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Willing to Believe: The Controversy over Free Will »

Book cover image of Willing to Believe: The Controversy over Free Will by R. C. Sproul

Authors: R. C. Sproul
ISBN-13: 9780801064128, ISBN-10: 0801064120
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Date Published: April 2002
Edition: (Non-applicable)

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Author Biography: R. C. Sproul

Dr. R.C. Sproul has served the church as a seminary professor, preacher, and author for more than forty years. He is the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries and can be heard teaching daily on the radio program Renewing Your Mind, which broadcasts on more than 300 radio outlets in the United States and throughout 50 countries. Dr. Sproul has written more than 60 books and serves as Senior Minister of Preaching and Teaching at Saint Andrew's Chapel in Sanford, Florida.

[updated 7/31/06]

Book Synopsis

What is the role of the will in believing the good news of the gospel? Why is there so much controversy over free will throughout church history? R. C. Sproul finds that Christians have often been influenced by pagan views of the human will that deny the effects of Adam's fall.

In Willing to Believe, Sproul traces the free-will controversy from its formal beginning in the fifth century, with the writings of Augustine and Pelagius, to the present. Readers will gain understanding into the nuances separating the views of Protestants and Catholics, Calvinists and Arminians, and Reformed and Dispensationalists. This book, like Sproul's Faith Alone, is a major work on an essential evangelical tenet.

Table of Contents

Preface9
Illustrations and Figures11
Introduction: Evangelicalism and an Ancient Heresy15
1We Are Capable of Obedience: Pelagius33
2We Are Incapable of Obedience: Augustine49
3We Are Capable of Cooperating: Semi-Pelagians69
4We Are in Bondage to Sin: Martin Luther87
5We Are Voluntary Slaves: John Calvin105
6We Are Free to Believe: James Arminius125
7We Are Inclined to Sin: Jonathan Edwards147
8We Are Not Depraved by Nature: Charles Grandison Finney169
9We Are Able to Believe: Lewis Sperry Chafer189
Notes205
Latin Glossary215
Index of Personal Names217
Index of Scripture221

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