October Book Club: Un-Crazy Calvinism, with Richard Mouw

UPDATE: I also did a little series exploring topics in this book, including Calvinism’s history, and T–U–L–I-P. Enjoy!

October’s Book

Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport
by Richard Mouw

For my church‘s monthly Theology Book Club, we’ve been spending the Fall exploring some of the distinctive beliefs of Reformed Theology.

Well, if there’s any set of ideas Reformed Theology is most known for (and controversially so), it is surely that cluster of doctrines known collectively as “Calvinism”. That’s what we’re exploring this month through Richard Mouw’s amazing book, Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport.

To be clear, “Reformed Theology” is a lot bigger than Calvinism. You can agree with Calvinistic thought and not be Reformed, and you can have a huge range of opinions on Calvinist doctrines while still being Reformed. And yet, it is so connected to the thought of my church’s tradition that it deserves a deep dive.

If you haven’t heard of Calvinism, it’s a set of theological ideas that try to get at the relationship between God’s work in the world and our own. It tends to stress the “God-side” of that equation, and so many people find it controversial and offensive on many, many levels. And yet, it has a logic, coherence, and beauty that is hard to simply write-off.

Mouw’s book so helpfully walks us through Calvinism, explaining what it is, what makes it so hard, and how it just might not be as scary as we think it is. It really is a remarkable book. And it’s fairly short. I read it in one sitting.

Regardless of how you come to this reading, and what preconcieved notions you may have, I promise you that Mouw’s book will give greater clarity and insight. At the very least, it will be some really good fodder for our discussion later this month (RSVP!).

As usual, even if you don’t live in Philadelphia, feel free to join us in reading the book. I’ll try and blog about it through the month. You can use this blog or the Facebook page to offer your thoughts, questions, critiques, and concerns.

So pick up the book, read it, keep up with the discussion, and join us October 30th at 5:30pm.