When I was home last Christmas one of my cousins asked me to make a video answering the question “What can Calvinists and Wesleyans learn from one another?” that she could show to her Sunday School class at a Methodist church in Tennessee.
I’m not especially great at the video production thing, but here’s the end result, my first attempt at a “video-blog” posting.
Related articles
- Sneaky Calvinism (Calvinism on the Sly in Action) (arminianperspectives.wordpress.com)
- Do American Christians Need the Message of Grace or a Call to Holiness? (christianitytoday.com)
- What choice do I have?… (pastor-george.com)
- Why I love Wesleyan theology (teddyray.com)
There And (Almost) Back Again 
John Wesley said that regarding justification, there was not a “hair’s breadth” of difference between himself and Calvin.
On the topic of perseverance, if we take an example of someone who , in the end, fell away or rejected faith, both Wesley and Calvin would agree that person was lost. The difference is that Calvin would say that that person who did not persevere was never saved in the first place while Wesley might have recognized that person as a ‘saved’ Christian who fell away.
One of the charges against Arminians by Calvinists is that Arminians embrace the heresy of semi-Pelagiianism. Prof. Roger Olson [who has a recent blog on this on Patheos] shows that this is a false charge against classic Arminians.
On another topic, many American Calvinsts would be shocked to see what one of their heroes, Charles Spurgeon said. e.g.
http://spurgeonwarquotes.wordpress.com/
He rightly saw that ” it is a dangerous state of things if doctrine is made to drive out precept,**”
Thanks for your thoughts, very helpful additional bits of information that I left out!
Hey Alex, I appreciate your thoughts, and I think you organized some complex “family” issues pretty well! I identify myself as an Arminian, but I appreciate my Calvinist brothers and sisters in Christ, and am thankful for our common heritage.
Hey Alex, thanks so much for the encouraging feedback! I’m not exactly sure how to identify myself, but I’m probably some sort of Wesleyan. I’ve learned to appreciate the common heritage as well and hope that more and more we can work together as a “family” of Christians. Much to learn and appreciate about one another even through our differences.
Someone I’m friends with and thought to share a very common belief system with, recently told me that she believed in election and predetermination in the most literal sense. Some people are chosen and some people are not, and there is nothing we can do to make a bit of difference. For whatever reason, it blew my mind. How could someone I knew to be an intellectual and rational Christian actually believe that? I now feel like our faith systems are entirely different. For whatever reason, reading this entry gave me a reason to begin looking at our “common heritage” again. I found you searching “Wesleyan.” Good stuff.
Thanks for sharing! I hope you keep looking at the common heritage and finding ways to build bridges despite the differences.