Predestination The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine [Hardcover]

Winner of theChristianity Today2010 Book Award for History/Biography, and praised inChristian Centuryas witty...erudite...masterful, this groundbreaking history, the first of its kind, 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. Peter Thuesen reexamines not only familiar predestinarians such as the New England Puritans and many later Baptists and Presbyterians, but also non-Calvinists such as Catholics and Lutherans, 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,Predestinationoffers both historical context on a doctrine that reaches back 1,600 years and a fresh perspective on today's denominational landscape.

Thuesen's impressive book ultimately demonstrates that pre-destination was damned from the beginning in America. Its Arminian deniers had the advantage of this nation's Enlightenment birth, liberty-loving republican youth, and the biblicism both traditions inspired.
--Lutheran Quarterly

His thesis is that predestination provides the golden thread that runs through the complex history of American churches Although the thread sometimes runs a little thinner than the author would like, the book 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 lil3‰