Book review: For Calvinism

About a week ago, I posted a review of Against Calvinism, which is a part of a two book set. I have now finished the second book, For Calvinism (2011) by Michael Horton.  Before I proceed, I should confess a few biases. First, as I have studied, the Calvinistic understanding of God's sovereignty in salvation makes more sense to me than the Arminian position defended by Roger Olson in Against Calvinism.  Second, Michael Horton is one of my favorite authors and speakers.  Certainly, these things affect my perspective on these books. 

So, having stated that, from what I could see, Horton seems to depend upon scripture to a greater degree than Olson did to establish his arguments for Calvinism.  While Olson found Calvinism logically inconceivable and morally reprehensible, Horton tries to describe what Scripture says.  I find this to be true of most Calvinists (e.g., John Piper, Charles Spurgeon)--they try to account for all of Scripture.  Further, although Olson dealt almost exclusively with TULIP (a term Horton doesn't care for), Horton moves beyond to consider more broadly Reformed beliefs and doctrine.  As a general defense of TULIP, I prefer Sproul's Chosen by God, yet this is a fine volume in that regard as well. 

A drawback of the book, and of reformed theology in general, seems to be an overreliance upon the creeds and confessions. Although I generally agree with early creeds and much of reformed confessions (Heidelberg, Westminster), they are not to be the grounding for our belief.  God's word is. 

On the whole, I would commend these two volumes.  Although I still think Calvinism is the best explanation for all of Scripture, Olson argues his point well.  Horton, as always, is a humble, wise, and articulate defender of confessional Calvinism.  4 stars.