Bring the Books: Jonathan Edwards vs. Calvin the Compatiblist?

Say it ain't so! Another Calvinist questions Richard Muller's lecture on Jonathan Edwards' theology of the freedom of the will.

I found this remark particularly interesting:

While I am not qualified to survey the reactions to Edwards from a historian's perspective (Muller does a fine job of that in his talk), I would argue that Calvin is much more 'Compatistic' in his thinking than he is given credit for in Muller's talk. In fact, he seems to outright deny that Calvin is a Compatibilist in his talk (which isn't surprising since the categories for Compatiblism didn't exist until many years after Calvin's time).

In contrast to Muller's position, however, Paul Helm, in his books Calvin at the Center and John Calvin's Ideas, has done much to argue that Calvin was what we might anachronistically (Helm is very self-conscious of this) refer to as a Compatibilist with regard to providence. If such is the case, then it is not that great a distance from Calvin the Compatibilist to present day Compatibilism as solidified by men such as Edwards in FOTW. If, in fact, Helm is right, then I would argue that Edwards' arguments are very much in keeping with the theological trajectory set in motion by Calvin - even if they did differ in the particulars.

Bring the Books: Jonathan Edwards vs. Calvin the Compatiblist?