The Calvinist International
As we’ve seen in the two previous posts, Francis Turretin argues that the works of believers are truly good, first, because they are done “by a special motion and impulse of the Holy Spirit,” and thus he is their primary cause; and, second, because they are said to please God, indicating that they cannot properly […]
In the previous post, we saw that, for Francis Turretin, the good works of believers are truly, though not perfectly, good. That post contained the first argument for why we not only can but must say that they are truly good. In the next section, he gives they second reason why we must say that […]
All Reformed Protestants deny that sanctification will be perfect or complete in this life. Thus even “good works” are performed by those who still must combat abiding sin. Believers, then, cannot be perfectly good. Nor can their works be perfectly good. But does this mean that they cannot be truly good? In other words, are they […]
Some of my previous posts at TCI have contended that there is a rational method for verifying religious claims, and have outlined in more detail how this method works for Protestants. I want to build slightly upon these arguments to make another clarification about method. In my post about religious studies in general, I noted that “[i]nsofar […]
Dr. Feser has written a reply to the first part of my rejoinder, and he says this will be his last. I think that the second part of my rejoinder addresses several of his concerns, but like him, I am happy to move on to other subjects. However, I want to make a few brief […]
This is part 1 of a two-part reply. The second part is here. Dr. Feser has written two posts in reply to my earlier one, and I am grateful for him for the opportunity to further clarify my points. In the following, I will hazard potential confusion by reversing the order of the original Jesuit […]
The other day I was reading through parts of the eighteenth Topic, or Locus, of Francis Turretin’s Institutes of Elenctic Theology–specifically, the 34th question on “The Political Government of the Church”–and came across a paragraph that seemed important in the argument but that I simply could not get to compute (operator error, perhaps?). I’m not sure how […]
For those who have read certain of Ovid’s love elegies, he might seem an odd choice for Christian repurposing, but it does happen. Book 1 of his Metamorphoses, with its account of creation, has some sections that especially lend themselves to Christian appropriation. Thus Francis Turretin, in discussing in what the imago Dei consists in […]