In this session we're
going to be looking at the theology of Methodism, and then we're going to
explore how some of this theology is shared through the books and other
documents of Methodism. But first of all we should note three important things
about theology. The first is this, many people will speak as if theology is
only for academics and theologians; that it is about theoreticians and not for
those who are doing the practical work; that it is not for those who sit in the
congregation and simply wish to worship God and love their neighbour without
all these intellectual distractions.
If there is
even the slightest sense in your mind, that that's how things are, then it is
probably time to rethink what we mean by theology. Theology at its most basic
level is the act of speaking about God. We all have our own 'theology' our own
thoughts and feelings about who God is and how God acts, even if we never stop
to question what those thoughts and feelings are. We are all engaged in the act
of doing theology.
The second
thing we should note is that we have already covered a fair amount of Methodist
theology in the first two sessions, because our theology doesn't exist
separately from what we do and what we do, does not exist separately from our
theology. So today we will cover some distinctive theological points we may not
have covered or may not have been obvious at the time
The third
thing we should note is that theology matters. One of the most common questions
that occur when people are talking about theology in the context of ecumenical
relationships is, 'Does it really matter? As long as we believe in the same
God, do these details matter?' In many ways it doesn't matter if we sing old
songs or new. It is not important if we have pews or chairs, video projectors
or books, ancient liturgy or completely improvised services. We each of us have
our preferences and our reasons for those preferences, but preference may not
be driven by theological differences. It is important however, if the theology
of one congregation condemns to hell the loved ones of another denomination. It
is important if the if the consequence of one person's theology is preventing
someone else being able to receive God's love. It is important if the church we
build misrepresents God, particularly if that misrepresentation is the
difference between someone finding faith and not finding faith.
The Methodist
Quadrilateral
The first
bit of theology we're going to look at is a concept called the Methodist
Quadrilateral. It wasn't exactly invented by John Wesley, rather it was an
observation made by Albert Outler back in the 1960's, about the way that
Wesley's theology was gathered from four different sources; scripture,
tradition, reason and Experience.
Scripture
When we say
scripture, we are of course talking about the Bible. Wesley was very much of
the mind that we gain our primary understanding of God from the Bible. However,
it is important not to mistake Wesley's passion for the Bible for
fundamentalism as we see it in our culture today. Fundamentalism didn't really
exist in the eighteenth century. Wesley's passion for the Bible was tempered by
the other three parts of the quadrilateral; nevertheless he encouraged the
early Methodists to take studying the Bible very seriously.
Tradition
Those who
look to the future and embrace change often struggle with tradition, but even
the most committed modernist can learn to love tradition if they stop thinking
of it as the thing that keeps us in the past and begin to see it as the box of
tools that resources us for the future. This however is also a lesson that the
traditionalists ought to learn. Tradition should not be about nostalgia, it
should be about us learning from our mistakes as well as from our successes and
then doing something with this information. It is about us learning from the
evidence of our collective historical experiences of God. Our tradition informs
our theology. But our theology also informs our tradition. So for example as we were talking about in
session 2, part of our understanding is the idea of the priesthood of all
believers which translates into our flatter structure that has no bishops. The theology informs the tradition. And there are many other examples of this.
We learn
about how our theology works out in practice through our traditions. From the
very beginning of Methodism we have happily borrowed from the traditions of
others. Wesley was an Anglican priest, but was influenced by many church
traditions, like the Moravians, the Eastern Orthodox Church and Catholicism as
well as more ancient traditions like the early Church fathers. Tradition only
becomes a problem when we start doing it wrong. The dangers of traditionalism
come perhaps from two errors;
1. We often
attempt to plant the church like an inverted tree, with our traditions, our
roots on full display, and the fruit of those traditions buried deep in the
ground, trees won't grow like that and neither will Churches. What people see
when they come into a church is the sitting in rows, the 5 hymn sandwich, our
traditions. But do they see the
fruit? Do people see our lives
transformed by the spirit? We tend to repeat our actions in the church, perhaps
leading us to think that the repetition is the point, when actually the
repetition is how we learn what the tradition has to teach us. Once we have
learned something, we should change on the basis of what we've learned.
2. We often
allow our view of tradition to be too narrow and with too short a memory.
Church tradition is the product of our collective experiences across the
generations, not just 'my' experience in 'this' generation. Often when a member
of a congregation or a group within a congregation says "we have always
done it like this," the 'always' means less than five years, and the 'we'
means that individual or group. Sometimes the 'always' means as much as fifty
years or so, but rarely do congregations have a genuine sense of the traditions
they carry. If we looked as widely and as far back as John Wesley did, perhaps
our sense of tradition might be greatly enriched by it.
Reason
As we have
suggested earlier in the course, in Methodism we are encouraged to think, to
reason, to ask questions and to approach, life, scripture and theology with a
reasoning mind.
At the
inception of Methodism there was a desire to move away from the second hand
religion that had become common in the Church of England. One of the key moves
in Methodism was the intention that we should engage in a relationship with God
as individuals; that we should seek to be transformed by God both spiritually
and morally. This is also reflected in the emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit.
Across many Protestant denominations there is a tendency to intellectualise our
faith at the expense of experiencing God. sadly this has also become true of a
lot of Methodism.
Outler
emphasised that whilst each of the four parts of the quadrilateral were
necessary, John Wesley placed a higher importance on Scripture than on any of
the others. Many people like to describe it in the form of a child's mobile
that hangs over a cot, with scripture as the central strand from which the
other three hang. However it might also be reasonable to suggest that the
emphasis depends somewhat on the circumstances. John Wesley was a man who very
much responded to the issues and circumstances of his time and if he were
around today he might well argue for different emphases in these circumstances than
the ones he chose for his time. For example, in many of the arguments between
fundamentalists and new atheists, an emphasis on reason and experience is
needed. This shifting emphasis could be thought of as the 'Methodist Quad Bike'
with each of those four things representing one of the wheels with its own
suspension rods. We need all four at all times, but it depends what corner we
are turning as to which part of the suspension we are leaning on the most at
any one moment. At this point in time, the Methodist Church, like many
denominations, is turning a lot of corners very quickly. So it might be wise to make sure that we are
keeping all four suspension rods in good condition.
Arminian (not Calvinist)
Back in the
18th Century a really important theological argument was going on in the
protestant world. On the one side were the Calvinists and on the other side
were the Arminians. John Calvin and Jakob Armenius were both theologians from
the 16th Century, but in the 18th Century the argument was central to some of
the changes that were occurring.
Let's have a quick look at the five points of Calvinism and
find out what all the fuss is about;[1]
·
Total depravity the idea that we are inherently completely sinful and totally without the
capacity to lift ourselves out of sin or to choose for ourselves to follow God
·
Unconditional
election God has chosen from the beginning of time those
whom he will call to him, as well as those who he will reject
·
Limited
atonement Christ died on the cross to atone only for the
sins of those whom God has chosen.
·
Irresistible
grace those who have been chosen are unable to resist
God's gift of grace
·
Perseverance
of the saints Salvation or true faith can
never be lost. If you lose your faith then it was not genuine to start with.
Arminianism offered a rebuttal to that theology;[2]
·
Universal prevenient grace: This is God's grace which goes
before our submission to his will and gives us the freedom to turn to God
before we have the will to do so.
·
Conditional election: The choice of following God and of
seeking salvation lies ultimately with human beings.
·
Unlimited (or universal) atonement: The crucifixion was to atone for the
sins of all people for all time
·
Resistible grace: People can resist God's grace because God does not
take our free will from us.
·
Uncertainty of perseverance: For the same reason people can lose
their salvation and lose their faith.
Arminian
theology also offers these three beliefs;
·
Libertarian free will: Our choices are free from the
limitations of our human nature.
·
Equal, impartial, and undifferentiated love: God loves everyone equally.
·
The universal call of salvation: God calls all people; whether they
respond is down to the individual.
William
Fitzgerald, the founder of the Wesley Guild gave us this popular summary of Arminian
Methodism in 1903,
which he called ‘the four-Alls of Methodism.’ It was later incorporated into
the Catechism of the Methodist Church and is often mistakenly attributed to
John Wesley;
·
All need to be saved
·
All can be saved
·
All can know they are
saved
·
All can be saved to the
uttermost
It may come as little surprise to you at this point that
Arminian theology forms the basis for much of the theology of Methodism. Whilst
the argument has somewhat died down since the 18th Century, there are still
Calvinist influences in some of the main stream denominations in Britain. But
perhaps more important for us here in this session, is how Arminianism has
helped shape the Methodist Church as we see it today.
That sense of God's love for all
people, and the idea that all people have the potential to find salvation
through Christ, has led to a deep passion within Methodism for equality, social
justice and a care for the poor.
John Wesley himself was active in speaking
out against slavery and he included women as lay preachers. The Methodist
Church over the years has been involved in setting up the Sunday schools which offered
an education to street children long before education was free to all, as well
as NCH Action for Children. We offered solidarity in working to reduce the
influence of cheap alcohol on the poorer parts of society with our support for
the temperance movement, Alcoholics Anonymous and in the use of non alcoholic
wine in our communion. We supported the suffragette movement, Fairtrade, the
Drop the Debt campaign, and issues of the environment and many other issues
that reflect our concern for all of God's creation.
This theology can also be seen at
work in our desire to be as inclusive as possible, particularly in our
communion services.
Holiness
We have already looked a little at
the role of holiness in Methodism in connection to the class meetings as part
of the second session, but It would be good to pick up just a few points here.
There was often an argument made against Wesley in the way that he placed a
high importance on holiness and doing good works. This was not because people
thought that doing good was in some way a bad thing, rather they thought that
Wesley was suggesting that salvation was in some way dependant on our ability
to be good people. I don't think that this was what Wesley was aiming at as he
was very much an advocate of salvation through faith alone. Rather I think his
theology of holiness was rooted in a sense that we do good because God was
first good to us. As he says in his Explanatory Bible notes for John 4:19;
John 4:19 We love (him), because he first loved us.
"This is the sum of all
religion, the genuine model of Christianity. None can say more: why should anyone
say less, or less intelligibly?"
But also I sense that Wesley saw our
good works as the one of the ways in which we can be witnesses to each other of
God's love. People know that God loves us because we express it in the way we
share that love with others.
The books and
documents of Methodism
There are a
number of ways in which this theology is expressed in the life of the Church,
and one of those is in our books and other documents.
Such as;
•
The Bible
•
CPD
•
Wesley’s 44 Sermons
• The Plan
We only have time really to look at a couple of these in this
session...
CPD
We have already mentioned CPD a
number of times in this course so far, so we won't spend a lot of time talking
about it, but we should take note of a few things about it. This is a book of
regulations along with some historical and legal documents. But the regulations
are not just a set of rules; they have been written and honed by Methodists
over many years. They are the product of a great deal of theological and
practical exploration, CPD probably holds a far more genuine account of our
collective tradition than most of those people who will say, "we've always
done it like this". The decisions that are recounted in this book come
from financial, legal, practical, theological and pastoral reasoning. They
range from dull, through useful and interesting, to inspiring and challenging.
They speak of our denomination's passion for equality and social justice, they
speak of our passion for the Gospel, they speak of our passion to work together
as a Connexion. But it is a book that is worth looking at from time to time. Don't
try to start from page one and work through, rather perhaps begin with a
question; like, I wonder what it says about...
The Hymn Book
We shall now spend a little time
looking at the importance of the Hymn book. One of the things that make
Methodists Methodist is the passion for singing. Now let's be clear, there is
no rule that says you have to sing or that every service needs to contain at
least one Charles Wesley hymn, or even that you need to enjoy singing. The
important thing is the extent to which the theology of the Methodist Church has
always been expressed through its hymns. One of the reasons we still have a
hymn book rather than just an electronic collection is that it offers us a
certain amount of guidance as to what constitutes a reasonable hymn for us to
be singing.
John and
Charles Wesley took the art of hymn writing very seriously. And though John was
the man who is best known as the founder of the Methodist Church it is hard to
imagine the early Methodist Church having anything like the success it had
without Charles at his side producing the soundtrack to this movement. John
delivered some very well written sermons, although people writing at the time
suggested that his delivery was less than dynamic. However Charles’s hymns
reached the parts of people's hearts that even the best sermons failed to
go. People would no doubt have gone home
with the often familiar tunes and the inspiring new poetry playing over again
in their minds.
Song writing
is a complex art and one problem for this generation of Church goers is that while
there are a great many modern hymn writers there are few who are both great
poets and also grasp the weight of the theological task that is in their hands.
There are a number of modern writers who are quite good at the praise element
of hymn writing but a lack of those who have successfully gone beyond that initial
aspect of worship to explore the full diversity of what can be said through a
hymn. Different hymns do different things and we should take a few moments to look
at a few of the key ways in which Methodism has displayed its theology through
its own and other hymn writers.
Let's just
glance at a little Arminian Theology as expressed through one of the hymns of
Charles Wesley;
Hymns and Psalms 46 v2 "what shall I do, My God to
love?"
Thy
sovereign grace to all extends
Immense
and unconfined
From age
to age it never ends
It
reaches all mankind
There
are many areas of theology we could explore but what I want to do first is look
at how different hymns have different functions. For example;
·
Some hymns act as testimony H&P180/StF287[3]
"When I survey the wondrous cross"
·
Some act as Prayer - H&P 378 "Be Thou My
vision, O Lord of my heart"
·
Some Preach - H&P 804/StF415 "The Church of Christ"
Let's just have a look at some
things that can go wrong with song writing, let's compare Steve McEwan's, 'Great
is the Lord and most worthy of praise' with Charles Wesley's, 'Great is our
Redeeming Lord';
"Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise"
Great is the Lord and most
worthy of praise
The city of our God the holy
place,
The Joy of the whole earth
Great is the Lord in whom we
have the victory
He aids us against the enemy
We bow down on our knees
And Lord we want to lift your
name on high
And Lord we want to thank you
for the works you've done in our lives
And lord we trust in your
unfailing love for you alone are God eternal
Throughout earth and heaven
above"
Now, it
should be said that this in many ways is not a bad hymn, it's got a good tune
and, and it did make it into the most recent Methodist Hymn book Singing the
Faith. But there are problems with it;
Let's look at where the words are taken from;
Psalm 48 A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.
1 Great is
the Lord, and most worthy of praise,
in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
2 Beautiful in its loftiness,
the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon is
Mount Zion,
the city of the Great King.
3 God is in her citadels;
he has shown himself to be her fortress.
4 When the kings joined
forces,
when they advanced together,
5 they saw her and were
astounded;
they fled in terror.
6 Trembling seized them
there,
pain like that of a woman in labour.
7 You destroyed them like
ships of Tarshish
shattered by an east wind...
The Old Testament piece of theology that is happening here is
about the Zion, the temple mount in Jerusalem; which has never physically been
the highest mountain, even in that area of the Near East. It is being thought
of as having a spiritually high importance. In particular, Zion was thought to
be a point at which God physically interacts with our world, and the Temple
therefore acts like a cap on a spiritual oil well. In addition to this, the
favour that Jerusalem apparently holds with all the nations is an aspirational
one, one that has never happened to the full promised extent in the physical
Jerusalem.
In
Christ, we see the New Jerusalem is the Kingdom of God which dwells to a
certain extent within each of us as the Body of Christ, the Church. But this
Kingdom will never be fully complete until the end of the age, when there will
be a new Heaven and a new Earth. And so we need to tread lightly with the
theology of Psalm 48. If we interpret it brashly and without care, then the "city
of God" is none other than Jerusalem, which in this age, is far from being
"the joy of the whole earth". In addition, when we speak of the enemies
are we speaking of the evil that is within us, the devil, or perhaps the
political enemies of current day Israel. No doubt this was not McEwan's,
intention, but it would be no massive leap to see this hymn as a direct
declaration of violent reaction against Palestine and a celebration of its
imminent demise. By contrast this is what Charles does with Psalm 48.
H&P 438/StF 683 Great is
our redeeming Lord
1. GREAT is our
redeeming Lord,
In power, and truth, and
grace
Him, by highest heaven
adored,
His church on earth doth
praise:
In the city of our God,
In his holy mount below,
Publish, spread his name
abroad,
And all his greatness show.
2. For thy loving-kindness,
Lord,
We in thy temple stay;
Here thy faithful love
record,
Thy saving power display:
With thy name thy praise is
known,
Glorious thy perfections
shine;
Earth's remotest bounds shall
own
Thy works are all divine.
3. See the gospel church
secure,
And founded on a rock;
All her promises are sure;
Her bulwarks who can shock?
Count her every precious
shrine;
Tell, to after-ages tell,
Fortified by power divine,
The church can never fail.
4. Zion's God is all our own,
Who on his love rely;
We his pardoning love have
known,
And live to Christ, and die:
To the new Jerusalem
He our faithful guide shall
be:
Him we claim, and rest in
him,
Through all eternity.
[3]
H&P = Hymns and Psalms, StF = Singing the Faith
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