William J. Abraham

William J. Abraham made important contributions across an impressive range of fields: philosophy of religion, evangelism, Wesley studies, systematic and analytic theology, among others. 'Billy' was brilliant, forceful, charming, fiery, charitable, irascible, loyal, faithful, and so much more. He was unquestionably one of the most important theologians of the last several decades--not only within Methodism and Wesleyanism but across systematic and analytic theology more broadly. This collection of essays both honors his contributions and advances his causes, and--like Billy himself--will be of help both to those who agree and those who disagree.

~Thomas H. McCall, Timothy C. and Julie M. Tennent Professor of Theology, Asbury Theological Seminary

William J. Abraham, a prolific, pietistic, Irish-American Methodist theological philosopher, was a Christian polymath, a loving leprechaun of sorts with pots of gold gleaming in numerous places. He bent his mind toward a soft rationalism against both Barthian fideism that dismissed the need for cognitive justification for religious beliefs and strict rationalism that precludes personal judgment in arriving at truth claims. He worked to awaken Methodism from doctrinal amnesia to a robust canonical theism, to assure its identity within the frame of Christianity’s classical core doctrines that witness to God’s ongoing presence in the world. He cherished the vibrancy of Orthodox iconography. Evangelism and Christian renewal twinkled generously in his kindly eyes. These authors catch the sparkle that was Billy.

~Ellen T. Charry, Emerita Professor of Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary