Wesley's Essential Doctrines example essay topic

How do we stay Wesleyan if we don't heed the Notes and Sermons of John Wesley in some way You need to not preach your personal theology but preach the theology of the church United Methodists are not supposed to contradict the church's doctrinal standards, but can 'go beyond and expand Wesley believed that the doctrine of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit was a 'fundamental belief' of Christian faith Believing in the 'complete divinity' of Christ was also 'essential' to Christianity Wesley thought there was 'nothing of greater consequence' than the doctrine of atonement. Without belief in the atonement, religion becomes merely deism, Wesley feared Wesley did not insist on 'any particular understanding' of the atonement, but emphasized that 'salvation was based on the whole life of Christ. ' Wesley was committed to the traditional Protestant doctrine of Scripture alone as the final authority for the church Wesley leaned on Eastern Orthodox traditions by stressing that we are 'liable for own sins, not the sins of our parents. ' Wesley affirmed and thought essential was justification by faith alone, Wesley's emphasis was slightly different because he insisted that faith cannot mean only assent but must engage the heart and affections.

Wesley's seventh essential doctrine was regeneration through the 'new birth,' Campbell said. Methodism's founder warned against leaning on the 'slender read of baptism,' when salvation required being born again. Belief in the possibility of entire sanctification beyond regeneration was a distinguishing mark of Methodism, though Campbell said Wesley did not make that an essential Christian doctrine. United Methodism, 'We are a church with clear doctrine. It shapes our practice in ways we don't know. ' Bishop Jones said Campbell's description of Wesley's theological 'distinctions' was 'wrong' because Wesley believed there should be nothing distinct about Methodism.

Wesley asserted he was preaching 'just the religion of the Bible. ' 'Every time he [Wesley] lays out Methodist beliefs he's saying it's basic Christianity,' Jones said. Wesley was determined to preach 'primitive Christianity' and to rescue the faith from 'more corrupt forms. ' Jones asserted Wesley would include holiness and sanctification on his list of important doctrines. Smiling, Jones also told Campbell, 'You got through the whole lecture without talking about [grace]!' Jones suggested that the understanding of God as love should be counted among Wesley's essential doctrines. While the Reformed tradition emphasized God's sovereignty, Wesley instead insisted on the primacy of God's love.

Regarding justification by faith, Jones questioned whether Campbell was not ascribing to Wesley 'too Lutheran an interpretation. ' 'Luther was confused on this,' Jones said. 'Wesley said Luther was ignorant of sanctification,' Jones noted. 'But Roman Catholicism was often ignorant of justification.

' Wesley believed that it had 'pleased God to give the Methodists a clear understanding of both,' Jones observed. Wesley believed that works are not necessary 'directly' for salvation but are necessary for the 'continuance of faith,' Jones said. Responding to Jones, Campbell said Wesley did 'claim a distinctive task' for Methodists in some cases that set the Methodists apart from the rest of Christianity. In some cases Wesley professed to believe only in the 'old doctrines.

' But the evangelist also believed that Methodists had 'special gifts' and a 'unique mission. ' Campbell explained, in response to Jones's query, that Wesley's understanding of grace was embedded in his doctrine of original sin, which emphasized the universal need for God's mercy. Jones recalled Wesley saying he came within a 'hair's breadth' of Calvinism. Wesley was shaped by Puritanism and shared in John Calvin's 'strong emphasis on grace. ' But Calvin believed in double predestination, while Wesley believed in the possibility of universal redemption. Presbyterianism lost its debates with Wesleyan Arminianism in the early 19th century, Jones said.

Now Presbyterians usually function as Armenians. But Jones said they want to 'remember Calvin' instead of remembering Charles Finney, the 19th century Presbyterian evangelist who stressed the universal appeal of the Gospel. Jones pointed out that Wesley 'raised the bar' as to what a Christian really is by insisting on the 'individual experience' of conversion instead of merely baptism or membership in a state church. In doing this, Wesley gave 'self worth' to the lower classes, who flocked to early Methodism. Jones suggested the birth of the Wesleyan movement should be traced not to Wesley's Aldersgate conversion experience but to the day in 1739 when he first preached in an open field to 3,000 people. Campbell compared Wesley's beliefs about conversion to the Puritans who influenced him.

The Puritans believed in an assurance of salvation, as Wesley would, but they believed that sanctification was a process of growth and holiness that does not culminate in this life. In contrast, Wesley emphasized the possibility of sanctification in this world. Wesley understood the claims of the Methodist movement to be common Christian teachings, Campbell acknowledged. But though Wesley did not see Methodist teachings as distinctive, he saw Methodism as a 'distinctive apostolate,' or unique association, within the wider church. Both Campbell and Jones agreed that Methodism claims. But Campbell disagreed with Jones about Methodism claiming catholicity.

'We don't represent the fullness of the faith,' Campbell said. 'My belief is that catholicity is found in the ecumenical church,' he added. 'And we " re incomplete without the communion of other churches. Jones replied that 'too many believe there's a huge jump from the Apostles to Wesley without realizing how much Wesley borrowed from those who went before. ' Wesley thought religious experience was the goal of sound doctrine. But Wesley did not have a good ecclesiology, Jones complained.

'How do we fix his problems?' he asked. There were also complaints about seminary education for United Methodists from the two former seminary professors. 'Modern seminaries fail our students by breaking down each book of the Bible,' Campbell said. Seminaries used to teach only a 'historical-critical' approach to the Bible, presuming that entering students knew the Bible's basic content, he said. But now students need to be taught both content and the critical approach, while also knowing that the church teaches that there is a unity to the Biblical message There are three levels of doctrine for United Methodists, Jones asserted. The first level includes the Articles of Religion, Wesley's Notes and Sermons, the Confession and General Rules.

The second level is comprised of contemporary statements of doctrine approved by the General Conference. And the church's liturgy and hymnody are the third level. Jones recalled that the United Methodist stance on abortion, which speaks of 'tragic conflicts of life with life' that might justify abortion was originally conceived by the late ethicist Paul Ramsey. Most abortions in America are for birth control and, according to United Methodist standards, are 'immoral,' Jones noted. 'You don't hear the United Methodist Women and others saying that. ' Observing that the United Methodist connection is weakened in part because of a growing loss of community in the U.S., Jones said the 1960's generation makes for 'poor leaders' because they grew up very 'anti-institutional.

' 'We elect leaders who are managers rather than leaders,' Jones observed of the church. 'We don't do doctrine very well because we don't care about it. We care about hymnody and social issues. ' Speaking of hymnody as doctrine, Jones observed that the hymnal supplement The Faith We Sing was published by the United Methodist Publishing House but was never approved by a General Conference. 'Is it doctrine?' he asked. Jones also recalled the controversy in 1986, when a United Methodist hymnal revision committee decided to remove 'Onward Christian Soldiers' from the new hymnal, creating a popular outrage that pressured the committee into rescinding its decision.

'Everybody knows that United Methodist clergy are more liberal politically than the laity,' Jones said, noting that the hymnal revision committee had relied upon surveys of United Methodist clergy for their decisions. Jones said the 'doctrinal status of the hymnal is low and undefined,' but the hymnal shapes the faith and practice far more than any John Wesley sermon or doctrinal standards. Wondering whether another official United Methodist hymnal would ever be published, he said that Wesleyan hymns have a 'depth' that makes them 'worthy of keeping them alive. ' Noting that the Kansas Conference of which he recently became bishop had suffered a 50 percent loss in Sunday school attendance, Jones complained of widespread membership decline. 'The United Methodist Church has become more liberal and the culture more conservative and people have gone elsewhere,' he said. 'There has to be greater doctrinal discipline.

' 'There is a bend-over backwards, don't offend anybody attitude in the United Methodist Church that doesn't mention Jesus,' Jones observed. Jones said Roman Catholicism is often still stuck in the mindset of old Christendom and needs to adjust to modernity. But he expects that in his grandchildren's time United Methodism will be in union with Roman Catholicism. 'They have more to teach us than the Southern Baptists or Episcopalians,' he said. 'And they need us.

' Campbell said he would 'focus on alliances with Wesleyan and holiness churches' while reaching out as well to Episcopalians, among others. He also noted that for doctrine to become doctrine for the church it must not only be proposed by the church's governing body, but also received universally and across time by the church's members. 'The people have a voice in doctrine,' he insisted. The John Wesley Institute event was attended by about 50 persons, most of them United Methodist clergy. According to Ted A. Campbell, 'Prevenient grace is the appropriate heading under which Methodists have described all the ways in which God works with human beings before they believe in Christ. ' This is grace that comes before 'faith in Christ.

' Ted A. Campbell says, 'The Methodist Articles of Religion, following the teachings of the Reformation, rejected the medieval Catholic idea of purgatory as a place where the souls of those who have died in Christ could be aided or helped by the prayers of the living. John Wesley himself believed in an intermediate state between death and the final judgment, where those who rejected Christ would be aware of their coming doom (not yet pronounced), and believers would share in the 'bosom of Abraham' or 'paradise,' even continuing to grow in holiness there. This belief, however, is not formally affirmed in Methodist doctrinal standards, which reject the idea of purgatory but beyond that maintain silence on what lies between death and the last judgment. '.