though many still use the word ‘Calvinism’ as a convenient shorthand for summarising Reformed theology. Many opponents of Calvinism are often unaware of the history of Calvinism, the meaning of the term, and the development of Reformed doctrine since the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Calvin is sometimes viewed by both opponents and sympathisers as the sole arbiter of what constitutes Reformed theology. This is clearly a mistake. Calvinism should be considered holistically with its many permutations and forms, and the voices of a broad spectrum of Reformed theologians should also be carefully considered and studied along with Calvin. This essay will explore the history and definition of Calvinism, it will seek to defend the so-called five points of Calvinism from critics, and it will document Calvinism by considering key works within the Calvinistic canon of literature such as The Decades of Heinrich Bullinger (published from 1849–52) and The Institutes of Elenctic Theology (published from 1679–85) by Francis Turretin.  

A.     Defining Historic Calvinism

Calvinism is a theological worldview that emphasises the sovereignty of God in the work of redemption. It has its origins with the Protestant Reformer John Calvin (1509–1564) who was born in Noyon, France and trained in law and the humanities. He was converted around 1533 and adopted the ideology of the Protestant Reformation. This was when he formally broke his ties with Roman Catholicism. He is famous for the publication of his Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536) which he continually revised until 1559 when the definitive edition was published in Latin. This is a seminal theological work which explores the major themes in dogmatic or systematic theology. Calvin is also known for his pastoral leadership in Geneva during the sixteenth century. He was invited by William Farel (1489–1565) to bring Reformation thought and discipline to Geneva, and though he was expelled for a brief period in 1541, he returned and lived in Geneva for the duration of his life. He worked tirelessly to reform the Genevan church and government according to Protestant principles and to make Geneva a model of Reformed society for the European world. Notoriously, he condemned the heretic Michael Servetus to death in 1553 for his rejection of the orthodox doctrine of the Holy Trinity in his published writings, especially his De Trinitatis Erroribus (1531) in which Servetus argued that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was a philosophical distortion of Biblical monotheism. As already mentioned, Calvin published his final edition of the Institutes in 1559 and founded the Geneva Academy for training pastors and preachers in Reformed theology whom he would send as missionaries and preachers around the known world. Though Calvin remains a seminal thinker in the development of Reformed theology, he was not the only person of significance in the history of Calvinism despite his considerable fame and association with Reformed theology. He was a human being with feet of clay.

Calvinism itself has its origins in late patristic theology, especially in the pre-Calvinistic movement known as Augustinianism – named after the theology of St Augustine (354–430 AD). Many of the hot topics debated during the Reformation such as predestination, reprobation, and divine election had already been considered during the Pelagian controversy during the Patristic era. Calvinism was essentially the revival or retrieval of Augustinianism in early modern Europe. Pelagianism was a movement that placed all the onus on humanity to redeem itself through personal merit, while Augustinianism emphasized the futility of human merit and prioritised sovereign grace as the proper way of salvation. St Augustine was known as the ‘doctor of grace’. Salvation was seen to be wholly and totally a work of God, and to have nothing to do with human merit. Calvinism is something of a misnomer. The movement did not belong to John Calvin alone. There were many others in the Reformed theological tradition at the time such as Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531), Heinrich Bullinger (1504–75), Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499–1562), Theodore Beza (1519–1605), Katharina Schutz Zell (1497/8–1562), Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556), and Richard Hooker (1554–1600), to name just a few.

The term ‘Calvinism’ is sometimes used to refer specifically to aspects of Calvin’s personal theology such as his view of the spiritual presence of Christ in the elements of Holy Eucharist. However, the term Calvinism is primarily used to refer to the Reformed tradition in general and to the theology of the many Reformed theologians who followed in Calvin’s footsteps. Calvin and his successors built upon the work of Martin Luther (1483–1546). They adopted his doctrine of justification by faith alone and emphasised the sovereign system of salvation by grace alone, with a particular focus on the doctrine of election and divine predestination. Calvin himself wrote a seminal textbook for Reformation theology in his masterpiece The Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536. It would go through several editions and formats until finally completed in the Latin edition of 1559 and the French edition of 1560. Though Calvinism is something of a misnomer, and scholars generally prefer to use the term ‘Reformed’ or ‘Reformed tradition’, its use is retained in this paper as a shorthand for Reformed theology and the Reformed tradition in general, especially as it found expression following the Synod of Dort in 1618/19.

The so-called ‘five points of Calvinism’ were actually written in response to five points put forward by the followers of Jacob Arminius (1560–1609) to the Synod of Dort in 1618/19. These followers were known as Remonstrants who protested against the system devised by Calvin and his successors in the Reformed tradition. The Synod of Dort was a significant and historic church council in which the theology of Jacob Arminius and his followers was robustly and definitively condemned. The Reformed theologians at the synod put forward five counterpoints to those of the Remonstrants. These would eventually become known as the five points of Calvinism, though it was not until the twentieth century that the acronym TULIP would be adopted. The theology of the Remonstrants was built upon the ideas of human freedom and ability, sometimes termed ‘free will’. Election was conditional upon faith. The atonement was universal in extent. Grace was seen to be resistible, and the believer was liable to fall away from salvation if he or she did not persist in grace and holiness. The Reformers responded with five points of their own in the Canons of Dort which are nowadays summarised by the acronym TULIP: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. The Reformers argued that human beings were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and that the human will was in bondage to sin. They argued that election was unconditional and not based upon any foreseen merit. In other words, God chose those whom he would save freely by his sovereign grace. The atonement was limited or particular to the elect only, meaning that Christ died for his sheep exclusively and made their salvation fully effective. God effectually calls and applies salvation to the elect alone by the Holy Spirit. True believers can never lose their salvation since they have eternal security in Christ. While TULIP is a useful aid to memory, it should not prevent us from accepting better theological terms describing the points made in the Canons of Dort. For example, it is generally preferable to speak of ‘effectual calling’ rather than irresistible grace, and to speak of ‘particular redemption’ rather than limited atonement.

Calvinism spread across Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth century and gradually developed a more scholastic and elenctic form. In France, followers of John Calvin were known as the Huguenots and faced considerable persecution, especially on St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572. In the Netherlands, Calvinism become heavily influential in the Dutch Reformed tradition and found expression in the confessional documents known as The Three Forms of Unity (The Belgic Confession, The Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort). John Knox (c. 1514–72) famously brought Calvinist theology to Scotland and founded churches with a Presbyterian form of church government modelled on the pattern in Geneva. Calvinism spread through England and Wales largely through the influence of Puritanism. This period is often referred to as the confessional development of the Reformation when key documents were drafted and published that sought to be authoritative declarations of Calvinistic theology.  These documents include The Three Forms of Unity (mentioned previously) and the Westminster Standards (The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Shorter and Larger Catechisms). Significant Calvinistic theologians during this period include John Owen (1616–83), Francis Turretin (1623–87), and Wilhelmus à Brakel (1635–1711). 

Calvinism would go through a period of globalisation from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. In North America, Calvinism was largely shaped by the early American colonies, especially New England Puritanism. Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) was a major Calvinistic influence during this period and George Whitefield (1714–70) was a significant populariser of Calvinistic thought among early evangelicals and Calvinistic Methodists in England and Wales. Missionary movements spread Calvinism to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Neo-Calvinism took shape under the tutelage of Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) and Herman Bavinck (1854–1921) in the Dutch Reformed Church which emphasised Calvinism not only as a soteriological set of doctrinal beliefs, but as a spiritual worldview and philosophy of life. The neo-Calvinists adopted a more holistic version of the Reformed faith. Abraham Kuyper, for example, emphasised Calvinism’s relevance to all areas of human life and activity from politics to philosophy to education. Karl Barth (1886–1968) offered an alternative reading of Calvin and post-Reformation thought in the form of neo-orthodoxy which adopted and adapted Reformed doctrines from the 1920s to the 1960s to combat the theological liberalism of Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), a German theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar widely regarded as the ‘Father of Modern Liberal Theology’. Significant Reformed theologians and pastors who deserve mention for their resistance to modernism in theology include Charles Hodge (1797–1878), William G. T. Shedd (1820–94), B. B. Warfield (1851–1921), J. Gresham Machen (1881–1937), John Murray (1898–1975), Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987), Gordon Clark (1902–85), David Martin Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981), and J. I. Packer (1926–2020) – to name just a few. Reformed theologians generally took the lead in polemics against modernism. J. Gresham Machen, for example, wrote a devasting critique of modernism in his short book Christianity and Liberalism (1923), and Cornelius Van Til would write a similar critique of Barthianism in 1962 which he regarded as a ‘new modernism’. 

During this present author’s lifetime, Calvinism has seen a resurgence of influence among the “Young, Restless, and Reformed” movement in America, especially during the early 2000s with popular Calvinistic preachers and theologians exercising enormous influence in Calvinistic networks. These ‘new Calvinists’ include pastors, preachers, and theologians such as John Piper, R. C. Sproul (1939–2017), Timothy Keller (1950–2023), Wayne Grudem, John MacArthur, Kevin DeYoung, Mark Driscoll, Michael Horton, Joel Beeke, and Paul Washer. The new Calvinism has been a major influence among Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, and Congregationalists worldwide. It has been particularly influential in evangelical circles, especially those associated with the Gospel Coalition. The retrieval of Calvinism by the “Young, Restless, and Reformed” movement documented by Collin Hansen continues to shape debates on predestination, sovereign grace, and the Reformed faith as a worldview and philosophy of life.

Calvinism, by way of conclusion, may be defined as that branch of historic Reformed Protestantism that emphasizes the absolute sovereignty of God in the redemption of human beings. In terms of soteriology, it teaches the radical or total depravity of humanity and the need of effectual divine grace for salvation. Though it originated from the teachings of John Calvin, the French Protestant Reformer, Calvinism is much broader than Calvin alone. It encompasses a plethora of Reformed theologians working through the centuries to define, defend, and document what Calvinism really is. It has been systematised in the great Reformed confessions of faith such as the Belgic Confession and The Westminster Confession of Faith, and has been the theology of many of Christianity’s major theologians such as John Calvin himself (1509–1564), John Knox (c.1514–1572), Theodore Beza (1519–1605), Francis Turretin (1623–1687), William Perkins (1558–1602), John Owen (1616–1683), Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), Charles Hodge (1797–1878), B.B. Warfield (1851–1921), Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920), Herman Bavinck (1854–1921), Louis Berkhof (1873–1957), Karl Barth (1886–1968), and Herman Hoeksema (1886–1965) – to name just a few. It is the faith of millions of people today around the world and has truly become a global movement far more diverse and vibrant than Calvin himself could ever have imagined.

B.     Defending Historic Calvinism

It has been common practice among Reformed theologians in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to articulate and defend the so-called five points of Calvinism using the acronym TULIP. As already mentioned, the acronym stands for total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. Total depravity refers to humanity’s fallen nature in Adam, spiritual deadness before God in sin, and inability to do any saving or salvific good (See Romans 3:10–18; Ephesians 2:1–3). Unconditional election refers to God’s sovereign choice of elect sinners before the foundation of the world and is especially taught Romans 9 and Ephesians 1:3–14. Limited atonement or particular redemption refers to the fact that Christ’s death on the cross, though sufficient to save the whole world, was efficient for the elect only (John 10:11; Matthew 1:21). In other words, Christ died for the elect and for their salvation only. He died to save his chosen people from their sins. Irresistible grace, also known as effectual calling, shows that God’s grace in the salvation of sinners cannot be thwarted (John 6:37–44; Acts 16:14). God will certainly and infallibly save his people from sin, death, and hell. None can frustrate his plans for his elect people. The perseverance of the saints, sometimes referred to as eternal security, is the doctrine that believers cannot finally lose their salvation or fall away from grace (John 10:28–29; Romans 8:35–39; Philippians 1:6). They will infallibly persevere in faith and holiness to everlasting life. The so-called five points of Calvinism may be traced to the confessional document known as the Canons of Dort (1618–19), though the canons do not follow the same structure or mnemonical device. Given that the mnemonic arguably creates a misleading impression of Calvinism, it should be remembered that Calvinism is much a broader system than the articles written in response to the Remonstrants in 1618–19. Calvinism is a whole system of theology that covers every aspect of Christian dogmatics and all the loci of systematic theology. Some theologians such as Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck even extend Calvinism towards being an entire worldview and philosophy of life. This point should be kept in mind as we consider the more polemical view of Calvinism described in the five points. I have been helped in preparing this section by a small booklet on the five points of Calvinism by W. J. Seaton published by the Banner of Truth in 1970. All page numbers are to this edition.

1.     Total Depravity (also known as Total Inability)

The first human couple sinned in such a way as to ensure that all human posterity descending from them would be born with inherited guilt and corruption. When Adam fell, humanity fell. According to the Apostle Paul, ‘Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned’ (Romans 5:12). This is known as the doctrine of original sin and is generally accepted by both Calvinists and Arminians. Pelagianism, however, would dispute this point and modern variants would argue that human beings are born as a blank slate (tabula rasa) after Enlightenment fashion, neither good nor evil, but with the potential to do both. We may be influenced to sin, but according to the Enlightenment we do not inherit sin. However, as Seaton observes, ‘If we have deficient and light views about sin, then we are liable to have defective views regarding the means necessary for the salvation of the sinner’ (Seaton, The Five Points of Calvinism, p. 7). Because of the fall of humanity into sin, all humankind is corrupted by sin in every aspect of their being and personality – heart, mind, will, and affections. We are sinners in Adam, the inheritors of his guilt and corruption. In the words of The New-England Primer (1688) by Benjamin Harris: ‘In Adam’s fall, we sinned all’.

The Bible teaches that all human beings are ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (Ephesians 2:1) and are incapable of seeking after God without divine grace (Romans 3: 10–18). In fact, Paul’s argument in Romans chapter three (vv. 10–18) draws upon numerous Old Testament passages and comprehensively summarises the doctrine of total depravity. According to the Apostle Paul, nobody is forensically or judicially right with God by nature. No one understands the things of God. No one seeks after God. No one does any saving or soteriological good. Although unbelievers are capable of relative good in terms of civil morality by God’s common grace, yet they can do nothing to merit salvation before God. As Isaiah says, ‘But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away’ (Isaiah 64:6). Even our bodies are used for sin: the throat, tongue, lips, mouth, and feet. Ultimately, unbelievers are totally devoid of godly fear and repentance since ‘there is no fear of God before their eyes’ (Psalm 36:1).

Paul argues in his letter to the Corinthians that ‘the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned’ (1 Corinthians 2:14). This is not to say, however, that all people are as bad as they can possibly be. Not everyone is a Hitler or a Stalin – and even such formidable dictators were not as evil they could have been, despite the enormity of their crimes. The world could be much worse than it currently is. Absolute depravity is not the meaning of the doctrine of total depravity. Since God actively restrains the manifestation of sin in the world through his common grace and mercy to humankind, we are not as bad as we could be, even though sin taints every aspect of our being and personality. The Fall described in Genesis chapter three introduced spiritual death into the world, and not mere sickness as Arminians teach, necessitating the new birth or regeneration by the Holy Spirit (John 3:2–8). Job askes the question: ‘Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? … Not one!’ (Job 14:4). Similarly, Jeremiah asks, ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?’ (Jeremiah 13:23). Some Arminians accept this view of the Fall and human depravity, but many also argue for the place of free will and human ability in salvation and for a kind of prevenient grace that gives all human beings the potential to do saving good and exercise faith. They teach that humankind, though affected by the Fall, is nonetheless still able to choose spiritual good and exercise faith in Christ for salvation. This is why many Arminians stress the importance of making a ‘decision’ for Christ as with the evangelistic campaigns held by Billy Graham from the late 1940s to the early 2000s.  The Reformers argued that the human will is always in bondage to sin, until the Holy Spirit breaks the bonds of sin and sets the sinner free. Apart from God’s saving grace, the sinner would never make a decision for Christ or exercise faith. Sinners who exercise faith and repentance do so because God has granted these gifts to them and created these saving virtues in their hearts (2 Timothy 2:25).    

2.     Unconditional Election (also known as Sovereign Election)

Unconditional election is the doctrine that God’s eternal choice of certain elect individuals for salvation is not based on foreseen merit or faith. On the contrary, election is solely based on his sovereign grace and mercy – at the back of which stands his eternal love: ‘For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son …’ (Romans 8:29). By way of contrast, Arminians teach a conditional election based on foreseen faith as they misinterpret Paul’s use of the word foreknowledge. To foreknow, in the mind of Jewish listeners, means to forelove. To know someone in Hebrew thought means to love them to such an extent that it even encompasses erotic love between a husband and wife (e.g. ‘And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived’ (Genesis 4:1)). It emphatically does not mean that God knew who would believe ahead of time and chose them on the basis of their decision to accept Christ. This is plainly contrary to Pauline theology. The reason God foreknows who will believe is because he has eternally decreed these persons unto salvation. Paul argues in Ephesians that believers were ‘chosen before the foundation of the world’ and were predestined to salvation ‘according to the purpose of his will’ (Ephesians 1:4–5). Similarly, in Romans 9: 11–16, Paul argues that God’s election is not based on human merit, effort, or decision-making, but wholly and entirely upon his mercy. God says, ‘I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy’ (Romans 9:15). This doctrine magnifies God’s grace. Salvation is entirely a work of divine mercy and love. It is not earned, merited, or foreseen, but is freely given according to the riches of His grace. The doctrine of unconditional election follows logically from the doctrine of total depravity. If human beings are completely unable to save themselves, then if anyone is to be saved God must intervene in the human situation and redeem lost humanity. ‘The story of the Bible is the story of unconditional election’ (Seaton, The Five Points of Calvinism, p. 10). The whole message of Scripture is that God freely chooses to save a people for himself. He chose the patriarchs and their offspring to be his peculiar people. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph were all freely chosen by God for salvation. It had nothing to do with their merits or faith, but everything to do with God who has mercy: ‘The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you …’ (Deuteronomy 7:7). According to his eternal decree, and so that the purpose of election might stand, God chose Jacob over Esau: ‘Jacob have I loved’, God says, ‘but Esau have I hated’ (Romans 19:11–13). Those whom God loves, he chooses; those whom He hates, He reprobates. In the New Testament, Jesus tells his disciples, ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you’ (John 15:16). Paul argues in Ephesians that we were ‘chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world … [and] predestinated unto the adoption of children’ (Ephesians 1: 4, 5). Luke argues that the purpose of election was present in the redemption of sinners in the book of Acts, ‘And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed’ (Acts 13:48). This does not exclude assurance of salvation as some Arminians accuse Calvinists of teaching. On the contrary, we teach with the Apostle Peter the importance of diligently seeking the assurance of faith by making our calling and election sure: ‘Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall’ (2 Peter 1:10).

3.     Limited Atonement (also known as Particular Redemption)

The doctrine of limited atonement is perhaps the most controversial point in the acronym TULIP. Many sincere Christian believers instinctively feel that Christ’s atonement extends to the whole world as is seemingly taught so clearly in John 3:16, for example. There is some truth in this point as there is an element of universality in the atonement. Some Calvinists known as Amyraldians (followers of Moses Amyraut, 1596–1664) are advocates of a modified form of Calvinism which actually denies the doctrine of limited atonement and embraces a kind of hypothetical universalism. We might call them ‘four-point Calvinists’ for shorthand. Similarly, Arminians have taught a universal redemption and a general atonement. For the Arminian, Christ died to make salvation possible for all humanity, but only on the condition of faith. However, orthodox Calvinism has traditionally argued that the atonement though sufficient for all, is efficient only for the elect. Limited atonement is about Christ’s intention in dying on the cross. Why did He die? What did his death achieve? His death could have saved everyone who has ever lived and ever shall live (as universalists teach), or it could have made salvation possible for all (as in hypothetical universalism). The point Calvinists make, however, is that the atonement is particular to the elect alone and actually accomplishes their salvation (as in definite atonement or particularism). Christ died intending to save his people, not the whole world. His death was effectual for their salvation only. He died to actually save, not merely to make salvation possible. It is not the possibility of salvation that is freely offered in the gospel, but the certainty of it. ‘If it was God’s intention to save the entire world [as Arminians teach], then the atonement of Christ has been a great failure, for vast numbers of mankind have not been saved’ (Seaton, The Five Points of Calvinism, p. 15). However, according to the Gospel of John, Jesus lays down his life ‘for his sheep’ (John 10: 11, 15), and not for everyone. He does not die indiscriminately for all. His name is called Jesus because he will save his chosen people from their sins (Matthew 1:21; Titus 2:14). He died for ‘the many’, but not for everybody: ‘This is the blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins’ (Mattew 26:28). Jesus ‘loved the church, and gave himself for it’ (Ephesians 5:25). ‘He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification’ (Romans 4:25) – notice the particularism of Pauline language on this subject. Similarly, Isaiah says, ‘By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities’ (Isaiah 53:11). The whole language of atonement is spoken of in terms of particularism. 

4.     Irresistible grace (also known as Effectual Calling)

When God graciously calls someone to salvation, the sweetness of his grace overcomes the resistance caused by sin and brings the elect person effectually to faith in Christ. Jesus says, ‘All that the Father gives me will come to me … [and] no one can come [to me] unless the Father draws him’ (John 6:37, 44). According to the doctrine of irresistible grace, the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration precedes faith. It is actually responsible for making faith possible. This is taught in various places such as John 3:3–8 and Ezekiel 36:26–27. Those whom God predestines to salvation; he also effectually calls by his mercy and grace (Romans 8:30). There are two kinds of calling involved in the drawing of the sinner to Christ. There is the outward call of the free offer in the preaching of the word of God, and there is the inward and effectual call of the Father by the Holy Spirit. The outward call is indiscriminate and is offered freely to all sinners, but the inward and effectual call is limited to the elect alone and guarantees their salvation. The doctrine of the effectual call is taught in various places of Holy Scripture. For example, Jesus says, ‘All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out’ (John 6:37). Notice that those who are effectually called are those whom the the Father has ‘given to Christ’ – those whom God has chosen or selected and entrusted into his care – they are said to infallibly come to Christ for salvation, without fail. They will never be rejected or cast out by Christ because the Father has given them to him for safe keeping. Similarly, Jesus says, ‘No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him’ (John 6:44). Notice that effectual calling is specially described as God the Father’s work in this verse. He effectually and mercifully woos the sinner and draws him with the chords of love, grace, and mercy to himself. The idea is not so much that God forces sinners to be converts, but rather effectually and graciously persuades them to come freely by grace. He opens their hearts to believe. Jesus also says, ‘Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me’ (John 6:45). Many may hear the outward call of the Gospel, but only those ‘taught of the Father’ will experience salvation. So, as Jesus says to Simon Peter, ‘Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it into thee, but my Father which is in heaven’ (Matthew 16:17). Paul says that ‘as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God’ (Romans 8:14). Those whom the Spirit leads are those whom the Father saves and adopts as his children. Peter says that God has called the elect ‘out of darkness and into his marvellous light’ (1 Peter 2:9) and that he has ‘called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus’ (1 Peter 5:10). God’s effectual call is seen in the salvation of Lydia, a seller of purple cloth: ‘A certain woman named Lydia heard us; whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things that were spoken of Paul’ (Acts 16:14). According to Seaton, ‘Paul, the preacher, spoke to Lydia’s ear – the outward call; but the Lord spoke to Lydia’s heart – the inward call of irresistible grace’ (Seaton, The Five Points of Calvinism, p. 18). God the Father’s effectual call by the Holy Spirit is distinct from the general call of the gospel given by preachers and evangelists. Preachers and evangelists may often be unsuccessful, but God’s effectual call always results in conversion. It comes down to a contest of wills – and God always wins. His plans for his elect people cannot be frustrated by the human will, no matter how stubborn or hardened the heart may initially be under sin. God’s call is an effectual call. That means he always succeeds in calling those whom He has chosen. His grace is irresistible.

5.     Perseverance of the Saints (or Eternal Security)

The doctrine of the perseverance (or sometimes preservation) of the saints means that those truly regenerated, called, and justified will persevere in faith and holiness until the end and experience full salvation. This is sometimes known as the doctrine of ‘eternal security’ in evangelical circles. Historic or classical Arminians teach that a believer may fall from grace and lose his salvation. If he must take the initiative in salvation through his decision to accept Christ, then he must retain his responsibility for keeping himself in a state of grace. Not all Arminians accept this point of view, however. Some evangelical Arminians believe that the Christian is ‘eternally secure’, though these are in a minority. They seem to have been influenced by Calvinistic teaching on this matter, and this is sometimes known as the OSAS doctrine or ‘once saved, always saved’ position and is particularly believed among Southern Baptists of an Arminian persuasion in the United States. Paul teaches in Romans 8:30 that ‘Those whom God predestined; He also glorified’—none are lost along the way. Their glorification is so certain that it was written by the apostle in the past tense as if it were already true of the elect. Paul also says in Philippians 1:6 that ‘He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ’. True believers may stumble, they may even backslide for a time, but they are kept by God’s power and cannot finally be lost (1 Peter 1:5; John 10:28–29). Paul says that he is certain that ‘neither death, nor life … nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:29). There are many verses of Scripture which teach the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints: ‘And this is the Father’s will, that of all he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day’ (John 6:39). Believers are kept by the will of God safely in the hands of Christ. ‘I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand’ (John 10:28). None shall pluck them from the hand of Christ. It is the hand of omnipotence. And underneath are the everlasting arms of God the Father (Deuteronomy 33:27). ‘For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life’ (Romans 5:10). This is known in informal logic as an a fortiori argument and used to express a conclusion for which there is stronger evidence than for previously accepted point. If we are reconciled by the death of Christ, how much more are we saved by his life! ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). Once in Him, in Him forever. ‘The salvation that begins in the mind and purpose of God must end in the fulfilment of his unthwartable purpose that those ‘whom he died foreknow’ are eternally united with their saviour’ (Seaton, The Five Points of Calvinism, p. 21).

            The design and purpose of the five points of Calvinism is to teach that ‘salvation belongs to the Lord’ (Psalm 3:8) and that all glory and honour for the work of redemption belongs to God alone – encapsulated by the slogan soli deo gloria: ‘Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake’ (Psalm 115:1). Far from being a hindrance to evangelism, the doctrines of grace are a reason to go out into the world and preach the Gospel because we have full assurance that God will infallibly save his elect people from their sins. As the Lord God says, ‘So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please’ (Isaiah 55:11). Some of the greatest preachers and evangelists from church history have been Calvinists: William Carey (1761–1834), Andrew Fuller (1754–1815), David Brainerd (1718–47), George Whitefield (1714–70), Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813–43), Andrew Bonar (1810–92), William Burns (1815–68), Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–92), Archibald G. Brown (1844 –1922), and David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981). Calvinism is the beating heart of the doctrine of salvation. It is soteriologically the sum and centre of the Gospel message itself. The five points of Calvinism are the five points of true Gospel preaching. They are at the very heart of the message of the good news of Jesus Christ. As Charles H. Spurgeon famously said, ‘I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless we preach what is nowadays called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the Gospel, and nothing else’ (Charles H. Spurgeon, A Defense of Calvinism, p. 12). As the psalmist reminds us, salvation belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ (Psalm 3:8). It is he who has saved us, and not we ourselves.

C.     Documenting Historic Calvinism

Several key theologians in the history of Calvinism are worthy of particular mention as their published writings or documents form the backbone of the Reformed canon of religious and theological literature in Western society. Many of these writings stand out as some of the most important and seminal theological works ever written and the theologians themselves are regarded as some of the most important in Western history. No student of theology should be ignorant of them. This final chapter will consider several well-known theologians and their seminal works including John Calvin, Henrich Bullinger, John Owen, Francis Turretin, Jonathan Edwards, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, and Karl Barth. Mention will also be made of the major Reformed confessions of faith including the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards.

a.     John Calvin (1509–64) and Henrich Bullinger (1504–75)

Mention has already been made of John Calvin and The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559) as a seminal text. Calvin may certainly be described in terms of being a primus inter pares or ‘first among equals’. As already mentioned, the first edition of the Institutes was published in Latin in 1536 and was subsequently revised continuously by Calvin until the definitive edition was published in Latin in 1559. This is generally the text used by modern translations of the Institutes. The final edition in French was published in 1560 and was enthusiastically received by those who could not read Latin. The Institutes is divided into four major books which cover the knowledge of God as creator, the knowledge of God as redeemer in Christ, the mode of obtaining the grace of Christ, and the external means by which God invites us into the society of Christ or the holy catholic church. Calvin’s purpose in writing the Institutes was to provide the Reformation world with a systematic or dogmatic theology defending Protestant doctrine against Roman Catholicism and Anabaptism. It was also written to instruct believers, especially those under persecution, and to encourage them to stand fast in holding the principles of the Protestant religion. The Institutes was designed to be read in tandem with Calvin’s commentaries and sermons on the Bible. It was not meant to stand alone but was designed to be read holistically with Calvin’s other exegetical writings, particularly his commentaries and published sermons. Nonetheless, the Institutes was foundational for Reformed theology and is widely regarded as one of the most important texts in the history of Calvinism. It would go on to shape confessional standards, doctrinal literature, and would be formative in developing a Reformed ecclesiology that emphasized the role of elders or presbyters in the church. Another key theologian during the Reformation, who was arguably more important than Calvin in his day, was Heinrich Bullinger. His collected sermons known as The Decades of Heinrich Bullinger remain a seminal text for understanding Protestant theology. It contains fifty sermons in five sets of ten or ‘decades’ and considers major theological loci such as the word of God, faith and the creed, the decalogue, sacraments, prayer, and the Christian life. It was designed for both laypeople and clergy and was deeply pastoral and catechetical, perhaps explaining its popularity among the laity. Bullinger, like Calvin, was a second-generation Reformer and his Decades were widely used in England and on the continent as a theological training manual alongside of Calvin’s Institutes. 

b.     The Three Forms of Unity and Westminster Standards

The major confessional documents most strongly associated with the Reformed faith are the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards. These are the confessional documents of the Dutch Reformed Church and global Presbyterianism respectively. They are still used as the main confessional documents by the Dutch Reformed churches and Presbyterian churches to this day. The Three Forms of Unity consists of the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), the Belgic Confession (1561), and the Canons of Dort (1618–19). The Heidelberg Catechism is warm, rich, and deeply pastoral in tone. It is structured around the themes of guilt, grace, and gratitude. The Belgic Confession is a more scholastic doctrinal summary of Reformed orthodoxy and was written against the errors of Romans Catholicism on the one hand and the Anabaptism of the radical Reformation on the other. As already mentioned, the Canons of Dort respond to the five points made against Calvinism by the followers of Jacob Arminius known as the Remonstrants. These five points would come to define Calvinistic orthodoxy and would form the backbone of the acronym TULIP widely used in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries as a polemical summary of Calvinism. The purpose of these documents was originally to create doctrinal unity among the Dutch Reformed churches and to provide doctrinal clarity during theological conflicts and disagreements. The Westminster Standards were produced by the Westminster Assembly during the Cromwellian Revolution between 1643 and 1653 and consist of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), the Shorter Catechism (1646–47), and the Larger Catechism (1643). The Westminster Confession of Faith covers all the major loci of systematic or dogmatic theology emphasising the doctrines of holy scripture, the covenant of works, the covenant of grace, and ecclesiastical or church polity. The Shorter Catechism was written for children and the uneducated laity and opens with the famous question: ‘What is the chief end of man?’ ‘The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever’. A catechism is a form of question and answer designed to teach theological and ethical truths. The Shorter Catechism was written for beginners in the faith and children, while the larger and more substantial catechism was written for adults and Christian ministers. While the Shorter Catechism has enjoyed considerable popularity and widespread use, the Larger Catechism has tended to be neglected by readers, perhaps owing to its longer and more difficult sentences which can be tricky to memorise. Thomas Ridgeley’s Body of Divinity, a two-volume work printed in 1731–33, appears to be one of the few major works written on the Larger Catechism. The Westminster Standards were adopted by Presbyterian churches worldwide (especially in North America and Scotland) and the documents have been foundational for Reformed theology in the anglophone world.

c.      John Owen (1616–83) and English Puritanism

The most significant post-reformation movement to emerge in England and Wales was Puritanism. Many of the more theologically minded Puritans such as John Owen (1616–83) used similar theological methodologies to the continental scholastic and reformed theologians, making fine distinctions based upon the careful exegesis of Scriptural passages. While the Puritans were concerned with theological method, their principal concerns were pragmatic and pastoral. They desired to continue in the spirit of ecclesia semper reformanda by furthering the spiritual and liturgical reformation of the Church of England. These reforms would ultimately be rejected by the Established Church in 1662 and Puritan ministers who failed to conform were ejected from the ministry. John Owen is widely regarded as the most significant Reformed theologian of the Puritan era. The Banner of Truth publish a 16-volume edition of his collected works and his seven-volume commentary on the book of Hebrews. Crossway is planning to release a 40-volume critical edition of his collected writings which will translate passages in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. Owen never wrote a systematic theology, but his published writings explore all the major loci of Reformed dogmatics including the Trinity and Christology, the Holy Spirit, justification and sanctification, ecclesiology and worship – and not to mention a careful exegesis of the book of Hebrews. Readers of Owen will know by experience that his writing can dense and difficult to follow. It nonetheless remains deeply devotional and abounds with a sense of God’s presence. He is not known as the ‘Prince of Puritans’ without reason.

d.     Francis Turretin (1623–87) and Reformed Scholasticism

One of the most important movements to emerge in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation was a new form of scholasticism. The scholastic movement within post-Reformation Protestantism represents a synthesis of the tenants of reformed theology with the methods of medieval scholasticism and the philosopher Aristotle. The most significant representative of this ethos within Reformed Protestantism was Francis Turretin (1623–87), the author of the Institutes of Elenctic Theology (1979–85). While the word ‘institutes’ echoes the title of Calvin’s magnum opus, the word ‘elenctic’ refers to the method of exposing and refuting theological error. Scholasticism was developed ‘in part for the sake of debating Roman Catholic polemicists … [and also] for the sake of developing the implications of the Reformers’ teaching for a full system of Christian doctrine’ (Richard A. Muller, ‘Scholasticism Protestant and Catholic …’, p. 194). Scholasticism was particularly concerned with questions of method and ‘the development of theological prolegomena or loci dealing with the topics fundamental to theology’ (Richard A. Muller, ‘Scholasticism Protestant and Catholic …’, p. 194). In this respect, post-reformation scholasticism, with its concern for system building, was instrumental in the development of the modern academic discipline of systematic theology. Though the movement was theologically reformed, it nonetheless drew upon the modus operandi of medieval scholastic theologians by presenting a theological issue in the form of a thesis or question, noting various objections, and answering objections through careful exegesis of Scripture, rational argumentation, and discussion concerning the historical position of the church on the matter in question. Turretin’s Institutes of Elenctic Theology was published between 1679–85 in Latin. It is structured around twenty topics or doctrinal loci, each with questions and objections following an elenctic method. Key theological themes include Scripture, God, Christ, justification, predestination, and the sacraments of baptism and Holy Eucharist. Turretin’s work represents the high point of Reformed scholasticism, and his writings would deeply influence the Princeton theologians such as Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield.

e.     Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) and the Emergence of Evangelicalism

Jonathan Edwards is widely considered to be one of America’s most important Christian thinkers – a theologian of comparable significance to St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, or Karl Barth. His published writings, made available online by Yale University, extend to some 73 volumes on subjects as various as aesthetics, metaphysics, typology, redemptive history, ethics, and revival. His complex ideas have won the attention of historians, theologians, literary critics, psychologists, and philosophers working across universities all over the world. It is a remarkable legacy for a humble pastor and a Gospel preacher who sought to guide lost sinners to Christ and to help Christians to make sense of the work of the Spirit of God. Some of his most important writings include The Freedom of the Will, The Religious Affections, Original Sin, The Life of David Brainerd, and thousands of letters, sermons, tracts, and miscellaneous writings. The major themes of Edwards’ writings include revival, religious affections, typology, metaphysics, redemptive history, and eschatology. He is widely regarded as American’s greatest theologian and his life and work served as a bridge between New England Puritanism and the emergence of evangelicalism during the eighteenth century. He is arguably the father of modern evangelical theology. Edwards considered himself to be a moderate Calvinist and generally sympathetic with Calvin's theology. He even says that he ‘should not take it at all amiss, to be called a Calvinist, for distinction's sake: though I utterly disclaim a dependence on Calvin’ (Edwards, Freedom of the Will, p. 131).

f.      Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) and Herman Bavinck (1854–1921)

Abraham Kuyper was a Dutch politician, a journalist, philosopher, statesman and theologian. One of his most valuable ideas concerns the lordship of Christ and its relationship to human existence. He is famous for the neo-Calvinist saying, ‘There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: “Mine!”’ (James D. Bratt (ed.), Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader, p. 488).  For Kuyper, life could not be divided into ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’ activities. There is one sovereign Lord of all human life, and therefore there is one, unified human life lived under and in the light of Christ’s lordship – coram deo. There are many spheres of human activity within the world and Kuyper’s point is that Christ’s lordship encompasses them all. An illustration might help to elucidate this point: suppose someone had a great blackboard behind them and upon it numerous circles highlighting all the areas of human thought, activity, and existence. The would be a circle labelled art, another science, another philosophy, music, politics, religion, geography, history, mathematics, computing, literature, sport, medicine, agriculture, business, the family, retirement, and so on. Kuyper’s point is this: around all these smaller circles there is one great circle entitled ‘the sovereignty of God in Christ Jesus’. For Kuyper, Jesus Christ is Lord of everything, and all life is to be lived in light of his lordship. He is Lord in the office, Lord in the workplace, Lord in the college. He is Lord at the university, Lord in the lecture theatre, He is Lord on the street, in the school, at the cafe, even in the cinema. He is Lord in the home, amidst the family. He is even Lord of our thoughts and emotions. This is why, according to the Apostle Paul, we are to bring ‘every thought captive in obedience to Christ Jesus’ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Kuyper’s most important theological works include his Lectures on Calvinism (1898) which were originally delivered at Princeton theological seminary and which explore Calvinism as a worldview affecting every aspect of human life including religion, politics, science, art, and eschatology. He is also well-known for his writings on common grace which explore God’s benevolence to all humanity, and not simply the elect. Kuyper is widely regarded as the founder of neo-Calvinism and is noted for his emphasis on cultural engagement and developing a Christian worldview.

Herman Bavinck was Dutch Reformed theologian who along with Abraham Kuyper was instrumental in the emergence and development of neo-Calvinism in the late nineteenth century. His theology is deeply Trinitarian and conscious of culture and has often been summarised with the phrase ‘grace restores nature’. In Bavinck’s own words: ‘The essence of the Christian religion consists in the reality that the creation of the Father, [though] ruined by sin, is restored in the death of the Son of God, and recreated by the grace of the Holy Spirit into a kingdom of God’ (Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 1, p. 112). Bavinck is most widely known for his four volume Reformed Dogmatics published between 1895 and 1901. These volumes were translated by Baker Academic into English for the anglophone world between 2003 and 2008. The major topics considered are prolegomena, God and creation, sin and salvation, the Holy Spirit, the church, and eschatology. His theology is deeply organic, rich in historical consciousness, and represents a balance of scholastic precision with pastoral warmth and energy.

g.     Karl Barth (1886–1968) and Neo-Orthodoxy

Karl Barth is the final Reformed or Calvinistic theologian we must mention, though some would prefer to describe him as a neo-orthodox theologian. Whatever his designation, Barth is certainly one of the most significant Reformed theologians of the twentieth century and the most influential in modern theology. Barth is known for his critique and rejection of theological liberalism as voiced in his commentary on St Paul’s epistle to the Romans which, according to one commentator, ‘dropped like a bombshell on the playground of theologians’ (Karl Adam). His critique of ‘religion’ or ‘religiosity’ represents a key theme of his commentary on the epistle to the Romans. According to Barth, ‘It was the Church, not the world, which crucified Christ’. He is also known for his role in the Confessing Church, his opposition to Nazism, his theological involvement in formulating the Barmen Declaration, and for his multivolume but unfinished Church Dogmatics. His fame was sufficiently noted in his lifetime when he appeared on the cover of Time Magazine for the 20^th April 1962. Barth has exercised a decisive influence on modern theology during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Notable thinkers indebted to his theology include Dietrich Bonhoffer, Jürgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Thomas F. Torrance, and Reinhold Niebuhr among many others. He has been described as the father of ‘neo-orthodoxy’, though he would repudiate the title, which itself suggests a return to orthodox theology of Calvin and the Reformers as opposed to the modernism of theological liberalism.

Barth was born into a Swiss theologically minded family and himself influenced by the liberal theology of his day and age, particularly as it found expression in the thought of Adolf von Harnack, Wilhelm Herrmann, and Friedrich Schleiermacher. He worked briefly writing as a journalist for Die Christliche Welt (The Christian World) and served as an assistant pastor in Geneva before becoming pastor at Safenwil in the Aargau from 1911 to 1921. Confronted by the challenges of his congregation and pastoral ministry, Barth became increasingly disillusioned with the liberal theology of his time and increasing turned to Scripture itself for answers. This eventually led to his publication of a commentary on the epistle to the Romans which jaw-shatteringly broke with the liberalism of his university professors. Its return to the Protestant principle of Scripture alone (sola scriptura) as the normative source of Christian theology was decisive. For some time, Barth taught theology in Göttingen and Münster and was a key figure in the emerging ‘dialectical theology’ movement, sometimes known as a theology of ‘crisis’. This theology was deeply influenced by an emerging cultural and religious backlash against liberal theology. After moving to Bonn, Barth became increasing involved in politics, especially in opposition to Adolf Hitler, and was the primary hand behind the Barmen Declaration penned in 1934. This document stood in opposition to Nazism and confessed allegiance to none but Christ and Scripture. He was subsequently dismissed from his post and took up an appointment at his native Basel where he remained for the rest of his life and where he continued working on his Church Dogmatics published over several years between 1932–67. The unfinished Church Dogmatics amounts to thirteen part-volumes structured around the doctrine of the word of God, the doctrine of God, the doctrine of creation, the doctrine of reconciliation (unfinished), and the proposed doctrine of redemption (unwritten). Barth’s theology is deeply Christocentric, dialectical, and anti-natural. He remains the most significant Calvinist theology of the twentieth century and is work is foundational for modern dogmatics.

Conclusion

Calvinism is far more than the five points summarized by the acronym TULIP. It is a comprehensive theological system rooted in the sovereignty of God and the historic Reformed tradition. Emerging from the thought of John Calvin and his contemporaries, Calvinism revived Augustinian principles, emphasizing salvation by grace alone (sola gratia) and the futility of human merit. While the five points—total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints—serve as a helpful framework, they represent only a fraction of a broader worldview that shapes doctrine, worship, and life. Across the centuries, Calvinism has influenced confessional standards, global missions, and cultural engagement, producing seminal works by theologians such as Calvin, Bullinger, Owen, Turretin, Edwards, Kuyper, Bavinck, and Karl Barth. Today, it remains a vibrant, global movement, affirming that ‘salvation belongs to the Lord’ (Psalm 3:8) and that all glory and honour for redemption is due to God alone – soli deo gloria.

Bibliography

Allen, Michael, and Scott R. Swain (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology (Oxford, 2020).

Backus, Irena, and Phillip Benedict, Calvin and His Influence 1509–2009 (Oxford, 2011).

Balserak, Jon, Calvinism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2016).

Balserak, Jon, John Calvin as Sixteenth-Century Prophet (Oxford, 2014).

Barth, Karl, The Theology of John Calvin (Grand Rapids, MI, 1995).

Beeke, Joel, Living For God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism (Sanford, FL, 2008).

Benedict, Phillip, Christ’s Churches Purely Reformed: A Social History of Calvinism (New Haven & London, 2002).

Benton, John, Evangelistic Calvinism: Why the Doctrines of Grace are Good News (Edinburgh, 2006).

Beza, Theodore, The Life of John Calvin (Darlington, 1997).

Boettner, Loraine, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (Phillipsburg, NJ, 1932).

Bouwsma, William, John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Century Portrait (Oxford, 1988).

Bratt, James D., (ed.), Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader (Cambridge, 1998).

Cammenga, Ronald, and Ronald Hanko, Saved By Grace: A Study of the Five Points of Calvinism (Grandville, MI, 2002).

Crisp, Oliver D., Deviant Calvinism: Broadening Reformed Theology (Minneapolis, MN, 2014).

Crisp, Oliver D., Saving Calvinism: Expanding the Reformed Tradition (Downers Grove, IL, 2016).

Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism (Darlington, 2019).

Eglinton, James, Bavinck: A Critical Biography (Grand Rapids, MI, 2020).

Engelsma, David J., The Reformed Faith of John Calvin: The Institutes in Summary (Jenison, MI, 2009).

Gibson, David and Jonathan Gibson (eds), From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective (Wheaton, IL, 2013).

Gordon, Bruce and Carl R. Trueman (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Calvin and Calvinism (Oxford, 2021).

Gordon, Bruce and Emidio Campi, Architect of Reformation: An Introduction to Heinrich Bullinger (Eugene, OR, 2004).

Gordon, Bruce, Calvin (New Haven & London, 2009).

Gribben, Crawford and Graeme Murdock (eds), Cultures of Calvinism in Early Modern Europe (New York and Oxford, 2019).

Gribben, Crawford, John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford, 2016).

Hamilton, Ian, What is Experiential Calvinism? (Grand Rapids, MI, 2015).

Hanko, Herman, and Engelsma, David J., The Five Points of Calvinism (British Reformed Fellowship, 2008).

Hansen, Collin, Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists (Wheaton, IL, 2008).

Hart, D. G., Calvinism: A History (New Haven & London, 2013).

Helm, Paul, Calvin and the Calvinists (Edinburgh, 1982).

Holder, R. Ward (ed.), John Calvin in Context (Cambridge, 2020).

Horton, Michael, For Calvinism (Grand Rapids, MI, 2011).

Jones, Paul Dafydd and Paul T. Nimmo (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Karl Barth (Oxford, 2019).

Kendall, R. T., Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649 (Oxford, 1981).

Kuyper, Abraham, Particular Grace: A Defence of God’s Sovereignty in Salvation (Grandville, MI, 2001). 

Letham, Robert, The Westminster Assembly: Reading its Theology in Historical Context (Phillipsburg, NJ, 2009).

Marsden, George M., Jonathan Edwards: A Life (Yale, 2003).

Martin, A. N., The Practical Implications of Calvinism (Edinburgh, 1979).

McGrath, Alister, A Life of John Calvin: A Study in the Shaping of Western Culture (Oxford, 1990).

McKim, Donald K. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin (Cambridge, 2004).

McNeill, The History and Character of Calvinism (Oxford, 1954).

Morgan, Densil D., The SPCK Introduction to Karl Barth (London, 2010).

Muller, Richard A., ‘Scholasticism Protestant and Catholic: Francis Turretin on the Object and Principles of Theology’, American Society of Church History, 55, 2 (Cambridge, 1986), 193 – 205.

Muller, Richard A., After Calvin: Studies in the Development of a Theological Tradition (Oxford, 2003).

Muller, Richard A., Calvin and the Reformed Tradition: On the Work of Christ and the Order of Salvation (Grand Rapids, MI, 2012).

Muller, Richard A., The Unaccommodated Calvin: Studies in the Foundation of a Theological Tradition (Oxford, 2000).

Olson, Roger E., Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities (Downers Grove, IL, 2006).

Palmer, Edwin H., The Five Points of Calvinism (Grand Rapids, MI, 1972).

Parker, T. H. L., John Calvin: A Biography (Oxford, 1975).

Piper, John, Five Points: Towards a Deeper Experience of God’s Grace (Fearn, 2013).

Seaton, W. J., The Five Points of Calvinism (Edinburgh, 1970).

Selderhuis, Herman (ed.), The Calvin Handbook (Grand Rapids, 2009).

Sell, Alan P. F., The Great Debate: Calvinism, Arminianism, and Salvation (Worthing, 1982).

Spurgeon, Charles, A Defence of Calvinism (Edinburgh, 2008).

Stanglin, Keith D., and Thomas H. McCall, Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace (Oxford, 2012).  

Steele, David N., Curtis C. Thomas, and S. Lance Quinn, The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, and Documented (Phillipsburg NJ, 2004).

Sweeney, Douglas A., and Jan Stievermann (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Jonathan Edwards (Oxford, 2021).

Thomas, Derek W. H., and John W. Tweeddale (eds), John Calvin: For a New Reformation (Wheaton, IL., 2019).

Thompson, Mark D. (ed.), Engaging with Calvin: Aspects of the Reformer’s Legacy for Today (Nottingham, 2009).

Tietz, Christiane, Karl Barth: A Life in Conflict (Oxford, 2021).

Toon, Peter, Hyper-Calvinism in English Nonconformity 1689–1768 (London, 1967).

Van Asselt, William J., Introduction to Reformed Scholasticism (Grand Rapids, MI, 2011).

Wendel, Francois, Calvin: The Origins and Development of His Religious Thought (London, 1963).

Witt, John R. de, What is the Reformed Faith? (Edinburgh, 1981).