Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine

A groundbreaking history of one of Christianity's most fascinating and controversial doctrines. In this lively work, Thuesen explores how the riddle of divine sovereignty vs. human free will has sparked conflict and fueled changes across the denominational map---from Puritan New England, where it drove some to suicidal despair, to contemporary America's "purpose-driven" megachurches. 328 pages, hardcover from Oxford University.

Predestination-the idea that God foreordains one's eternal destiny-is one of the most fascinating and controversial doctrines in Christianity. In this groundbreaking history, the first of its kind, Peter Thuesen shows that far from being only about the age-old riddle of divine sovereignty versus human free will, the debate over predestination is inseparable from other central Christian beliefs and practices-the efficacy of the sacraments, the existence of purgatory and hell, the extent of God's providential involvement in human affairs-and has fueled theological conflicts across denominations for centuries.

In Puritan New England, the "terrifying decree" of predestination drove some people to suicidal despair even while it convinced others that they were an elect remnant in a fallen world. The doctrine subsequently declined, ridiculed by deists like Thomas Jefferson and evangelicals like John Wesley. Yet to those on the margins, from Lutheran immigrants to "hard-shell" Baptists, it never lost its urgency as a burning theological issue. It provided the religious context of Abraham Lincoln's childhood, and precipitated a schism in the Lutheran church. By the early 21st century, with the rise of conservative Protestantism as a social and political force, the doctrine was spawning disputes online as evangelicals disagreed over what an "inerrant" Bible teaches on the subject. Although battles over predestination occurred throughout Christianity's long history, says Thuesen, only in the American free marketplace of competing Protestant sects could the doctrine persist in so many contexts as a catalyst of religious change.

Thuesen reexamines not only familiar predestinarians like the New England Puritans and many later Baptists and Presbyterians, but also non-Calvinists, from Catholics and Lutherans to Methodists and Mormons, and shows how even contemporary megachurches preach a "purpose-driven" outlook that owes much to the doctrine of predestination. For anyone wanting a fuller understanding of religion in America, Predestination offers both historical context on a doctrine that reaches back 1,600 years and a fresh perspective on today's denominational landscape.

Peter J. Thuesen is Professor and Chair of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He is author of In Discordance with the Scriptures: American Protestant Battles over Translating the Bible (OUP, 1999) and editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 26, Catalogues of Books.

"[Predestination] is commendably concise and accessible, filled with insight, and leavened with the occasional flash of dry wit. ...The great virtue of the book is that, without taking sides among the combatants, Mr. Thuesen manages to capture the significance of their enterprise. It is nothing less than an unflinching commitment to living always mindful of the eye of eternity. Ultimately Mr. Thuesen mourns the decline of mystery in modern life; "Predestination" pays noble tribute to that sense of awe before the divine that theology captures only through a glass darkly."

--The Wall Street Journal
"Whatever your views on predestination, you will profit greatly from this thoughtful book... Peter Thuesen brings fresh perspectives to bear on this much-contested subject."

--Christianity Today
"Peter Thuesen has written a careful and compelling historical account of the way in which predestination has vexed and engaged the church in the United States...This book is a compelling reminder of where we have been, what is entrusted to us, and how much we have forgotten."

--Walter Brueggemann, Christian Century
"When is the last time that you read a book about predestination that was a witty as it was erudite? In his masterful history of this extraordinarily nettlesome doctrine, Thuesen shows that predestination is far more than just a doctrine."

--Grant Wacker, Christian Century
"This is a very fine, useful, and readable book."

--Choice
"Surprisingly, Thuesen makes the history of a doctrine--one riddled with arcane terminology and hair-splitting distinctions--not only accessible but also engaging. He has produced an intellectual history that puts ideas in their social context and takes seriously the lives of the men and women who thought about them."

--Christianity Today

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Reviewed by Philip (SC), June 15, 2009

For a balanced and scriptural book that goes FAR beyond the mere history of predestination views, see Norman Geisler's "Chosen But Free." This incredibly important book AFFIRMS God's SOVEREIGNTY as well as MAN'S RESPONSIBILITY, while also exposing the heresies of both "Extreme Calvinist" views AS WELL AS THOSE OF ARMINIAN ONES. The updated version of CBF also directly responds to James White's "The Potters Freedom" most convincingly. Geisler provides perspectives of historical church fathers, key theologians like Spurgeon and Sproul, and an EXHAUSTIVE examination of relevant Scriptures. God (in His divine sovereignty)has absolutely and FREELY given us(no, we did not earn it)a choice as to whether to accept His offer of salvation or to reject it (and no, we are not earning this through ANY sort of merit or works if we accept it, as the price for it has already been paid through Christ's sacrifice on Calvary).

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