R. C. Sproul: Difference between revisions

| spouse            = Vesta Sproul (June 11, 1960}}

Sproul was an advocate of [[Calvinism]] in his many print, audio, and video publications, and advocated the [[Thomism|Thomistic]] (classical) approaches to [[Christian apologetics]], less common among Reformed apologists, most of whom prefer [[presuppositional apologetics|presuppositionalism]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}} A dominant theme in his ''Renewing Your Mind'' lessons is the [[Sacred|holiness]] and [[sovereignty]] of God. Sproul taught that [[Christian head covering|headcovering]] should be practiced in churches as the ordinance is "rooted and grounded in creation".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sproul |first1=R.C. |title=Do Paul's instructions about head coverings apply today, since he appeals to creation, not culture? |url=https://www.ligonier.org/learn/qas/do-pauls-instructions-about-head-coverings-apply-today-since-he-appeals-to-creation-not-culture |publisher=[[Ligonier Ministries]] |access-date=30 May 2022 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Barth2019">{{cite web |last1=Barth |first1=Paul J. |title=Head Coverings in Worship? |url=https://purelypresbyterian.com/2019/07/15/head-coverings-in-worship/ |publisher=Purely Presbyterian |access-date=10 April 2022 |language=English |date=15 July 2019 |quote=R.C. Sproul writes, “The wearing of fabric head coverings in worship was universally the practice of Christian women until the twentieth century.” Incidentally, I remember talking with my mother some years back, and she told me that when she went to church as a little girl, she and her sister wore hats to church. And she was not Presbyterian – that was the case across all American Christianity. “What happened?” Sproul asks, “Did we suddenly find some biblical truth to which the saints for thousands of years were blind? Or were our biblical views of women gradually eroded by the modern feminist movement that has infiltrated the Church of Jesus Christ which is ‘the pillar and ground of the truth’ (1 Tim. 3:15)?”}}</ref>

In 1996, Sproul gave a lecture on [[irresistible grace]], titled ''Divine Sovereignty and Man’s Helplessness''. During a Q & A session, he misattributed to [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]] an analogy regarding the "holy rape of the soul," claiming that "some people are violently offended by that language—I think it's the most graphic and descriptive term I can think of, to how I was redeemed," taking into consideration theological themes surrounding [[total depravity]] and being in a state of spiritual death prior to conversion.{{Efn|A recording of the lecture was released by Ligonier Ministries on cassette tape. On total depravity and spiritual death, see {{Bibleref|Romans|2:14–16|ESV}}, {{Bibleref|Romans|3:9–20|ESV}}, and {{Bibleref|Ephesians|2:1–10|ESV}}.}} With regard to the terminology "rape", a key topic in debate between [[Arminianism|Arminian]] and Reformed theologians is the [[Hermeneutics|hermeneutic]] employed to understand the meaning and strength of the verb "draws" (Greek ''helkysē'') in John 6:44, where Jesus states, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day."<ref>{{Bibleref|John|6:44|ESV}} ESV</ref> Sproul first uses the analogy in his 1984 novel ''Johnny Come Home'',{{Efn|This was later republished in 1988 as ''Thy Brother's Keeper''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sproul |first=R. C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x1kYa2PyPy4C |title=Thy Brother's Keeper: A Novel |publisher=Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc. |year=1988 |isbn=978-0943497372 |location=Brentwood, TN |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240714104452/https://books.google.com/books?id=x1kYa2PyPy4C |archive-date=July 14, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>}} where Scooter, the main character, designed to be a "composite of [[Coalition for Christian Outreach|John Guest]], [[James Montgomery Boice|Jim Boice]], and [himself],"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nichols |first=Stephen J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FnCTzQEACAAJ |title=R. C. Sproul: A Life |publisher=[[Crossway]] |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-4335-4477-4 |location=Wheaton, IL |pages=144 |language=en |access-date=July 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240111033649/https://books.google.com/books?id=FnCTzQEACAAJ |archive-date=January 11, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> converts to Christianity in "a docile submission to the holy rape of the soul."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sproul |first=R. C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYtbyqFcBFYC |title=Johnny Come Home: A Novel |publisher=Regal Books |year=1984 |isbn=978-0830709373 |pages=71 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240714102221/https://books.google.com/books?id=GYtbyqFcBFYC |archive-date=July 14, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Efn|This description was criticised in the foreword to ''Grace for All: The Arminian Dynamics of Salvation'', edited by [[Clark H. Pinnock]] and John D. Wagner.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXLDCAAAQBAJ |title=Grace for All: The Arminian Dynamics of Salvation |publisher=Resource Publications |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4982-0012-7 |editor-last=Pinnock |editor-first=Clark H. |location=Eugene, OR |pages=20 |language=en |editor-last2=Wagner |editor-first2=John D. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240714054620/https://books.google.com/books?id=GXLDCAAAQBAJ |archive-date=July 14, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>}} Sproul also uses the analogy in his 1989 teaching series ''A Shattered Image'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nichols |first=Stephen J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FnCTzQEACAAJ |title=R. C. Sproul: A Life |publisher=[[Crossway]] |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-4335-4477-4 |location=Wheaton, IL |pages=352 |language=en |access-date=July 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240111033649/https://books.google.com/books?id=FnCTzQEACAAJ |archive-date=January 11, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> where discussing the [[Pelagianism#Pelagian controversy|Pelagian controversy]], Sproul states that "the only way you will ever choose Christ is if God melts your heart, if God softens that stone cold recalcitrant heart, if God the Holy Spirit rapes your soul and puts in you a desire for Christ."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sproul |first=R. C. |title=The Extent of Our Sin |url=https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/shattered-image/the-extent-of-our-sin |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240714084613/https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/shattered-image/the-extent-of-our-sin |archive-date=July 14, 2024 |access-date=July 14, 2024 |website=Ligonier Ministries}}</ref> By 2002, Sproul had abandoned the analogy for a revised perspective: