Authors: R. C. Sproul
ISBN-13: 9780801064128, ISBN-10: 0801064120
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Date Published: April 2002
Edition: (Non-applicable)
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]
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.
Preface | 9 | |
Illustrations and Figures | 11 | |
Introduction: Evangelicalism and an Ancient Heresy | 15 | |
1 | We Are Capable of Obedience: Pelagius | 33 |
2 | We Are Incapable of Obedience: Augustine | 49 |
3 | We Are Capable of Cooperating: Semi-Pelagians | 69 |
4 | We Are in Bondage to Sin: Martin Luther | 87 |
5 | We Are Voluntary Slaves: John Calvin | 105 |
6 | We Are Free to Believe: James Arminius | 125 |
7 | We Are Inclined to Sin: Jonathan Edwards | 147 |
8 | We Are Not Depraved by Nature: Charles Grandison Finney | 169 |
9 | We Are Able to Believe: Lewis Sperry Chafer | 189 |
Notes | 205 | |
Latin Glossary | 215 | |
Index of Personal Names | 217 | |
Index of Scripture | 221 |