Arminian and Baptist

In this new book J. Matthew Pinson presents a collection of historical-theological essays from the vantage point of a variety of Arminianism coming to be known as Reformed Arminianism. These essays describe the contours of the theology of the seventeenth-century English General Baptists Thomas Helwys and Thomas Grantham, showing their kinship with the thought of Jacobus Arminius, and the ways they diverged from thinkers such as John Smyth, John Goodwin, and John Wesley. Unlike these latter thinkers, Helwys and Grantham emphasized more-Reformed understandings of the meaning of sin and salvation. This is seen most clearly in their doctrines of total depravity, penal substitutionary atonement, the imputation of the active and passive obedience of Christ, and progressive sanctification. These doctrines produced a way of looking at perseverance and apostasy that emphasizes perseverance through faith alone rather than remaining in a state of grace through works and penitence.