Love, Freedom, and Evil: Does Authentic Love Require Free Will by Thaddeus J. Williams

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About the Book Love, Freedom, and Evil challenges an often parroted and almost totally unquestioned dogma of 21st century Christian thought, the idea that love requires free will. In the best-selling book, Love Wins, Rob Bell is driven to his controversial conclusions about the afterlife by starting with this idea that love “cannot be forced, manipulated, or coerced. It always leaves room for the other to decide.” Surely, if finite creatures like us blitzkrieg over another human's "room to decide," filling that space with our own force, manipulation, and coercion, then love loses its authenticity. But does this same limitation apply to the God of the Bible? We cannot “walk” on water without a jet ski, part a sea without massive water pumps, or restore a pulse of someone who has flatlined without a defibrillator. God can. Could it be that just as the Creator can walk on water, part seas, and resurrect the dead in ways that we creatures cannot, can He not also generate authentic love in ways that we cannot? Can God cause us to love without resorting to coercion, trampling our humanness, or stripping love of its authenticity? Love, Freedom, and Evil offers a philosophical, biblical, and practical case for the Triune God of the Bible’s unique ability to generate love in human hearts. Thaddeus Williams presents great news for those who recognize just how limited, contaminated, and superficial even our best attempts to love often are. Contemporizing insights from Augustine, Martin Luther, and Jonathan Edwards, sympathetically handling the arguments of Rob Bell, Gregory Boyd, and Clark Pinnock, and bringing theology through the atmosphere to the real world where we live and love, Thaddeus Williams latest book is a vital resource for anyone who needs to “increase and abound in love” (1 Thes. 3:12).
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About the Author

Dr. Thaddeus Williams earned his Ph.D. in Theology at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam, and has an M.A. in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics from Talbot School of Theology. He serves the 20-30 something crowd at Terra Nova Church (www.ourterranova.com), and teaches at various schools, including Biola University and Saddleback College. He is driven by a passion to see the church experience a 21st century “Re-Reformation" centered on the supreme Triune God of the Bible. To that end, Thaddeus has lectured in seminaries and churches throughout Nepal, Francis Schaeffer’s L'Abri Fellowships in Holland and Switzerland, along with churches and conferences throughout the United States. He lives in Southern California with his wife and two daughters.

Contact: thaddeusjwilliams_gmail.com

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Does Authentic Love Require Free Will?

By Dr. Thaddeus Williams

New York/Amsterdam: Rodopi Press, 2011

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