Read complete books and articles on: Predestination

Predestination - in theology, doctrine that asserts that God predestines from eternity the salvation of certain souls. So-called double predestination, as in Calvinism, is the added assertion that God also foreordains certain souls to damnation. Predestination is posited on the basis of God's omniscience and omnipotence and is closely related to the doctrines of divine providence and grace. A predestinarian doctrine is suggested in St. Paul, but it is not developed (Rom. 8.28–30). St. Augustine's interpretation of the doctrine has been the fountainhead for most subsequent versions, both Protestant and Roman Catholic. Pelagianism argued against St. Augustine that by granting every individual freedom of choice, God wills the salvation of all souls equally, a view that became popular in liberal Protestant theology. The Roman Catholic view, as stated by St. Thomas Aquinas, maintains that God wills the salvation of all souls but that certain souls are granted special grace that in effect foreordains their salvation. The damned may be said to be reprobated to hell only in the sense that God foresees their resistance to the grace given them. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that predestination is consistent with free will since God moves the soul according to its nature. Calvinism, on the other hand, rejects the role of free will and teaches that grace is irresistible and that God by an absolute election saves the souls of some and abandons the souls of others. Jansenism (see under Jansen, Cornelis) was a corresponding predestinarian movement within the Roman Catholic Church. Traditional Jewish theology may be said to be predestinarian in the general sense that everything ultimately depends upon God. Islam teaches an absolute predestination, controlled by a God conceived of as absolute will. See atonement; sin.

See P. Maury, Predestination (1960); J. H. Rainbow, The Will of God and the Cross (1990).

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9 of the Best Books and Articles on: Predestination

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Luther's Legacy: Salvation and English Reformers, 1525-1556 (Chap. 8, sections "Election and Predestination" and "The Practical Nature of Predestination") » Read Now
by Carl R. Trueman. 307 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

This book is the first major and exclusive study of the Christian idea of salvation as seen through the eyes of five sixteenth-century English reformers--John Frith, John Hooper, Robert Barnes, John Bradford, and the famous Bible translator, William Tyndale. The author sets their views in context...
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This book is the first major and exclusive study of the Christian idea of salvation as seen through the eyes of five sixteenth-century English reformers--John Frith, John Hooper, Robert Barnes, John Bradford, and the famous Bible translator, William Tyndale. The author sets their views in context, both historically and intellectually, before engaging in a detailed and clear examination of all the relevant aspects of their thought, from election and justification to the relationship between sacraments and salvation.
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2.

Barth (Chap. III "Barth's Doctrine on Predestination") » Read Now
by A. D. R. Polman. 68 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

...III. Barth's doctrine of predestination 31 IV. Barth's...minute. III. BARTH'S DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION Our exposition and criticism of Barth's doctrine of predestination...
3.

Truth Vol. 1 (Question 6 "Predestination") » Read Now
by St Thomas Aquinas, Robert W. Mulligan (translator). 476 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Philosophy, Entire Library

The Quaestiones Disputatae de Veritata constitutes Aquinas's most extended treatment of any single topic. Volume I (questions 1-9) discusses the nature of truth and divine and angelic intellects. Volume II (questions 10-20) deals with truth and human intellect. Volume III (questions 21-29) investigates the operation of the will.
4.

Freewill or Predestination: The Battle over Saving Grace in Mid-Tudor England » Read Now
by Andrew Penny. 249 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

An exploration of the opposition of a Lollard-like group of free-willers to the official teaching of the Edwardian church on predestination... Theirs is a fascinating story... raises some extremely interesting questions about the true nature of the English Church of the period. ENGLISH HISTORICAL...
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An exploration of the opposition of a Lollard-like group of free-willers to the official teaching of the Edwardian church on predestination... Theirs is a fascinating story... raises some extremely interesting questions about the true nature of the English Church of the period. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEWThis study traces the mainstream of early English reaction to thespread of the predestinarian doctrines of the continental reformerswhich began to dominate England's Protestant leadership during theEdwardian years. Through an examination of both familiar sources anduntapped local records, Dr Penny that finds a mature alternative toGenevan theology existed by the reign of Mary Tudor, led by of a coreof `freewill men' who, in Lollard fashion, looked to the scripturesin English for their beliefs, rather than to the new ecclesiastical establishment and state officialdom.Dr Penny describes in detail the interaction between radical andreformed and the state of intellectual warfare over election and predestination which developed between them, and sheds additional light on the careers of both freewill leaders and major figures in the main Protestant camp, including the Oxford martyrs.D. ANDREW PENNY is assistant professor of history at The King's College, Edmonton, Canada.
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5.

Peter Martyr Vermigli and Predestination: The Augustinian Inheritance of an Italian Reformer » Read Now
by Frank A. James. 290 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

This study is in its broadest sense an inquiry into the intellectual origins of the Reformed branch of Protestantism generally, but inaccurately, designated Calvinism. More specifically, it concerns one of the early theologians who gave formative shape to Reformed theology, Peter Martyr Vermigli...
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This study is in its broadest sense an inquiry into the intellectual origins of the Reformed branch of Protestantism generally, but inaccurately, designated Calvinism. More specifically, it concerns one of the early theologians who gave formative shape to Reformed theology, Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562), and focuses on his adoption of the soteriological doctrine of gemina praedestinatio, double predestination: divine election and divine reprobation.
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6.

The European Reformation (Chap. 8 section 5 "Predestination") » Read Now
by Euan Cameron. 568 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Entire Library

...its Nature and Object 117 3. Justification 121 4. Regeneration 125 5. Predestination 128 6. Conclusion: An Assault on the Penitential Cycle 132 9. The Reformers Message...
7.

An Encyclopedia of Religion ("Predestination" begins on p. 603) » Read Now
by Vergilius Ferm. 846 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library
8.

The Christian's ABC: Catechisms and Catechizing in England C.1530-1740 (Chap. 8 "Predestination") » Read Now
by Ian M. Green. 767 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

This new work represents the first major study of the catechisms and techniques of catechizing used in early modern England, from the Reformation through to the Evangelical Revival. Catechetical teaching, especially on the Ten Commandments, covered all aspects of contemporary life and the book ends...
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This new work represents the first major study of the catechisms and techniques of catechizing used in early modern England, from the Reformation through to the Evangelical Revival. Catechetical teaching, especially on the Ten Commandments, covered all aspects of contemporary life and the book ends with an annotated list of catechisms which enables those with an interest in educational, literary, or linguistic history, or in political and social as well as religious history, to track down quickly works that could be of particular value to them.
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9.

The Mystery of Divine Providence, in Theological Studies » Read Now
by George H. Tavard. 12 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

...since patristic times. Theories of predestination have been proposed. Spirituals have...thus inevitably lead to doctrines of predestination, and to the embarrassment of...