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Prevenient Grace: God's Provision for Fallen Humanity
God enables all people to exercise saving faith in Christ by mitigating the effects of depravity, an initiative that theologians call prevenient grace or enabling grace. Dr. Shelton clearly identifies the proper place of this concept in the theological landscape and calls for a new dialogue about its role in individual salvation. Prevenient grace has been a bone of contention between Wesleyan and Calvinist Christians for nearly five hundred years. However, Dr. Shelton traces the biblical and historical roots of this concept and concludes that it is vital to understanding how God reaches sinful human beings. He explains, This book endeavors to show that prevenient grace is implicit if not explicit in Scripture; that it is not contrary to any other biblical teaching about salvation; and that it offers the best coherence of the biblical data on saving faith.
- GenresTheology
160 pages, Paperback
First published July 18, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 5, 2018
Prevenient grace is not a widely discussed doctrine, yet it lays at the heart of the view many Evangelicals hold concerning salvation, namely Arminianism. For all its significance, prevenient grace has received very little treatment in theological works, without a single book dedicated to defending or addressing the topic in the last 100 years (though there has been a historical treatment or two in this time). W. Brian Shelton has sought to address this theological lacuna with his defense of the Arminian doctrine of Prevenient Grace, Prevenient Grace: God’s Provision for Fallen Humanity (2014). My own Prevenient Grace: An Investigation into Arminianism (2016) sought to address this lacuna from the Calvinist side. Other labours, namely my studies at Regent College, and the state of that book at the time Shelton’s was published prevented me from interacting with his work, despite my awareness of it. I intend in this review to make up for this limitation in my work.
Christians of all stripes, Calvinists and Arminians alike, must thank Shelton for his diligent effort bringing forth the case for prevenient grace. Shelton has done the church a great service by bringing his scholarly eye to the topic and expounding at great length the case for the doctrine. The reader will especially benefit from his discussion of Prevenient Grace in the works of Jacob Arminius and John Wesley.
In his review of my Prevenient Grace, Shelton observed—to my shame—that the tone was often far more biting than is appropriate for Christian discourse. I am happy to say that Shelton is not liable to such a critique. His tone will be much appreciated amidst the heated debates often surrounding the topic of predestination.
Summary of Prevenient Grace
Shelton writes for an academic audience, though he does not presuppose extensive knowledge of the subject or surrounding debate. The argument he makes is
To make his argument, Shelton first defines prevenient grace (ch. 1, 1-12). Then he presents the Scriptural depiction of prevenient grace (ch. 2, 13-58), considers prevenient grace in history (ch. 3, 59-98) and particularly in the theology of Arminius and Wesley (ch. 4, 99-174). Chapter 5 seeks to bring the cases together systematically (175-236) and chapter 6 to consider its implications (237-265). Though we should be thankful for Shelton’s work here, in evaluation it must be said that he fails to make his argument. Nevertheless, Shelton’s work is invaluable and his tone appreciably irenic. Arminians will appreciate the case he has made and Calvinists must rise to the challenges he offers. Read my full review here, https://teleioteti.ca/2018/11/01/revi...
Christians of all stripes, Calvinists and Arminians alike, must thank Shelton for his diligent effort bringing forth the case for prevenient grace. Shelton has done the church a great service by bringing his scholarly eye to the topic and expounding at great length the case for the doctrine. The reader will especially benefit from his discussion of Prevenient Grace in the works of Jacob Arminius and John Wesley.
In his review of my Prevenient Grace, Shelton observed—to my shame—that the tone was often far more biting than is appropriate for Christian discourse. I am happy to say that Shelton is not liable to such a critique. His tone will be much appreciated amidst the heated debates often surrounding the topic of predestination.
Summary of Prevenient Grace
Shelton writes for an academic audience, though he does not presuppose extensive knowledge of the subject or surrounding debate. The argument he makes is
that prevenient grace is at least implicit in scripture if not explicit, that it is not contrary to any other biblical teaching on salvation, and (probably most important) that it offers the greatest coherence of the biblical data on saving faith. It seeks to demonstrate that prevenient grace is the best overall theological explanation for the universal opportunity and free will passages we find in the New Testament. (vii)
To make his argument, Shelton first defines prevenient grace (ch. 1, 1-12). Then he presents the Scriptural depiction of prevenient grace (ch. 2, 13-58), considers prevenient grace in history (ch. 3, 59-98) and particularly in the theology of Arminius and Wesley (ch. 4, 99-174). Chapter 5 seeks to bring the cases together systematically (175-236) and chapter 6 to consider its implications (237-265). Though we should be thankful for Shelton’s work here, in evaluation it must be said that he fails to make his argument. Nevertheless, Shelton’s work is invaluable and his tone appreciably irenic. Arminians will appreciate the case he has made and Calvinists must rise to the challenges he offers. Read my full review here, https://teleioteti.ca/2018/11/01/revi...
February 16, 2016
This book was exegetically weak at best. We simply should not care what Arminius and Wesley said if it cannot be established in scripture, but this book cares far more for their opinions rather than the accuracy of their exegesis of Scripture.
November 13, 2014
An excellent presentation of often misunderstood and misrepresented tenets of Arminianism--from a biblical and historical perspective.
April 20, 2015
It was a challenge but well worth the time it took to finish.
February 2, 2021
This was a helpful book for me in understanding the true Arminian view of salvation (which I do not hold). Here are things I learned and appreciated about this book:
1) Brian Shelton’s posture was very refreshing. It’s rare these days you can read a perspective you disagree with and so admire the author’s approach in interacting with those he disagrees with. Shelton seems to be a mature believer who is seeking to be faithful to scripture and sets an example of how a viewpoint should be presented.
2) The author clearly presented the key tenets of the view of Prevenient Grace and who key thinkers have been to help present this view historically. In Ch. 2 I found some of the historical connections to be a bit of a stretch, but the coverage of Jacob Arminius and John Wesley in Ch. 4 was very helpful.
I learned that what is often called “Arminianism” is not truly representative of the view. The author’s emphasis on the sinful depravity of mankind and the necessity of the grace of God in having capacity to believe was helpful and should be strongly considered by anyone who considers themself an Arminian and by Calvinist who disagree with the view. One of the greatest benefits here is pointing to Wesley’s focus of Grace instead of free will.
3) Shelton interacts with some of the best current Calvinist thinkers (eg. Carson, Packer, Moo) instead of finding caricatures of the view he disagrees with. Not all authors do this. He is charitable in his interactions and thoughtful in his responses.
Some of what I did not like:
1) The exegetical conclusions were found wanting to me. Probably the biggest misunderstanding of the Calvinist view that Shelton seems to have is that the Calvinist does not try to avoid or shy away from universal gospel calls or “whosoever will” passages. I would have been helped by more lengthy interaction with passages that speak of the divine work of God hardening hearts, predestination, and the biblical theme of God’s choosing.
He also jumps to conclusions that just do not seem to be logical absolutes from the text. This is something that is easy for any exegete to do, but Shelton is guilty of it on several occasions (as many Calvinist writers are from their perspective).
2) The book read like a research paper. Helpful, insightful, but bland at times.
Overall, I would recommend this book as resource for understanding and interacting with the Arminian perspective of salvation and the focus on the necessary grace of God in salvation.
1) Brian Shelton’s posture was very refreshing. It’s rare these days you can read a perspective you disagree with and so admire the author’s approach in interacting with those he disagrees with. Shelton seems to be a mature believer who is seeking to be faithful to scripture and sets an example of how a viewpoint should be presented.
2) The author clearly presented the key tenets of the view of Prevenient Grace and who key thinkers have been to help present this view historically. In Ch. 2 I found some of the historical connections to be a bit of a stretch, but the coverage of Jacob Arminius and John Wesley in Ch. 4 was very helpful.
I learned that what is often called “Arminianism” is not truly representative of the view. The author’s emphasis on the sinful depravity of mankind and the necessity of the grace of God in having capacity to believe was helpful and should be strongly considered by anyone who considers themself an Arminian and by Calvinist who disagree with the view. One of the greatest benefits here is pointing to Wesley’s focus of Grace instead of free will.
3) Shelton interacts with some of the best current Calvinist thinkers (eg. Carson, Packer, Moo) instead of finding caricatures of the view he disagrees with. Not all authors do this. He is charitable in his interactions and thoughtful in his responses.
Some of what I did not like:
1) The exegetical conclusions were found wanting to me. Probably the biggest misunderstanding of the Calvinist view that Shelton seems to have is that the Calvinist does not try to avoid or shy away from universal gospel calls or “whosoever will” passages. I would have been helped by more lengthy interaction with passages that speak of the divine work of God hardening hearts, predestination, and the biblical theme of God’s choosing.
He also jumps to conclusions that just do not seem to be logical absolutes from the text. This is something that is easy for any exegete to do, but Shelton is guilty of it on several occasions (as many Calvinist writers are from their perspective).
2) The book read like a research paper. Helpful, insightful, but bland at times.
Overall, I would recommend this book as resource for understanding and interacting with the Arminian perspective of salvation and the focus on the necessary grace of God in salvation.
April 14, 2025
What a great book. Shelton masterfully explains to his best ability the concept of Prevenient Grace from a classical Arminian perspective. He not only focuses on poor understanding from the Calvinist camps but also deals with bad theological practices of the Arminian camps that put free will above grace.
I highly recommend this read no matter what side of the aisle you're on. It'll more than likely put you straight on some concepts of Prevenient Grace you've understood wrongly and help you better articulate the position whether you agree or disagree.
I highly recommend this read no matter what side of the aisle you're on. It'll more than likely put you straight on some concepts of Prevenient Grace you've understood wrongly and help you better articulate the position whether you agree or disagree.
December 9, 2023
Perhaps because of the popularity of the 'young, restless, and reformed' movement, here are countless books arguing for a Calvinist scheme of salvation, but alternatives are not very accessible. Shelton's book is thus a welcome additional voice to the conversation, offering an alternative to Calvinism at a non-technical level and demonstrating how Wesleyan Arminianism is both biblical and historical.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews