John Lafayette Girardeau (14 November 1825 23 June 1898) was a

Reformed theologian Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...

and minister in the Presbyterian Church in the United States. He is notable as a

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

defender of libertarianism, the teaching that people have

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to ac ...

to choose between alternatives, and that they could have chosen differently than they actually did, rather than a determinist or

compatibilist Compatibilism is the belief that free will and determinism are mutually compatible and that it is possible to believe in both without being logically inconsistent. Compatibilists believe that freedom can be present or absent in situations for r ...

view. He was a professor of systematic theology at

Columbia Theological Seminary Columbia Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Decatur, Georgia. It is one of ten theological institutions affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). History Columbia Theological Seminary was founded in 1828 in Lexington, Geor ...

in South Carolina.

Bibliography

Music in the Church (1888) Calvinism and Evangelical Arminianism (1890) The Will in its Theological Relations (1891) Discussions of Philosophical Questions (1900) Discussions of Theological Questions (1905) Sermons on Important Subjects: Edited by George Blackstone (1907)

References

1825 births 1898 deaths Presbyterian Church in the United States ministers 19th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians American Calvinist and Reformed theologians Presbyterian Church in the United States members 19th-century American clergy {{calvinism-stub