This book examines the relationship between the conversion theology that was popularized by Charles Grandison Finney and the theological drift of Southern Baptists from Calvinism to Arminianism. Chapter 1 introduces the research question and describes the methodology and limitations of the current project.
Chapter 2 surveys the historical evidence of the Calvinistic roots of Southern Baptists. A brief overview of Baptist origins in England is given, followed by an overview Baptist life in America including the founding of the first Baptist church in the colonies in the seventeenth century, developments in Baptist soteriology in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and concluding with trends that emerged in the twentieth century.
Chapter 3 gives a brief overview of the traditional or Calvinistic baptist view of conversion prior to the mid-nineteenth century. It provides a brief contrast of the two predominate views held by evangelicals, Arminianism and Calvinism, and shows how uncommon the views of conversion that were popularized in the mid to late nineteenth century had previously been.
Chapter 4 outlines the conversion theology of Finney and the opposition from his contemporaries. The chapter analyzes Finney's rejection of reformed orthodoxy and the use of the means of grace, whether revival and conversion are human or divine in origin, his departure from the Edwardsean theological tradition he inherited, his Pelagian and semi-Pelagian tendencies, his conflation of backsliders with false professors, and the fact that he propagates error rather than inventing new theology and methodology.
Chapter 5 surveys the effects of Finney's theology on Southern Baptists and evangelicalism as a whole. This chapter analyzes Finney's polemical rewriting of history and it's effect on subsequent generations, the effects of revivalism, and the specific effects Finney's theology on Baptists, the understanding of God and His role in conversion, and church practice.
Chapter 6 contains a summary of the lingering effects of Finney's Pelagian theology on the church today. It concludes that Finney's influence on Southern Baptists was a theological shift from their Calvinistic roots to Arminianism as the dominant theology and ends with a practical and pastoral applications for the church today.
