PREDESTINATION
The American career of a contentious doctrine
By Peter J. Thuesen. OUP. 309 pages. £16.99
ISBN 978-0-19-517427-4
When I first glanced at the uninviting cover, title and print, I wondered why I’d been given the task of reviewing such a book for EN. Then I began to read and was so drawn into the subject that it was difficult to put the book down.
The author, professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University and editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol.26, has gathered and sieved an amazing amount of material to present a most readable and easily digestible account of a doctrine that has engendered heated exchanges and unhappy divisions. Don’t dismiss the USA setting or think this is a book just for Calvinists. Whatever your theological background or country of origin, you will be informed and helped to view the issues from a fresh perspective.