My review of 40 Questions about Calvinism (Kregel Academic, 2019), by Shawn D. Wright, has just been published in the Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society (Spring 2021, pp. 101-103). I conclude in the review: “Although the other books in the ”40 Questions” series that I have seen are generally valuable books, 40 Questions about Calvinism is not one of them. I do not recommend it.” The other books in the series can be seen here.
In addition to my review of Dave Hunt’s book mentioned in the previous post, I have reviewed 11 other books on the subject of Calvinism:
Debating Calvinism: Five Points, Two Views, Dave Hunt and James R. White (Multnomah Publishers, 2004).
Beyond Calvinism and Arminianism: An Inductive Mediate Theology of Salvation, C. Gordon Olson (Global Gospel Publishers, 2002).
Grace, Faith, Free Will; Contrasting Views of Salvation: Calvinism & Arminianism, Robert E. Picirilli (Randall House Publications, 2002).
Why I Am Not an Arminian, Robert A. Peterson and Michael D. Williams (InterVarsity Press, 2004).
Why I Am Not a Calvinist, Jerry L. Walls and Joseph R. Dongell (InterVarsity Press, 2004).
The Potter’s Freedom, James R. White (Calvary Press Publishing, 2000).
The Calvinism Debate, David W. Cloud (Way of Life Literature, 2006).
Does God Lie? Faith then Elect or Elect then Faith, Melvin R. Nelson (Xulon Press, 2007).
The Writings of John Calvin: An Introductory Guide, exp. ed., Wulfert de Greef (Westminster John Knox Press, 2008).
For Calvinism, Michael Horton (Zondervan, 2011).
Against Calvinism, Roger Olson (Zondervan, 2011).
In 2002, Loyal Publishing released What Love Is This? Calvinism’s Misrepresentation of God, by Dave Hunt (1926-2013). The whole book was plagiarized from my book The Other Side of Calvinism. Hunt quotes me throughout, and rightly credits me, but also borrows heavily from me without attribution. I never made an issue of the plagiarism because the publication of Hunt’s book increased the sales of my book. When you read a book that quotes someone over and over again, it makes you want to go to the source. This is not the only thing wrong with Hunt’s book, as I pointed out in my review of the book in 2002.
It wasn’t until after Hunt’s death that I discovered that a second “updated and expanded” edition in hardcover had been published by The Berean Call in 2004, and a similar third edition in 2006. A publisher’s note on page 13 of the third edition reads: “This third edition also includes an extensive, newly expanded author/subject index to better assist readers and researchers.” A fourth edition was published in 2013. It contains a note at the end of the table of contents that reads: “Chapters 30 and 31 from the first three editions have been extracted from the forth edition, to make this volume more portable, and to preserve its scholarly emphasis. Material from these two chapters is featured in a separate book, A Calvinist’s Honest Doubts (a fictional story based on true life accounts), also available from the publisher.” Actually, this note doesn’t fully apply to the first edition since it does not contain the content of what is now chapter 30.
My first book is 30 years old this year, as is the business I started to publish it: Vance Publications. The first edition of The Other Side of Calvinism was published in 1991. It was about 475 pages in a 5.5 x 8.5 paperback format. The writing was somewhat rough and the font used was a poor choice (I typeset the book when desktop publishing was in its infancy). The book met a need, and sold very well. A re-typeset second printing was issued in 1994.
After many years of research and re-writing, an 800-page, 6 x 9, hardcover revised edition was published in 1999. The fifth printing of this book was done in 2014. Year after year, this is always my best-selling book. I am almost out of books, and will need to do a sixth printing soon. About 10 or so years ago, I actually thought about doing a third edition, but had so many other things to write that I figured if it wasn’t broke, don’t fix it.