Philosophical roots of Calvinism

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sola scriptura

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Calvinism's concepts are rooted in philosophy, not the Bible.

Refuting Calvinism

Augustine

The research of Augustinian expert, Kenneth Wilson (MD, MDiv, ThM, PhD), 1 one of the top scholars in the world on Augustine, shows that before Augustine (for the first few centuries of the church), Christian teachers taught free will, and none taught determinism. It also shows Augustine to have been ...

"... heavily influenced as a young man by participating in the three most highly deterministic systems that have ever existed—Gnostic Manichaeism, Neoplatonism, and Stoicism." - p. 94, The Foundation of Augustinian-Calvinism

From his 2019 book, THE FOUNDATION OF AUGUSTINIAN–CALVINISM, page 94: [emphasis added]

... Augustine was the only Christian bishop in history known to have been heavily influenced as a young man by participating in the three most highly deterministic systems that have ever existed—Gnostic Manichaeism, Neoplatonism, and Stoicism. Augustine's deterministic ideas did not come from the apostle Paul (a Pharisee who believed in free choice). Over fifty earlier Christian authors fought against those fated philosophies by teaching free choice. This new knowledge of how and why Augustine moved back into pagan determinism should greatly concern us. When these facts are combined with the knowledge that both Luther and Calvin mistakenly believed Augustine was merely teaching what all the earliest church fathers taught, Augustinian-Calvinism is exposed as built upon an unstable foundation of pagan sand.

Beginning with "God is sovereign" is not a Christian, but a Stoic foundation of philosophical theology. ...

The quote above is from this book:

The Foundation of Augustinian-Calvinism Kindle edition by Ken Wilson. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. (n.d.). Retrieved August 6, 2019, from https://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Augustinian-Calvinism-Ken-Wilson-ebook/dp/B07VTS48L6

R.C. Sproul has pointed out that someone said that all modern theology is just a footnote to Augustine.

Books by Ken Wilson M.D., M.Div., Th.M., Ph.D.

https://www.amazon.com/Augustines-Conversion-Traditional-Choice-non-Free/dp/3161557530

https://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Augustinian-Calvinism-Ken-Wilson-ebook/dp/B07VTS48L6

Info below is from https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/book/augustines-conversion-from-traditional-free-choice-to-non-free-free-will-9783161557538?createPdf=true

Kenneth M. Wilson

  • 1981 Doctorate in Medicine from The University of Texas Medical School;
  • 1989–95 Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University;
  • 2003 M.Div.;
  • 2006 Th.M.;
  • 2012 D.Phil. in Theology from the University of Oxford; thesis, “Augustine’s Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to ‘Non-free Free Will’: A Comprehensive Methodology.“
    currently a
  • Board Certified Orthopaedic Hand Surgeon in Salem, Oregon
    and
  • Professor of Church History and Systematic Theology at Grace School of Theology in The Woodlands, Texas 
Here is Dr. Wilson interviewed by Leighton Flowers

Supporting Calvinism

TBA (to be added)