Warts and all Cromwell is said to have told his portrait painters that they must be exact in picturing him ‘warts and all’. After viewing the many pretty portraits of Andrew Fuller painted by Michael Haykin over the last decades, I have realised that the artist has not followed Cromwell’s advice and the ‘warts and all’ have been painted over in meticulous iconolatry, making a fictive Fatima or Mary out of Fuller. This artistic repainting is Haykin’s way of spending his time and there is no harm in that but for the fact that Haykin demands academic status for his portrayals and will have us believe they are the real thing. This reminds me of the Ugaritic portraits of the Old Testament heroes as gods whereas… Full Article
Posts Tagged Michael Haykin
Portrait of a Fullerite
Apr 17
My reason for publishing this account of William Carey and his Indian mission on my website. On 18-21 February, 2010 a conference will be held at Muscle Shoals, Alabama under the theme ‘The Quagmire of Hyper-Calvinism’. The key speaker will be Dr. Michael Haykin who will lecture on Andrew Fuller as a missionary pioneer. The myth that Andrew Fuller pioneered a missionary movement is superstitiously believed by Dr. Haykin and his circle but the Baptist Missionary Society Fuller helped to found came at the rear end of a long line of Christian missionary organisations whether church based or, like the BMS, a para-church movement. Andrew Fuller was not the instigator of this missionary society but William Carey who urged the Baptists to… Full Article
Part II: The Mission Prospers The mission at Serampore prospered and spread. Carey was given the most prominent building in the city for the church in which he preached for the next thirty-four years. The town of Serampore, too, prospered as it proved an asylum of peace for fugitives from the Americo-Franco-British wars and it persuaded many wealthy investors to settle there. More missionaries were urgently needed as Brunsdon soon died of a liver complaint. Fountain, who was doing pioneer work at Dinapoor, also died after a short illness. Thomas rejoined the mission but became insane and soon died. The missionaries were able to purchase a very large house in the middle of the town with two acres of garden from the Governor’s… Full Article
Harmon on Fuller
Nov 7
I have forgotten for which publication I wrote this letter. Sir: Prof. Harmon’s recent critique of my Law and Gospel in the Theology of Andrew Fuller (Fall, 2001.) is inaccurate, lacking the objectivity of a scholar. I do not argue that Fuller sought to modify extreme Calvinism but point out that Fuller was often more High Calvinist than a number of his friends and foes, including Gill and Huntington. Prof. Harmon ranks the latter two with High Calvinists although they were both Sublapsarians. Fuller grew up in an extreme High-Calvinist, Antinomian and Johnsonian church and pastored it for some time. His Hyper-Calvinistic teaching that the full gospel was for believers only never left him and would have… Full Article
The March/April, 1999 number of Reformation Today features four articles on John Gill. The first, entitled John Gill – a Sketch of his Life, is a succinctly written biography of Gill’s faithful and productive life in the service of the gospel. Next, Editor Errol Hulse continues with John Gill – An Appreciation, presented as a review of The Life and Thought of John Gill (1697-1771), (ed. Michael Haykin). Here, Hulse ignores the facts of Gill’s own testimony to make what he calls ‘a fair assessment of the damage which emanated from his errors.’ Thus, though the book Hulse reviews chiefly depicts Gill as a great evangelist and soul-winner, his one-sided critique is centred on Gill’s supposed Hyper-Calvinism and lack of… Full Article
A Review Article The news that Carey Publications were to publish the lives of these three 17th century Baptists filled me with a feeling of hopeful expectancy. The three Ks have aided my own understanding of the ways of God immensely and I know from my correspondents that there is an awakened, wide-spread interest in them. Michael Haykin’s book thus comes at a most appropriate time. My expectancy was dampened by Robert Oliver’s foreword in which he takes up his pet theme, Hyper-Calvinism, and back-projects it onto the teaching of Kiffin and Co., arguing that they were against it, whereas they had nothing to do with it, or rather, nothing to do with this modern controversy which is forced onto the churches,… Full Article
This volume depicts the lives of another thirteen Baptists stalwarts. Michael Haykin’s starts with a moving portrayal of Benjamin Francis, the man Gill wanted to succeed him at Carter Lane. Francis’ triumphs through his humble faith are inspiring. Then Robert Oliver gives interesting insights into the life and ministry of Abraham Booth, a man respected and honoured outside Baptist circles. Oliver sees Booth as following Gill’s leadership in combating Antinomianism and devotes a large section to the controversy between Fuller and Booth which ended in the latter calling Fuller ‘lost’. Booth spoke of a true imputation in the sense that the elect’s guilt was transferred to Christ. Fuller denied any transfer, viewing… Full Article
The Life and Thought of John Gill (1697-1771): A Tercentennial Appreciation Ed. Michael A. G. Haykin Brill Anxious thoughts repelled I turned to The Life and Thought of John Gill edited by Michael Haykin with apprehension because of former highly negative comments on the subjects by several contributors to this Festschrift. I read the book, however, with increasing delight as it became obvious that the winds of change are blowing away the myths that have encompassed Gill in recent years. In his introduction Dr. Haykin reviews the research done on Gill up to the present and rightly argues that there is little deep, sound work on Gill’s theology available. The book under his editorship book seeks to make good the… Full Article
The March/April, 1999 number of Reformation Today features four articles on John Gill. The first, entitled John Gill – a Sketch of his Life, is a succinctly written biography of Gill’s faithful and productive life in the service of the gospel. Next, Editor Errol Hulse continues with John Gill – An Appreciation, presented as a review of The Life and Thought of John Gill (1697-1771), (ed. Michael Haykin). Here, Hulse ignores the facts of Gill’s own testimony to make what he calls ‘a fair assessment of the damage which emanated from his errors.’ Thus, though the book Hulse reviews chiefly depicts Gill as a great evangelist and soul-winner, Hulse’s one-sided critique is centred on Gill’s supposed Hyper-Calvinism and… Full Article
