Review of “Chosen By God” by RC Sproul

When I review a theological book, how I feel about the doctrines presented has no bearing on how I rate the book. Chosen By God is great as an introduction to Reformed theology/Calvinism. It’s simple, easy to understand, and Sproul is clear and concise about his theology.

However, the book is good for little else. There are no footnotes, endnotes, or any bibliography. This is a huge problem given that many times Sproul tells the reader about views he disagrees with. When trying to represent someone’s view, it’s necessary to cite sources and to provide quotes. Nowhere in Chosen By God does Sproul do this. He tells you a view of free will he doesn’t hold to, but no quotes or sources. He tells you what Arminians supposedly believe, but no quotes or sources. The reader is left to simply trust that he’s accurately representing other views. This trust, however, would be extremely misplaced. He gives a definition of “humanist” free will, which is his misleading label for libertarian free will. He then goes on to define it in a way no advocate of libertarian free will would recognize or agree with. And numerous times he claims Arminians believe this or that, and goes on to state things Arminians would not actually agree with.

This is why his lack of sources and quotes is such a egregious error in Chosen By God. Sproul wrongly defines and categorizes views he disagrees with and leaves the reader entirely unable to know where he’s pulling these ideas from. He does indirectly inform us as to where his understanding comes from. Throughout the book he’ll make references to nameless, faceless people like students, pastors, and church-goers and things they’ve said to him. It seems as though Sproul hasn’t done any actual research outside the Reformed bubble he’s in, and takes little things he’s heard along the way and assumes they’re representative of entire viewpoints of other believers. Calling this sloppy would be quite the understatement. A scholar and man of renown like Sproul should know better and be held to a far higher standard than what we get in Chosen By God. Many readers will walk away with false ideas about what other believers hold to, and for that I can’t recommend this book without a serious caveat to take what he says with the tiniest grain of salt when he speaks on views he doesn’t hold to.