John Wesley's Teachings: God, Providence, and Man

by Oden, Thomas C.

• ISBN13: 9780310328155
• ISBN10: 0310328152
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-08-07
• Publisher: Harpercollins Christian Pub

Summary

John Wesley's Teaching is the first systematic exposition of John Wesley's theology that is also faithful to Wesley's own writings. Wesley was a prolific writer and commentator on Scripture---his collected works fill eighteen volumes---and yet it is commonly held that he was not systematic or consistent in his theology and teachings. On the contrary, Thomas C. Oden demonstrates that Wesley displayed a remarkable degree of internal consistency over sixty years of preaching and ministry. This series of 4 volumes is a text-by-text guide to John Wesley's teaching. It introduces Wesley's thought on the basic tenets of Christian teaching: God, providence, and man (volume 1), Christ and salvation (volume 2), the practice of pastoral care (volume 3), and issues of ethics and society (volume 4). In everyday modern English, Oden clarifies Wesley's explicit intent and communicates his meaning clearly to a contemporary audience. Both lay and professional readers will find this series useful for devotional reading, moral reflection, sermon preparation, and for referencing Wesley's opinions on a broad range of pressing issues of contemporary society.

Author Biography

Thomas C. Oden (PhD, Yale) is Director of the Center for Early African Christianity at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania and the Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology and Ethics at Drew University. He is an ordained Methodist minister and the author of many books, including Classic Christianity. Dr. Oden is also the general editor for the widely-used Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 13
Abbreviations	p. 17
Introduction	p. 21
The Teaching Homily as Christian Doctrine
The Scope of Wesley's Teaching
The Teaching Homily
The Whole Compass of Divinity
Wesley's Evangelical Connection of Spiritual Formation
The Connection
The Scope of Wesleyan Connection Today
My Purpose
Why I Write on Wesley: A Note on Vocation
Clear Exposition
Adhering to Primary Sources
History and Doctrine
The Chief Mentor of Modern Wesley Studies
Whether Wesley Was a Systematic Theologian
How to Make Practical Use of This Study
God and Providence
God	p. 35
Attributes of God
The Eternity of God
Time
The Omnipresence of God
The Unity of the Divine Being
Relational Attributes: Goodness, Mercy, Holiness, Spirit
God, Happiness, and Religion
True and False Religion
The Wisdom of God's Counsels
The First Article of the Articles of Religion: On God
God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit
On the Trinity
Spiritual Worship - On Triune Spirituality
The Primacy of Scripture	p. 65
The Authority of Scripture
The Primacy and Normative Authority of the Plain Sense of Scripture
The Analogy of Faith
Spirit and Scripture
Scripture, Conscience, and General Revelation
The Inspiration of Holy Scripture
A Clear and Concise Demonstration of the Divine Inspiration of Holy Scripture
Wesley as Commentator on Scripture
On Corrupting the Word of God
Interlude: God's Particular Method of Working	p. 81
Tradition	p. 83
Tradition as the Consensual Reception of the Apostolic Teaching
The Unchanging Apostolic Tradition of Scripture Teaching through Changing History
Wesley as Editor of Classic Christian Writings
Reason	p. 93
On Reason
Reason as God's Gift
Reasoning Out of Scripture
The Case of Reason Impartially Considered
What Reason Can and Cannot Do
The Imperfection of Human Knowledge
Natural Philosophy
Whether There Is Gradual Improvement in Natural Philosophy
On Human Understanding
Experience	p. 111
On Experience
The Necessity and Limits of Experience in Religion
On Spiritual Senses
On Living without God-The Parable of the Tree Toad
The New Birth of the Spiritual Senses
On Enthusiasm
The Nature of Enthusiasm
Types of Enthusiasm
How Scripture Corrects Experience
The Catholic Spirit
The Premise of Tolerance
Challenging Latitudinarianism
To a Roman Catholic-An Irenic Letter
A Caution against Bigotry
Why Bigotry Is an Offense against the Catholic Spirit
How the Spirit of Bigotry Is Tested
How to Examine Our Own Bigotry
Creation, Providence, and Evil	p. 133
The Goodness of Creation
God's Approbation of His Works
The Free-Will Defense
Spiritual Creation
Of Good Angels
Of Evil Angels
Providence
On Divine Providence
Special Providence
On God's Sovereignty
Theodicy
Whence Comes Evil?
The Promise of Understanding in the Future
Evil
On Natural Evil
The Groaning of Creation and the General Deliverance
Man	p. 171
Human Existence: Created, Fallen, and Redeemed
The Anthropology of the Articles of Religion
Free Will after the Fall (Article 8)
The Image of God
In His Own Image
Whether the Image of God May Be Recovered
What Is Man? Two Discourses
Man in Space, Man in Time (First Discourse)
On the Greatness of the Human Soul within Space and Time
Suppose There Were Other Worlds
I Find Something in Me That Thinks (Second Discourse)
Human Life a Dream
Heavenly Treasure in Earthen Vessels
Countering the Overreach of Natural Science
Sin	p. 189
On the Deceitfulness of the Human Heart
Why Optimists Forever Misjudge the Human Heart
Toward Scriptural Realism about the Human Heart: Why Desperately Wicked?
Why Deceitful above All Things?
Toward the Mending of the Self-Deceived Will
On the Fall of Man
Why Does God Allow Misery and Heartache in the World He Loves?
The Consequence of Sin for the Body-Soul Composite
Spiritual Idolatry
Keep Yourselves from Idols
Idolatry in the Form of Sensuality
Idolatry in the Form of Pride
The Idols of Imagination
Inordinate Love of Money and Sex
Whether Penitent Faith Can Break the Bondage of Idolatry
Original Sin	p. 199
The Doctrine of Original Sin according to Scripture, Reason, and Experience
Why Wesley Wrote His Longest Treatise on Sin
Whether Sin Is a Socially Transmitted Disease
Combating the Deist Denial of Original Sin: A Searching Response to John Taylor
Evidences of Sin Displayed in the History of Sin
Human History Attests the Universality of Corruption
Whether Human Corruptibility and Misery Are Found Universally
Sociological Evidences of the Universality of Human Corruption
The Universality of Sin in Nontheistic Cultures
The Universality of Sin in Theistic Cultures
The Universality of Sin in Predominantly Christian Cultures
Whether War Is a Prototype of Social Sin
Experiential Self-Examination Confirms the Universality of Sin
The Unhappiness of Universal Human History Is Due to the Unholiness of Human Choices
Learning from Scripture about Original Sin
From the Beginning
Whether One Suffers from Another's Sin
Sin and Death
Distinguishing Temporal Death from Spiritual Death
Whether Redemption in Christ Makes Up for Losses Suffered in Adam
The Westminster Catechism on Original Sin
Adam's Headship with Eve's Cooperation
Adam as a Public Person: On Federal Headship
The Consequence of Adam's Fall for Subsequent Human History
The Abyss into Which Humanity Plunged
Distinguishing Original Sin from Actual Sin
Answering Questions on the Insidious Spread of Sin
The Intergenerational Sociality of Sin
The Communication of the Sin of Adam and Eve to All Humanity
Whether Loss of Communion with God Sharpens the Sting of Unexplained Suffering
Whether There Remains a Natural Tendency to Sin
Whether Guilt May be Imputed from One to Another
The Hidden Link between Redemption and Original Sin
Original Sin and New Birth
Retraining Wesley's Doctrine within Contemporary Culture
Conclusion
Alphabetical Correlation of the Sermons in the Jackson and Bicentennial Editions	p. 225
Bicentennial Volume Titles Published to Date	p. 231
Subject Index	p. 232
Scripture Index	p. 240
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