Saturday, March 14, 2015

Recent Reformation / Luther Postings


Here's a few things I came across over the last few days from a few different perspectives:


Notes On Calvin’s Doctrine That Justification Sola Fide Is The Principal Axis Of The Christian Religion (R. Scott Clark)- Clark revises a word in the Battles translation of the Institutes to demonstrate Calvin's use of the term "regeneration." R Scott Clark also lamented about those who swim the Tiber or become Eastern Orthodox in this recent blog post.

James White vs. Jimmy Akin on Predestination-  Here's a YouTube audio of an interaction between Dr. White and Jimmy Akin of Catholic Answers on Predestination. I'm not sure of the date on this one, but it must be old by this point, since Dr. White's opening statement goes through Akin's article A Tiptoe Through Tulip.  I went through Akin's article some years back, but I'm sure Dr. White was interacting with it long before I even knew about Mr. Akin. It doesn't appear to me that either AOMIN or CA makes this debate available (at least I could not find it on these websites).

Be a Sinner and Sin Boldly (Walid Shoebat)- Shoebat is a pro-Roman Catholic anti-Islamic website. This article on Luther from April 2014 cites me, unattributed. I may actually go though this article at some point. Shoebat states, "The question isn’t Luther’s statements, but why so many theologians defend him, especially that there are countless obvious immoral statements in his writings? I gave only three references from some of Luther’s defenders (there are hundreds) who re-interpret Luther’s statements. Many are simply Luther’s sycophants."

Calvin contra Rome on Scripture (Introduction); Calvin contra Rome on Scripture (Part 1)- reformation 21's Professor Denlinger starts this series of entries on Calvin vs. Rome. He mentions helpfully,
The burden of proof that something other than Scripture constitutes a source of "saving truth" -- whether that something be "unwritten traditions" or Chinese fortune cookies -- rests entirely with those making such claims. This is often overlooked by would-be Roman apologists who require Protestants to defend from Scripture their principle that Scripture alone is authoritative, and fail to realize that sola Scriptura is not a positive claim per se, but a denial of the positive claim that "unwritten traditions" or anything else deserve the moniker "Word of God."

Reformation or Revolt or Revolution? by Dr. Paul Peters (Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary). I mentioned this old article a few days ago. It's a brilliant article that attempts to cut through the battle over the word "Reformation." The seminary also hosts a number of free articles worth digging through.

8 comments:

Ken said...

I have the audio CD of the debate between Dr. White and Jimmy Akin. It is called "Perseverance" and AOmin still makes it available. (no date, but I remember it - I think it was sometime between the BAM radio "debate" they had and around the debates with Tim Staples. (between 96 ? - 2002 ?)

http://store.aomin.org/debate-perseverance-white-vs-akin.html

Ken said...

I also still have the cassette tapes of the "debate" that they did on the Bible Answer Man (3 from CRI) program, where Hank Hannegraaf moderated and gave more time to Jimmy Akin. That was in 1995.

James Swan said...

Thanks ken. I could not find it on either site.

Ken said...

The perseverance debate was on a different radio show - with Larry Wessels of "Christian Answers" moderating.

The BAM debate was with Hank Hannegraaf of CRI, and subject was Roman Catholicism in general, especially Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide.

Ken said...

One of your old articles on one of Luther's more outrageous statements from The Table Talk - is an important rebuttal to one of Shoebat's claims.

http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2005/12/luther-said-christ-committed-adultery.html

Your analysis is good.

James Swan said...

I found it surprising that aomin would not have any of Dr. White's audio debates available- I can't seem to navigate around the new store as well.

On the other hand, it doesn't surprise me that CA doesn't have it- although once again, it could be there and i just didn't find it.

In regard to shoebat- thanks!

Algo said...

http://store.aomin.org/debate-perseverance-white-vs-akin.html

James Swan said...

Thanks Algo!

By the way, your posts here (along with Ken's) do not go into moderation first.