---
title: 'The Man Who Coined the TULIP Acrostic: Cleland Boyd McAfee'
type: post
author: 'R. Andrew Myers'
date: 2018-10-24
url: https://confessional.org/blog/2018-the-man-who-coined-the-tulip-acrostic-cleland-boyd-mcafee
---

# The Man Who Coined the TULIP Acrostic: Cleland Boyd McAfee

Although many credit [Loraine Boettner (1901-1990)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loraine_Boettner) in [*The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination*](http://www.ccel.org/ccel/boettner/predest.i.html) (1932) with originating the acrostic for the [Five Points of Calvinism known as TULIP](https://www.theopedia.com/TULIP), it is believed that the real originator was instead [Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866-1944)](/authors/cleland-boyd-mcafee), [who did so in 1905](http://www.thisday.pcahistory.org/tag/cleland-boyd-mcafee-1866-1944/) (whose TULIP was a slightly different version than that of Boettner). More widely known for his [study of the King James Version of the Bible](/authors/cleland-boyd-mcafee), and other works, McAfee is a 19th century-born American Presbyterian worth getting to know. Visit [here](/authors/cleland-boyd-mcafee) for more information on his life and works.

Note: This blog post was originally published on January 24, 2018 and has been very slightly edited.