Roger Olson, a Baptist theologian at Baylor who has greatly influenced my thinking over the past five years, just finished a useful series of blog posts (starting here) on Arminianism, that school of Protestant thought that Wesley himself loudly affirmed. Olson is an Arminian and is probably Calvinism’s loudest contemporary critic. (In his day, John Wesley might have held that title.)
These posts are in the form of FAQs (frequently asked questions). Here’s a nice summary question:
FAQ: Can an Arminian explain the few crucial ideas that distinguish Arminianism from Calvinism for non-scholars? A: Yes. There are three of them. First, God is absolutely, unconditionally good in a way that we can understand as good. (In other words, God’s goodness does not violate our basic divinely-given intuitions about goodness.) Second, God’s consequent will is not God’s antecedent will except that God antecedently (to the fall) decides to permit human rebellion and its consequences. All specific sins and evils are permitted by God according to his consequent will and are not designed or ordained or rendered certain according to God’s antecedent will. Third, salvation of individuals is not determined by God but is provided for (atonement and prevenient grace) and accomplished by God (regeneration and justification by grace through faith).