Breaking Stereotypes

John Piper’s New Poem and Video: “The Calvinist”

Dec 03 2013 9:09 am CT 
Justin Taylor

Calvinism, they say, is making a comeback. But poetry? We rarely hear traditional poems today, apart from rhyming couplets in songs or greeting cards or spoken-word pieces with a beat. So I am thankful to hear and watch this robust, life-giving poem from John Piper—read by Piper with the help of friends Matt Chandler, R. C. Sproul, D. A. Carson, Thabiti Anyabwile, Alistair Begg, and Sinclair Ferguson—showing that Calvinism is not an arcane point of theology but a tough-and-tender approach to all of life before the face of God. You can watch it below or read it here.

Exploding Some Theological Urban Legends

An Interview on the Joy of Calvinism

Justin Taylor

It was a joy to talk about Calvinism and the new book The Joy of Calvinism with Dr. Greg Forster, a public intellectual who converted to Christianity as an adult. You can watch our conversation below:



Greg Forster on The Joy of Calvinism - An Interview by Justin Taylor from Crossway on Vimeo.

00:00 — Introduction
00:21 — Forster’s Background – “I was lead to Christ by a man who’s been dead for 300 years.”
03:29 — The theme of God’s love in Calvinism
04:35 — What does Calvinism “taste like?”
06:34 — Calvin’s soteriology
07:21 — TULIP: Our simplification of the “5 points”
09:15 — The value of TULIP in highlighting the trinitarian nature of Calvinism
11:02 — The value of TULIP in negating the views Calvinism does not hold
11:25 — A few problems with TULIP
13:34 — Calvinism from the perspective of God’s love
14:33 — A strange fact: Calvinism is drenched in joy
17:03 — The advantage of a layman’s perspective
19:19 — Greg’s vision for the book in the Church
19:36 — Why you should read this if you’re not a Calvinist
20:40 — Why you should read this if you are a Calvinist
21:54 — Wrap-up: The Joy of Calvinism afresh