The Five Points of Calvinism: Weighed and Found Wanting

by George Bryson

It is amazing that so many Christians call themselves Calvinists and yet so few actually understand the distinctives of Calvinist doctrine. A careful look at Calvinism in light of Scripture, before it is embraced, is the best possible way for Christians to protect themselves against this error of considerable consequence. In this book, George Bryson not only allows you to hear directly from some of the world's most famous Calvinists of the past, including John Calvin, but also from leading proponents of Calvinism today. What Calvinists admit may surprise you. Each of the much touted (but little understood) 5 points of Calvinism are carefully compared with the clear teaching of God's holy and infallible Word. The Five Points of Calvinism - Weighed and Found Wanting offers a serious scriptural challenge and correction to the extremes of Calvinism.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction

117 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

Reviews

[Aaron Hale · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title of the book really should be The Five Points of Calvinism, and the meaning of those points according to George Bryson, weighed and found wanting. I have to admit that George Bryson did fairly explain for the most part what Calvinist believe. However, that is only half of what George Bryson needed to do to represent Calvinism fairly. After giving what Calvinist believe George Bryson goes on to tell the reader about the ramifications of those beliefs. Representing a belief system in this manner is a form of dishonesty. The owner of the beliefs must be allowed to define what those beliefs mean. Just for means of demonstration, if I told you that a friend of mine believes there would be a flying car in every garage in the next ten years, I would have accurately represented my friend’s beliefs. However, if I went on to tell you that the government was going to pay for all of these vehicles I have now gone beyond reporting what my friend believes. George Bryson quite adeptly tells the reader what he believes the ramification of Calvinism are; then he quite adeptly destroys the straw man he created. He simply creates his version of Calvinism’s meanings and then argues against that position. Many of the authors that George Bryson quoted, in the books that he quoted from, have refuted the claims made in this book. However, George Bryson spends very little time responding to the very real and complete explanations of the Calvinist position and prefers to create his own arguments to interact with.
As a more practical observation, over the last 500 years, some of the greatest mind in Christianity have written volumes explaining, refining and defending the Biblical truths behind the Calvinist theological position. Is it not arrogant to claim to refute those people in 119 pages?
The last observation is a rhetorical question. How can one possibly refute the Calvinist position without exegeting Romans 9 and John 10?

[dead letter office · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll first note that you should be suspicious of a book whose back-cover blurb says "The first portion of the book... is very good". That's kind of like if someone vouches for their adult friend by telling you he was pretty cool until third grade.

But it's kind of fascinating. The author is referring to texts and marshalling logical arguments in support of careful understanding of Calvinist doctrine. But some of the logical arguments are iffy, and his agenda is transparently anti-Calvinist. Here is one example from early on.

The author quotes scholar Loraine Boettner (whose name he misspells), explaining the Five Points of Calvinism (italics mine):

These are not isolated and independent doctrines but are so inter-related that they form a simple, harmonious, self-consistent system; and the way they fit together as component parts of a well-ordered whole has won the admiration of thinking men of all creeds. Prove any one of them true and all the others will follow as logical and necessary parts of the system. Prove any one of them false and the whole system must be abandoned. They are found to dovetail perfectly into one another.

To which the author responds "Therefore it must also be stressed that any attempt to single out one of the Five Points and to try to interpret that point (or embrace it) as if it stood alone, is also to interpret it un-Calvinistically."

In fact, logically, the italicized quote from Boettner does not mean that they "dovetail perfectly" to form a "harmonious whole", it means they are redundant. If it is true that proving one of the Five Points proves all of them, and disproving one of them disproves all of them, then each of the Five Points of Calvinism is entirely equivalent to the other four, and any one of them is sufficient to understand the whole collection in its entirety. This seems super pedantic of me, but when the whole point of this book (and of invoking Boettner) is to make a logical argument that none of the Five Points stands alone, it seems fair to point out that the logical argument is badly flawed and in fact--if we believe Boettner--any of them stands alone in the sense that it is logically equivalent to each of the others. At best, he (and Boettner) seem confused about the implications of Boettner's claim. After all, if we really believe that if we "Prove any one of them false and the whole system must be abandoned," then why on earth does he devote five separate chapters to refuting each of the Five Points individually?

So this is a hit job on Calvinism, about which I have no sophisticated understanding and no strong feelings. But in my estimation the logical and theological arguments here are sloppy and spurious ("weighed and found wanting" to use the pompous scriptural reference the author chose as a subtitle for his book). Overall, I came away with a feeling of irritation and sadness. This guy's obviously clever, and this is what he devotes himself to? Punching holes in other people's faith? Why would people who think themselves Christians feel it's worthwhile to attack other people's beliefs with these silly word-game quibbles that all boil down to obfuscation around the old question of free will and determinism. Grow up, mind your business, and worry about yourself.

[Bob Ladwig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Simply put, George Bryson really has no idea what he is talking about. This book can be likened to a man coming into a move 3/4 of the way through and then feeling entitled to complain that he does not understand what is going on. Bryson quotes many reformed fellows but it is almost painful to see how he takes the quotes out of context. I don't think Bryson has done this maliciously, it seems that he really just isn't a scholar and doesn't have the foggiest idea in how to conduct a genuine work. I suggest the reader view the debate between Dr. James White (Reformed) and George Bryson on this issue, and it will become readily apparant why Bryson no longer wants to engage in formal debate.

Again, I don't think Bryson is knowingly being dishonest or underhanded in his representation of Calvinism, I just think he doesn't know what he is talking about, and unfortunately that doesn't stop him from talking or attempting to write as though he does.

[Emily]

This is a quick read and does provide a concise introduction to the five points of Calvinism. I appreciate how the author quotes scholars and pastors frequently throughout the book. While short and to the point, some of Bryson’s statements seem to be over-generalizations. While I appreciate the author’s straightforward approach, I would have welcomed a more thorough examination of the Scriptural context for his arguments.

[Mark McElreath · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this short read, Bryson succeeds in portraying Calvinism with an even hand while at the same time refuting its tenets with Scripture. I recommend this as a primer for one that has questions about the Calvinist's understanding of the five points and basic biblical arguments against them.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all I would like to say that I agree with Bryson's conclusions in this little book. Most of the points against "Reformed theology" are points that I have noted and proclaimed in the past (Sorry to all my Reformed friends out there, but it is my belief that Calvinists and Arminians need to listen to and respect one another, engaging in loving and honest dialogue, without resorting to arrogant and snide comments.) That being said, I was a bit disappointed in his brief "refutations." I have noticed that some of the reviews on here have accused Bryson of ripping quotes out of context and, in general, sloppy scholarship. Since I have not read any of the works he cites, I cannot speak to this issue (incidentally, I have yet to talk with a Calvinist who concedes that the other sided has at least presented a strong--if somewhat flawed in their opinion--argument. Instead, I see that David Hunt, Roger Olson, Jerry Walls, etc. get attacked as dumb dumbs who just don't get it...anyway I digress), however I do believe that Bryson could have--and should have--bolstered his arguments with more thorough exegesis and a clearer explanation of his points. He tries to be witty, but perhaps he's not British enough to pull it off like a C.S. Lewis or N.T. Wright. All in all, I agree with the conclusions but would have presented my case more thoroughly.

[Shelby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am grateful to this brother for writing this book and for his passion to defend the gospel. I picked up this little book in a thrift store and was looking forward to hearing some strong arguments against Calvinism. I hoped that Bryson would clearly exegete and exposit the scriptures to support his claims. Though there were several interesting arguments that caught my attention, this book is a shallow attempt that primarily employs the author’s own logic to refute his understanding of the five points of Calvinism.

If I was on the fence before reading this book, I am leaning more towards the Calvinistic view after reading it due to the seemingly lazy refutations against the 5 points.

I enjoyed hearing this author’s opinions. They were good food for thought. But ultimately, I do not think Bryson succeeded in truly weighing Calvinism or finding it wanting…

Can anyone recommend a better text that makes stronger arguments?

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I ever read. I probably read this about 20 years ago, but the reading experience is still fresh in my memory. I felt sorry for this fellow, as he was either completely ignorant of "Calvinistic" soteriology, or he was intentionally lying in order to deceive people.

Some better introductory books that would be far more helpful are "Chosen By God" by R.C. Sproul, or "The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, and Documented" by Steele and Thomas.

[Kaleb Blackburn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Randomly got this short book on Amazon. I think that summaries of the Dort points can be beneficial for both sides of the subject, but I think there are better resources for that elsewhere. Even a short online article is probably more accurate in its discussion of the points than this.

Shorter books are also more difficult to offer robust counter arguments which I understand, but still.

[Douglas Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, a brief refutation of the Five Points. However, while Bryson meets his goal of scripturally answering some of the points, a couple are left not well answered. But given his correct statement that they all stand or fall together, the Five Points Of Calvinism are indeed found wanting.

[Phil Gould · Rating 5 out of 5]

A robust refutation of Calvinism, biblically, logically, and philosophically. As Bryson points out, Calvinism requires all five points to stand. Topple one and the whole system falls down. Bryson doesn't just topple one but makes sure the whole system gets destroyed, point by point.

[Tony Lee Ross Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

When the recommendation blurb says “the first half is good” lol. Reminds me of the football player meme where he says “they had us in the first half not gonna lie”

[Candi Lynn]

An enlightening, relatively easy to understand explanation of Calvinism. I found it helpful to explain the basic stance of Arminianism and Calvinism, explain the Five Points of Calvinism and their implications, and highlight problems in light of the full counsel of Scripture. It's a short book, so it is not incredibly detailed, but I found it helpful as a person who came from a church that didn't lean too far to either side of the issue and now attends a very Calvinistic church.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering the small size of the book, there's a lot packed in here. Great overview of the Five Points, but the refutations suffer a bit from the size of the book. My guess is that his larger work on the subject has tighter refutations.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Arful.

[Melissa Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was very helpful.

[Tony Lee Ross Jr · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, but I don't think it challenges what the author intended, kind of a hit and miss.