Richard Baxter

Richard Baxter (November 12, 1615 - December 8, 1691) was an English Puritan church leader, divine scholar and controversialist, called by Dean Stanley "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen".

Theology

Richard Baxter held to a form of Amyraldism, a less rigorous form of Calvinism which rejected the idea of a limited atonement in favor of a universal atonement similar to that of the Arminians. He devised an eclectic middle route between Reformed, Arminian, and Roman doctrines of grace: interpreting the kingdom of God in terms of contemporary political ideas, he explained Christ?s death as an act of universal redemption (penal and vicarious, but not substitutionary), in virtue of which God has made a "new law" offering pardon and amnesty to the penitent. Repentance and faith, being obedience to this law, are the believer?s personal saving righteousness. This particular doctrine is called neonomianism and is sometimes referred to as "Baxterianism."

Related Topics:
Amyraldism - Calvinism - Limited atonement - Arminians - Neonomianism

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