Date

10-14-2026

Department

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)

Chair

Timothy D. Holder

Keywords

John Wesley, Methodism, Wesleyanism, Wesleyan Theology, Arminianism, Arminian Theology, Methodist History, Jonathan Edwards, Calvinism, New England Calvinism, Original Sin, Total Depravity, Augustinianism, Augustinian Theology, Anglican Theology, Pelagianism, Pelagius, John Taylor of Norwich, Charles Finney

Disciplines

History of Christianity | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

The source of human wickedness is not in a fault in our education, but a fault in our nature. Ignorance is not the root of human depravity; rather, there is an innate propensity in the human soul to gravitate, not towards the light, but towards the darkness. This truth, i.e., the doctrine of Original Sin, was fiercely maintained in the 18th century by John Wesley, the Father of Methodism, and by Jonathan Edwards, the last of the Puritans. Both of these men each wrote a large treatise on this same topic matter, that of Original Sin, and for the same reason, to oppose the Pelagianism of John Taylor of Norwich. By giving the first in depth comparative analysis between Wesley and Edwards on Original Sin, unexpected results will follow, namely the Arminian Wesley was a stronger Augustinian than the Calvinistic Edwards. This is proved by their handling of Taylor’s arguments and the legacy their responses generated over time within their respective theological camps, i.e., Methodism for Wesley, and New England Calvinism for Edwards.

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