Oliver D. Crisp Quotes

There is no such thing as a stationary tradition. Traditions are always developing, living things.

[John] Calvin is often identified with his account of predestination. Yet that appears in the third book of his Institutes, not the first.

The confessions don't speak with one voice. They are more like a cluster of closely-related but distinct voices - a kind of choir, if you like.

[John] Calvin's Institutes is often called a summary of Christian piety. You can't say that about many modern works of theology. You can say it of Calvin.

I think everyone who has an interest in Reformed theology, or just in Christian theology more generally, should read John Calvin Institutes.

How many people in the pews know that [ Jonathan Edwards] is both a founder of evangelicalism and, say, an idealist who denied that the material world exists?

The book [Saving Calvinism] itself is not recommending that we move the borders, so to speak. It is recommending that we look at what lies within the confessional bounds of Reformed thought.

To my mind [ Jonathan Edwards] is an interesting figure because he is both a canonical Reformed thinker, and yet also someone that pushed the envelope in a number of key areas of theology.

[ Jonathan] Edwards is one of my heroes. I've learned much from him over the years.

[I'm often called a Deviant Calvinist] but that only goes to underline the point I'm trying to make about the need to broaden our account of the tradition!

I don't really have a lot of interns, although I do now use Research Assistants to help me compile indexes when that is necessary.

I'm sometimes asked about my productivity, which I find a bit embarrassing to be honest. I don't really have a particularly interesting answer to this question.

In the chapter on the nature of the atonement [in the book saving Calvinism] I argue that it is a mistake to think that penal substitution is the only option on the doctrine of atonement.

Jonathan Edwards developed a Calvinistic strand of the doctrine.

We are still living with the consequences of that today in popular Reformed thinking from the likes of John Piper, R. C. Sproul, and Tim Keller.

[Jonathan Edwards] he has to be engaged with on this issue if you're writing about Calvinism as I am in this book.

Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not rubbishing penal substitution. But there are other options that have been advocated by Reformed thinkers of the past.

No confession is inerrant; Reformed Christians are supposed to be those who seek to be constantly reformed according to the Word of God - and that includes our confessions as well.

Christ's work is a kind of deterrent to us, and a way of upholding the justice of God's divine government of the world.

Reading [John] Calvin is a breath of fresh air.

One of the things we in the Reformed tradition are very good at is writing doctrinal theology!

[John Calvin's] Humanist training makes him an excellent writer. What is more, he is as relevant today as he was 500 years ago.

[John Calvin] writes clearly, directly, without artifice, and gets straight to the practical heart of the matter.

For those who have only ever read about [John] Calvin, reading the man himself is an invigorating experience.

That is the great contribution of Reformed thinking to the Christian church: theology for a life well-lived.

We may think that our tradition is exactly the same as it has always been, but that is an illusion.

Reformed theology belongs to this confessional tradition, and Reformed theologians and churches continue to write confessions even today.

The atonement chapter [from the book Saving Calvinism] shows how there are real riches in Reformed theology that most Christians today have no idea about.

The best Reformed theology isn't just about careful arguments for theologically sophisticated conclusions. It is about how to live the Christian life.

[Calvinistic tradition] has fashioned and shaped my thinking since I was a teenager.

God shows us in Christ what he would have to do if he were to punish us for our sins.