Deidre Richardson

Lydia's Heart Deidre Richardson

Calvinists have accused Arminians of inventing "prevenient grace" as a way to bolster their view of grace-enabled human responsibility in salvation. If, however, humans are totally depraved, yet God still demands a faith response from each individual (Acts 17:30), then grace-enabled choice is not as farfetched as Calvinism's advocates claim. In this work, Deidre Richardson seeks to demonstrate by way of the study of theological doctrines that prevenient grace enables, rather than coerces, belief. While "prevenient grace" is not an explicit phrase in the Scriptures, it can be inferred based on God's love for the world (universal atonement), infant grace, the existence of Hell, Calvinist and Arminian notions of ordo salutis (order of salvation), as well as the nature of relationship. Arminians who have been anticipating a work that provides biblical evidence for the Arminian notion of prevenient grace now have a work of intense thought to call their own. Deidre Richardson is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (dual B. A., History and Music) and an MDiv graduate of Southeastern Seminary (Master of Divinity, Christian Apologetics). She spent four years in the Seminary's postgraduate program where she pursued a Master of Theology (ThM) degree in Theology of Religions with an emphasis on Inclusivism under the Seminary's Dean of the Faculty and author of "Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach," Dr. Kenneth Keathley. Richardson is the author of four books, this one and three others: 1) "Short-Sighted Faith: Once Saved, Always Saved (OSAS) and the Doctrine of Perseverance"; 2) "Doctrinal Deception: Responding to Carlton Pearson's The Gospel of Inclusion"; and 3) "More Doctrinal Deception: Bishop Carlton Pearson's Inclusion, Further Examined". She intends to publish a groundwork theology in 2019.