What is Calvinism?

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First, there are "varieties" or "flavors" of Calvinism. 

Also Calvinism may be referred to by other names - Doctrines of Grace for example.

There are 5 major points of Calvinism, referred to by the acronym TULIP:

  • T - Total depravity
  • U - Unconditional election
  • L - Limited atonement (sometimes referred to as Particular atonement)
  • I - Irresistible grace
  • P - Perseverance of the saints

There is an article on the Britannica website about Calvinism: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Calvinism

There is an explanation of Calvinism here, https://biblereasons.com/what-is-calvinism/, though there is an error on that page where it says (bold emphasis mine):

Calvinism did not start with John Calvin. This soteriological view is named after him because he is best remembered for his plethora of writings on this theological subject. He followed what was Augustinianism, which was the soteriological understanding of the church historically – all the way back to the apostles themselves.

Calvinism does seem to trace back to Augustine, but Augustine does not trace back to the apostles - indeed, no other church teacher ever taught in the centuries before Augustine, what Augustine taught.

Where, then, did Augustine get his teachings? Though those teachings are not found in the church before Augustine, they are found before Augustine - but where? In tracing these teachings backward through Calvin and then on to Augustine and beyond, we find a "sharp left turn" away from going back to the apostles, and instead, backwards into philosophy - Stoicism, Neoplatonism, and Gnostic Manichaeism, by all of which Augustine was heavily influenced. 1

What is Calvinism?