I. Introduction
As the title proclaims, grace is not a static concept or materialized in order to maintain the existing state or form of that which it inhabits. In his Instructions for Children, John Wesley defined grace as “the power of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to behave and love and serve God.” We learn from Wesley that where we find the Holy Spirit there is also Christ and that it is the Holy Spirit that brings forth our faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit is the divine agent that saves us from perpetuating sin in the world. Therefore, in order to understand what it means to experience grace and salvation in the theology of John Wesley, this respective discourse must privilege Spirit talk with the pneumatological assumption that grace is both the gift and evidence of the divine activity of the Spirit at work in humanity.
The objective of this work is to describe Wesley’s understanding of grace and salvation as derivative of his engagement with both Western and Eastern theological anthropology and pneumatology. By identifying the influence of scholars such as Jacobus Arminius, Jeremy Taylor, Thomas à Kempis, and William Law, this work will also note the ways in which Wesley’s doctrine of grace and salvation is more fully consummated in his engagement with the African and Greek Christian traditions represented in the work of the Cappadocians, St. Macarius of Egypt, and Ephrem Syrus. We can attribute the optimism in Wesley’s theological anthropology to these sources as well his understanding of the Spirit as both a generative force that is active in the creation of humanity as well as a regenerative force active in the Christ event and in the re-creation of humanity in communion with God. The second objective of this wo...
... middle of paper ...
...tion in Pseudo-Macarius and John Wesley”Pacifica 11 (February 1998) 54-62
John Wesley, The Means of Grace, 2:1
Ibid. 2:6-7
Ibid.5:4
John D. Zizioulas, Being in Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Press, 1985) 18
Ibid. 19
Ibid. 20-21
Ibid, 22
Ted A. Campbell, “Methodist Ecclesiologies and Methodist Sacred Spaces,” in Orthodox and Wesleyan Ecclesiology edited by S.T. Kimbrough (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2007) 218;
John Wesley, Works of John Wesley, 18: 537
Ibid, 20:321
Cf. Zizioulas, Being as Communion, 220 as the author describes the ‘relational reality of the church’ as being a manifestation of the trinitarian God. Here, I am drawing continuity between Zizioulas’ description and how Wesley refers to the transformation of the believer because of his or her new birth in the Spirit.
John Wesley read Isaac Watts at Oxford and was familiar with his writings and theology Further, there can be no doubt that Wesley greatly respected Watts as a theologian. In a 1765 journal entry Wesley wrote of his positive relationship with the Dissenters, although, "... many of them did, however, differ from me both in opinions and modes of worship. I have the privilege to mention Dr. Doddridge, Dr. Watts, and Mr. Wardrobe." (1) Wesley thought so highly of some of Watts' theology that he included forty-four pages of Watts' text on original sin, The Ruin and Recovery of Human Nature, in his own volume titled, On Original Sin. (2) That Watts and John Wesley had a relationship of mutual respect, and that Wesley recognized Watts' preeminent reputation
Webber, Christopher. Welcome to the Episcopal Church: An Introduction to Its History, Faith, and Worship. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Pub., 1999. Print.
With this in mind, the objective of this essay is to focus on the main ideas of each theologian, and discuss how each theologian’s ideas are compensatory to the other. This is important because even though each theologian’s writings were inspired by the harsh realities of the societies, and also by the effect each writer experienced in their moment in history, their critiques specifically of Christian institutions remain a consistent amongst all three writings. Furthermore, not only are their critiques consistent, but their goals for providing new frameworks for the future of the Church and Christian discipleship are consistent as well.
Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 19(1), 69-84. Heim, D. (1996). The 'Standard'. Phil Jackson, Seeker in Sneakers. Christian Century, 133(20), 654-656.
From the Catholic observation point, the Church presents two parts: One representing its divine nature as the untarnished body of Christ, and one direc...
"EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 & 2." EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. Trans. John W. Harvey. New York: Oxford UP, 1958. Print.
The term Wesleyan Quadrilateral is a theological method used to study scripture. It was believed that theologian John Wesley studied scriptures in the Bible using three lenses, hence where the Wesleyan Quadrilateral gets its name. These three lenses are tradition, reason, and experience. While quad means four and tradition, reason, and experience are only three terms, they each communicate a way that scripture can be studied, therefore the term scripture completes the quadrilateral. It is important to study scripture using the Wesleyan Quadrilateral because Wesley was known as being a relevant theologian and his views on scripture have lasted over two centuries. The Wesleyan quadrilateral is still relevant today as it provides a method for discovering the things of God, ourselves, and lets us know who God really is. For the purposes of this reflection paper I would like to summarize the four components of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral and then reflect personally upon each term as how it relates to the Christian theologian.
The Dictionary of the Accademia della Crusca, dating from 16th century Italy, defines grace as "belleza... che rapisce altrui ad amore." Grace is beauty which seduces one unto love. Grace is the prayer before nourishment, it is the passing of power through blood, it is a classical muse, it is a verb, it is liberation, it is a head-ransom, it is a gazelle, it is simplicity, it is complexity, it is sanctifying, it is controversial, it is desired, it is metrical, it is ubiquitous, it is rare, it is actual. "Grace is in all, yet beyond all," quotes a medieval anchoress. According to Castiglione, grace springs from "that virtue opposite to affectation," as an unconscious extension of a certain je ne sais quoi within the soul. Grace is the nature of language, of number, of beat, of silence. Grace is pervasively elusive.
I was intrigued by John Wesley’s family background. Of how, “John Wesley began life as a happy by-product of a family dispute” (p. 3, Abraham) of praying for King William III. I find it hard to consider that the leader of the Methodist movement was the result of conflict resolution. John was the fifteenth child of a family of nineteen children. His parents, “Susanna and Samuel Wesley was both Dissenter, those who rejected the vision of Christianity developed by the Anglican Church after the Reformation” (p. 4, Abraham). John grandfather, Susanna’s father, was a “distinguished Dissenting Preacher” (p. 4, Abraham). His family tree was rich with ancestors who did not go along with the establishment if it did not match with spiritual truths.
...s distributed in Theology 101 at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle on 22 April 2008.
Kerr, H. (1990). Readings in christian thought (2nd ed.). H. T. Kerr (Ed.). Nashville: Abingdon Press.
"The elements of the Person of Christ are to be established; the faith which accompanies the theoretic process always presupposes their unity; this is for faith immediately certain, though not as yet narrowly defined, not as yet mediately cognised through the knowledge of the distinct elements, which
Westphal, M. (2009). Whose Community? Which Interpretation?: Philosophical Hermeneutics for the Church. Baker Academic. 107
There is no doubt that the fundamental idea of Church, faith, and prayer lived by the early Christian, needs to be rediscovered among many contemporary Christians. The conviction that the apostles had to preach the Gospel of Jesus certainly was aided by their idea of Church, faith, and prayer. In his book “Catholicism: A Journey to the Heat of the Faith”, Father Robert Barron tries to revive the idea of Catholicism that seems to weaken and lose its real sense. With my understanding of Church, faith, and prayer, I argue that because of the lack of understanding about Catholicism that exist today in our midst, many people fall short about what Catholicism really means. However, it is not my intention to answer this question.