J. Matthew Pinson

J. Matthew Pinson is the president of Welch College in Nashville, Tennessee since 2002 and is the fifth to serve in that capacity following L.R. Ennis (1944–1947), Dr. L.C. Johnson (1947–1979), Dr. Charles Thigpen (1979–1990), and Dr. C. Thomas Malone (1990–2002).^[1] Prior to coming to Welch College, he pastored churches in Alabama, Connecticut, and Georgia. He is an alumnus of the University of West Florida, Yale Divinity School, Florida State University, and Vanderbilt University.^[2] Pinson is also a prolific author and has written numerous articles and books on the topic of Classical Arminian theology.

Theological Contribution

Pinson is known for his ardent Reformed Arminian theological stance - the Arminianism of Jacobus Arminius himself - that he argues is to be distinguished from others construals of Arminianism, such as Wesleyan-Holiness Arminianism and Finney-typed revivalistic thinking which many unfortunately caricature as mainstream Arminianism. Pinson argues that Reformed Arminianism is a development and variety of Reformed Theology and is not necessarily a departure from it.^[3]

Despite common perceptions and caricatures today of Arminianism, Arminius followed Calvin in being an advocate of the penal substitutionary theory of atonement as well as arguing for the active and passive obedience of Christ while diverging with Calvin and other reformed theologians on soteriology. Whereas reformed theology developed doctrines of unconditional election and limited atonement, Pinson notes that Arminius argued that the righteous of Christ is imputed to any and all sinners so long as the condition of personal faith has been exercised since "faith is necessary for Christ's righteousness to be imputed."^[4] A historian by training, Pinson has also written much on early General Baptist thinkers, including Thomas Helwys and Thomas Grantham.

Publications

(2015) Arminian and Baptist (Nashville: Randall House)

(2011) Four Views on Eternal Security with Michael Horton, Norman Geisler, J. Stephen Harper, and Stephen Ashby. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).

(2011) Classical Arminianism, with F. Leroy Forlines. (Nashville, TN: Randall House Publishers).

(2011) "Confessional, Baptist, and Arminian: The General-Free Will Baptist Tradition and the Nicene Faith," in Timothy George, ed., Evangelicals and the Nicene Faith: Reclaiming the Apostolic Witness (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic).

(2010) "The Nature of Atonement in Jacobus Arminius." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 53:4 (December 2010): 773-85.

(2009) Perspectives on Christian Worship, with Timothy Quill. (B&H Academic Publishers).

(2006) The Washing of the Saints Feet. (Nashville: Randall House Publishers).

(2003) "Will the Real Arminius Please Stand Up?" Integrity 2: 121-139.

(1998) A Free Will Baptist Handbook: Heritage, Beliefs, and Ministries. (Nashville, TN: Randall House Publishers).

References