The Foundation of Augustinian-Calvinism

When I discovered that Ken Wilson had produced this partial summary of his PHD thesis I snapped it up immediately as I was already seeking information on why Augustine came up with his new doctrines. He clearly produced this in a hurry after being requested to make his findings more widely available so it isn't as polished as it might have been, but the information he presents is compelling and pretty well unanswerable. I think further investigation of what influenced him may well reveal that spiritual deception, as well as human ambition and scheming, led him to invent or imbibe or resurrect (there's no other way to present it) doctrines of demons. Is that too strong? Hardly, given that Paul warned us that this would happen. The evil caricature of the God they present and the power they have to make intelligent people swallow incredible contradictions of the whole counsel of God (the Bible). Having reached a place of great influence in the now official state church, he almost seems to have behaved like an activated sleeper suddenly dumping (pun intended) a whole schema of teachings and practices, that have done untold damage. When reading the works of Augustine's spiritual successors I find it uncanny how often godly Christ loving teachers suddenly seem to change character and abandon the plain meaning of words when they intrude TULIP teachings into their work. This whole stream of teaching has been granted far too much respect - its proponents are often quite, or extremely, vicious in their condemnation of those holding different teachings but quite honestly if one objectively assesses its polluted water a case is to be made for including it in Kingdom of the Cults. If being Christian means knowing God and portraying him to the world it raises the question who is this "god" that they know. I hope the PHD becomes more easily available and that it emboldens many to defend the historic teaching of the Bible and early church untainted by Augustine's poison. The defence of a god who created people for the express purpose of dispatching them to hell "for his glory" must be disowned an discredited. This work makes a great contribution to that .

I have to say this was very insightful and anyone interested in learning about the origins and history of the Calvinism-Arminianism debate and it’s roots needs to read this. I shall be awaiting a response from those who are Calvinist, it will be interesting to see what scholars on that side have to say in response.

I am not a Calvinist and I don't ascribe to their views. I was rather looking forward to reading Wilson's book and finding in it a well argued case. I also wanted to learn more about Stoic, Neoplatonist and Manichaean ideas. Instead the book reads like a simple polemic against Augustine from someone who, for some reason, has an animus towards him. Most annoyingly Wilson is constantly making claims to build his argument which are unsupported with quotations. Sure, sometimes the references are there, but, more often than not, it is left for the reader to go and chase them down to see if they actually support his argument or not. I understand that this book is the 'popular' version of his more scholarly dissertation, but without quotations to support the many claims made in it, the book is unpersuasive even to an average Joe like me. For all I know Wilson's argument is correct, but the way that it is put forward in this book isn't convincing.

Brilliant expose of the deterministic roots of Calvinist theology. Looking forward very much to the authors next book in 2020

Dr Wilson has written an extensive thesis on the progression of Augustine's teachings throughout his life. This isn't it! This book is a break down of his thesis to give the key points and take home message for the average Joe. He puts forward a very strong case that should lead the reader to seriously consider (or reconsider!) any strongly deterministic interpretation of scripture.This book is incredibly easy to read and I strongly recommend all to give it a read. Thanks Dr Wilson!

A very helpful book to understand where the doctrine of calvinism Augustine came from the settings the pagan beliefs that surrounded Augustine at the time I what he himself used to be. lots of references the to sources . Conclusion at the doctrine of calvinism has come from pagan sources and not the Bible and that the doctrine is being forced onto the Bible misuse and understanding of words. And yet doing violence two other passages of the Bible that clearly do not agree with this doctrine I recommend this book hope to see a more in-depth and longer version of it in the future