Joel Houston, Ph.D. (Manchester), FRHistS
‘A Decade of Difference: Predestination and Early Methodist Identity in the “Free Grace” Controversy, 1739-1749; (University of Manchester [Nazarene Theological College]), 2017. Published in the Routledge Methodist Studies Series as Wesley, Whitefield and the ‘Free Grace’ Controversy: The Crucible of Methodism (2020).
Joel completed his doctoral research in early 2017 under the supervision of the Rev Dr David Rainey. Joel’s thesis conducts a comparative analysis of John Wesley and George Whitefield’s thought on the doctrine of predestination. The primary focus of this analysis is the ‘Free Grace’ controversy in the mid-eighteenth century, 1739-1749. Joel’s work contends for an elongation of the dates of the controversy, extending the conclusion of the debate from 1741/44 to 1749, the year Whitefield abdicated leadership of the Calvinistic Methodist Societies. This elongation incorporates the major insight of the thesis: that the dispute over predestination (and related doctrines) between Whitefield and Wesley must include an analysis of the social function of doctrine itself.
Joel is currently the Assistant Professor of Theology at Briercrest College and Seminary in Saskatchewan, Canada. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Select Publications and Contributions:
Book:
Wesley, Whitefield, and the ‘Free Grace’ Controversy: The Crucible of Methodism (Abingdon: Routledge, 2020).
Book Chapter:
“Beginning a Society of Their Own: John Wesley, George Whitefield, and the Bristol Division” in Ian Maddock, Ed. Wesley and Whitefield? Wesley vs. Whitefield? (Wipf & Stock, 2018)
Articles:
“‘With Their Salvation He Will Be Fully Satisfied’: George Whitefield, Particular Redemption, and the Proclamation of the Gospel”, Churchman, vol. 134, no. 2 (Watford: Church Society, 2020).
“The Cavity in the Covenant: George Whitefield’s Use of the Pactum Salutis”, Churchman, vol. 131, no. 2 (2017).
“A Change of Heart in Bristol? John Wesley’s Doctrine of Election in Perspective, 1739—1768”, Wesleyan Theological Journal, vol. 51, no. 2 (2016), 68-78.
Presentation:
“Beginning a Society of Their Own: John Wesley, George Whitefield, and the Bristol Division”, Presented at the 69th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November 16th, 2017.
Book Reviews:
“Review of Reformation Anglicanism: A Vision for Today’s Global Communion, Ashley Null and John W. Yates III, Eds. (Wheaton: Crossway, 2017)” in Reformed Theological Review (2018).
“Review of George Whitefield: His Life, Context and Legacy. Geordan Hammond and David Ceri Jones, Eds. (Oxford: OUP, 2016)” in Churchman, vol. 131, no. 1 (2017).
Email: jhouston@briercrest.ca