In discussing predestination, Calvin followed the method of Paul in his Epistle to the Romans. One does not begin with the inscrutable decrees of God, but rather with God's general revelation in creation and the conscience (Rom. 1). This leads to a discussion of human sinfulness (chapters 2-3), God's atoning work in Christ and justification by faith (chapters 4-7), followed by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and the declaration of God's unfathomable love (chapter 8). Only then is it fitting to consider the theme of God's electing grace in the history of Israel and in our own lives (chapters 9-11). Only then, as we look back on our rescue from sin, can we exclaim with the non-Calvinist Charles Wesley, "Amazing love, how can it be, that thou my God shouldst die for me!"

The elect are not the elite. There is no place in Calvin's thought for the kind of spiritual snobbery reflected in the old camp-meeting ditty, "We are the Lord's elected few, / let all the rest be damned./ There's room enough in hell for you, / we don't want heaven crammed!" The true Calvinist preaches the gospel promiscuously to all persons everywhere, aware that God alone infallibly knows all those who belong to him.

Timothy George
Dean and Professor of Divinity
A.B., University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
M.Div., Harvard Divinity School
Th.D., Harvard University

Timothy George has been the dean of Beeson Divinity School since its inception in 1988. As founding dean, George has been instrumental in shaping its character and mission. He teaches church history and doctrine. He serves as executive editor for Christianity Today, and on the editorial advisory boards of The Harvard Theological Review, Christian History and Books & Culture. He has served on the Board of Directors of Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. George has written more than 20 books and regularly contributes to scholarly journals. His book, Theology of the Reformers, has been translated into several languages, and is used as a textbook in many schools and seminaries. His most recent books are Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad? and The Mark of Jesus: Loving in a Way the World Can See (with John Woodbridge). He has been active in evangelical-Roman Catholic Church dialogue. An ordained minister, he has been pastor of churches in Tennessee, Alabama and Massachusetts. He and his wife, Denise, have two adult children.

I thought outside of Mohler's Southern Seminary in Louisville, Beeson in Birmingham was the next most calvinistic leaning SBC seminary.

Isn't George associated with the Founders, or am I getting some names mixed? Maybe Marie can set up straight.

Beeson is the seminary at Samford in Birmingham, AL.

Samford is definitely a SBC college, so I assume the seminary on campus is one as well.