John Piper is (probably) my favourite living preacher; I love the way exegetical accuracy and exemplary passion are merged in his every message. And I love his doctrine; for me, too, Calvinism is something that makes me want to sing and (even!) dance. For me, too - like for Spurgeon before us - 'Calvinism' is but a nickname for pure Biblical Christianity.
One of Piper's big influences though is the Roman Catholic GK Chesterton. (It's OK, it's OK - even Lloyd-Jones quotes Chesterton). And Chesterton, it seems, hated Calvinism. Below is an extract from one of Piper's blog posts - I'd copy the whole thing, but Desiring God doesn't really like that. You can find the whole thing, though, here. Why does Piper love Calvinism, and Chesterton hate it? It's because it's...
Not the Same Calvinism
But how then can Calvinism awaken such joy in me, and such hate in Chesterton? Because they aren’t the same Calvinism. He thinks Calvinism is the opposite of all this happy wonder that we have in common. The Calvinism he hates is part of the rationalism that drives people mad. Exhibit A:
- "Only one great English poet went mad, Cowper. And he was definitely driven mad by logic, by the ugly and alien logic of predestination. Poetry was not the disease, but the medicine; poetry partly kept him in health. . . . He was damned by John Calvin; he was almost saved by John Gilpin."
No, Mr. Chesterton, William Cowper was not driven mad by Calvinism. He was driven mad by a mental disease that ran in his family for generations, and he was saved by John Newton, perhaps the humblest, happiest Calvinist who ever lived. And both of them saw the wonders of “Amazing Grace” through the eyes of poetry. Yes, that was a healing balm. But the disease was not Calvinism — else John Newton would not have been the happy, healthy, holy friend that he was.
