This was a very interesting book and presented John Wesley in a very understandable format. This not only allowed me to gain a richer and more complete understanding of and formulate the Methodist foundation. This allows for a more universal channel to help others think about Methodist people and fundamental doctrines. Chapter One I was intrigued by John Wesley's family background. Of how, “John Wesley began his life as the happy result of a family dispute” (p. 3, Abraham) by praying for King William III. I find it difficult to see the leadership of the Methodist movement as the result of conflict resolution. John was the fifteenth child in a family of nineteen children. His parents, “Susanna and Samuel Wesley were both dissenters, those who rejected the vision of Christianity developed by the Anglican Church after the Reformation” (p. 4, Abraham). John's grandfather, Susanna's father, was a "distinguished dissenting preacher" (p. 4, Abraham). His family tree was rich with ancestors who did not follow the establishment if it did not correspond to spiritual truths. John had a strong background in the Anglican Church, “he never wavered in his own sense of loyalty. He loved the Church of England deeply, gloried in its treasures, pined for its faults, and labored mightily to stir it up to deeper spirituality and more effective service to God” (p. 4, Abraham). John “inherited a rich theological tradition and was imbued in his manner with piety and ritual. He spent most of his life in Anglican educational institutions, first as a student and then as a teacher of logic and Greek (p. 4, Abraham). "He was totally immersed in the worship and prayer of his church, shaped in various ways by its wonderful intellectual balance, ...... middle of paper ......th2. Second circle – all those who claim to be Christians3. Innermost Circle – True Christians” (p. 165, Abraham) On the issue of predestination, Wesley held that “God has decreed that those who believe shall be saved; those who do not believe will not be saved” (p. 174, Abraham). Wesley went even further in his statement: “God makes the decree, but the decree does not exclude true free will and human liberty; in fact, it integrates the exercise of such freedom into the very content of the decree” (p. 174, Abraham). He held that if one would come to God, he should have no doubt about his salvation. God has a will to save us, but it is an active choice we must make, even those where God knows what the decision will be from the beginning. Works Cited1. Abraham, William J., 2005, Wesley for Armchair Theologians. Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky.