An exposition of Romans 9-11 with a positive proposal on election

Professor Williams sixth and final lecture dwells on the relation of election to several key themes: universalism, justification, perseverance and above all, assurance. Though he insists that election grounds assurance, nevertheless, all must heed both the promises regarding salvation and the warnings for falling away.  One and the same individual receives both promise and warning. The truly exceptional contribution of Williams lecture is his christocentric idea of assurance.  More than good works or the internal witness of the Spirit, there is only one to whom we can turn for faith and assurance of salvation, Jesus Christ himself.

Biography

Stephen Williams (PhD, Yale University) is professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological College. He was born and received his early education in Wales. He holds MA degrees in Modern History from Oxford University and Theology from Cambridge University and, after a year studying Practical Theology in Aberystwyth, Wales, he was elected Henry Fellow at Yale University (1976-7). He subsequently pursued doctoral studies at the Department of Religious Studies, Yale University. From 1991 until 1994, he was based in Oxford at the Whitefield Institute for theological research, during which time he also tutored in Philosophy of Religion for Oxford University, from where he took up his present position in 1994. Stephen Williams has published in different areas in biblical studies, theology and intellectual history, including Revelation and Reconciliation: a window on modernity (Cambridge University Press, 1995) and a volume on Nietzsche, The Shadow of the Antichrist: Nietzsche’s Critique of Christianity (Baker Academic Press, 2006)