Dr. James Willingham

The theology of a great awakening is the theology of Sovereign Grace, more popularly but inaccurately called Calvinism. The TULIP acrostic with each point (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace and Perseverance of the Saints) that it represents along with the doctrines of Predestination and Reprobation lie at the the heart of what is commonly called the First and Second Great Awakenings along with the beginnings of the Great Century of Missions. Each truth in itself is an invitation of the most wonderful kind, so wonderful that (when understood) one cannot resist it. These teachings as invitations must also be accompanied by such a presence of Heaven or Heavenly Presence (the Holy Spirit) as is utterly overwhelming to the individual or individuals in an obverse way. The Doctrines are paradoxical, like mathematical formulas with inverse functions. Each one has its seeming opposite that cannot and should not and must not be reconciled or made consistent with the other. Mr Spurgeon made a telling remark once (which I have tried for several days to locate) that he did not confuse two apparently contradictory truths. He simply accepted both. My explorations in Intellectual History, especially that of Biblical truths, leads me to think that such teachings make one balanced, flexible, and creative. A chairman of a psychology dept. of a state university wanted to recruit me to do an M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology due to my research and what I had found. I lay it down as a challenge that a grasp of these truths as evangelistic and awakening along with pleading the appropriate promises as set forth in Jonathan Edwards' Humble Attempt (Works, II, Banner of Truth, p283) for the whole earth will lead sooner or later to a world wide awakening which might take the whole earth in one generation and perhaps for a thousand generations. I challenge bloggers to seek such a thing and to respond accordingly.