Winner of the Christianity Today 2010 Book Award for History/Biography, and praised in Christian Century as "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 forcenturies. 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 thedoctrine of predestination. For anyone wanting a fuller understanding of religion in America, Predestination offers both historical context on a doctrine that reaches back 1, 600 years and a fresh perspective on today's denominational landscape. | Predestination by Peter J. Thuesen, Paperback | Indigo Chapters