Browsing by Subject "Methodism"

This dissertation examines the historical and theological context of the means of grace in the theology of John Wesley with the aim of identifying its central role in his soteriology. Examining the means of grace in its historical context requires locating the emergence of the means of grace in the English theological lexicon prior to Wesley and tracing Wesley's own inheritance of that tradition. The task of placing the means of grace within the context of Wesley's broader theological framework involves explaining how the means of grace, as disciplined practices engaged within the community of faith, lie at the heart of his soteriology as it finds expression in the Christian life. It is argued that the best way to conceive of the means of grace in Wesley's theology is as the "sacramental grammar" of his thought, grounded in the Wesleyan idea of social holiness, which names both the communal arena in which the means of grace are practiced and the salvific reality experienced by those joined together in such practice.

Chapter 1 introduces the topic and explains the thesis. It describes the plan and scope of the dissertation, which is to locate John Wesley's doctrine of the means of grace in its historical and theological context. It lays out the approach, method, and sources for the project with reference to major scholarly texts that are engaged as well as the primary source material utilized. The chapter concludes by noting that, in addition to elucidating aspects of John Wesley's understanding of the means of grace not present in scholarship up to this point, it also intends to serve as a way to bring discipline to the use of Wesleyan language for the means of grace in contemporary Wesleyan scholarship.

Chapter 2 - "The History of the Means of Grace: 16th and 17th Centuries" - analyzes the emergence of the language of the means of grace in the Church of England after the period of the Reformation. The chapter argues that the concept of the means of grace emerged as a way to describe the way God can be experienced through activities of devotion and worship, specifically after the loss of the full Roman Catholic sacramental system. It traces the particular use of the means of grace in Puritan practical divinity and examines its inclusion in the Book of Common Prayer. The chapter concludes with a study of John Norris' use of "means of grace" as an example of doctrinal development at the beginning of the 18th century.

Chapter 3 - "The Reception and Development of the Means of Grace in John Wesley" - demonstrates Wesley's reception of the means of grace during the period of Oxford Methodism. It then goes on to trace Wesley's development of the means of grace specifically in relation to the influences of mysticism and Moravianism. The period it covers is from 1731 to 1746, at which time, it is argued, Wesley's doctrine of the means of grace had reached a level of maturity as embodied in his publication of the sermon, "The Means of Grace."

Chapter 4 - "The Content of the Means of Grace in John Wesley's Theology" - analyzes the means of grace in Wesley's theology with respect to two main considerations: the nature of grace and the nature of the means themselves as "practices." It also examines Wesley's categories of instituted means, prudential means, and general means, noting aspects of Wesley's distinctive understanding of each category.

Chapter 5 - "The Character and Context of the Means of Grace" - brings the preceding work of the dissertation into a consideration of the nature of salvation in Wesley, specifically in relation to Wesley's understanding of present salvation as the recovery of holiness of heart and life. It then argues that Wesley's doctrine of the means of grace is best characterized through an intersection of the notion of "social holiness" as the environmental context in which the means of grace are practiced and holiness becomes manifest in the Christian community.

Conclusion - The dissertation ends with a conclusion that summarizes the preceding chapters and underscores the significance of social holiness in understanding the context of the means of grace in Wesley's theology and practice of ministry.

This dissertation suggests that a Methodist theology of evangelistic mission requires placement within an account of ecclesiology and the theological distinction of Church and world. It argues for a vision of the Church not as the environment for or instrument of evangelistic mission, but rather as a visible, practicing, and witnessing "People" in, but not of the world. Such a People appear as Christians engage both the practices of intra-ecclesial formation and extra-ecclesial engagement with the "other half of the reconciling event" in the world, at the same time, leaning both ways at once.

In this equipoise the Church pursues evangelistic mission along a path between ecclesial accommodation for the sake of cultural relevance in the world (understatement) on the one hand, and ecclesial self-absorption that locates witness in an aesthetic display of holiness to the world (overstatement) on the other. Constructively, I argue that the pursuit of this evangelistic mission along this paradoxical path is best envisioned as a practice of intercession. Intercession names the stance of the People of the Church between formation and mission, between tradition and innovation, between God and the world, leaning both ways at once. Throughout I argue that these concerns are not foreign to but stem from Methodist traditions of theology and practice and address a need in the contemporary United Methodist Church for deeper ecclesiological reflection and clarity regarding the shape of faithful evangelistic mission.

The argument begins in Chapter 1 with a review of several contemporary voices in Methodist theology of evangelism, considering the presence (or lack thereof) of the theological relationship of the Church and the world and identifying those who "understate" and those who "overstate" that relationship. In Chapter 2, I ask, "What is the agency of the world?" as a means to engage the lack of theological reflection on the formative influence of the principalities and powers in contemporary (understated) theologies of evangelism. Given the agency of the powers mediated through the example of the modern market-state, I argue for the crucial role of intra-ecclesial formation within contemporary Methodist theology of evangelistic mission. Anticipating the challenge that such a turn to formation tends to favor an overstated differentiation of Church and world, I turn in Chapter 3 to an engagement with John Howard Yoder and the Methodist tradition in order to answer the question: "What is the agency of the Church?" Resisting a reading of Yoder that locates the Church's agency for evangelistic mission in an (overstated) form of aesthetic witness offered to a watching world, I offer a reading of Yoder that locates ecclesial identity in a particular Peoplehood sent to the world to discern and name the alliances between Church and world that reveal the truth of God's reconciliation with the world through Christ. In the final two chapters, I seek to develop an account of Methodist ecclesial identity that "leans both ways" between being a "People called Methodist" formed by the practices of Wesley's General Rules (Chapter 4) and, at the same time, a People shaped via the evangelistic mission of intercession in the world, an image borrowed from the theological vision of Rowan Williams (Chapter 5).

Taken together, these chapters argue for a location of evangelistic mission in the Church as a Peoplehood, a politics constantly in formation, engaging the "other half of the reconciling event" and extending "unrestricted communion" as it serves an intercessory role, standing between God and the world. I conclude with reflection on the impact of such theological vision on the ecclesiology and missiology of the contemporary United Methodist Church in the United States, suggesting the expression of evangelistic mission in "intercessory ecclesial" terms as a guide to the development of new ecclesial communities, institutional expressions of Methodist connectional structuring, and extra-ecclesial partnerships for the sake of service and witness in the world.

American Methodism existed without a rite of confirmation from 1784 to 1965. This study seeks to understand the distinctive problems and possibilities emerging from Wesleyan theology and Methodist history that inform our engagement in the broader

Protestant conversation about rites of initiation and the formation of children and youth. After taking a brief look at the current landscape of youth and religion in American life through the lens of practical theology and sociology, this study turns to important historical and theological questions: How did the rite of confirmation emerge in the West in general and in the Church of England in particular? Why did Wesley remove the rite of confirmation from the 1784 Sunday Service? What were the consequences for American Methodism? Why was it reintroduced? How should we approach confirmation now?

This study argues that John Wesley was not oblivious to questions of initiation. However, the removal of a rite of confirmation suggests that he was less interested in a single ritual event in which one received a bestowal of the Holy Spirit or made a one-time profession of faith. The burden of his ministry was to create thick communities of discipleship formation and to motivate and incentivize continued participation in the way of salvation through the means of grace in Spirit-filled community.

This end, that is, this aim—continued participation in the way of salvation through the means of grace in Spirit-filled community—must shape all Methodist theological reflection and liturgical rites of initiation.