John Wesley's Doctrine of Prevenient Grace & Its Import for Christian Missions

Abstract

This thesis is an examination of John Wesley's doctrine of prevenient grace. In this work, the following question has been addressed: What did John Wesley think prevenient grace was and did, and what contribution does this Wesleyan doctrine make to contemporary Christian mission? The first chapter is a review of the current state of the research in the field of Wesleyan theology on the topic of prevenient grace. The second chapter traces the sources of Wesley's doctrine of prevenient grace from the Scriptures, through the Church Fathers, to the Church of England and on to Wesley. The third chapter examines Wesley's usages of the term "preventing grace" in order to provide an answer to the first part of the research question: What did John Wesley think prevenient grace was and did? The fourth chapter provides some missiological implications of Wesley's doctrine of prevenient grace in order to answer the second part of the research question: What contribution does this Wesleyan doctrine make to contemporary Christian mission?