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Patrick Philipp Streiff Methodist Theology in the 18Th Century Its I I 2. Patrick Philipp Streiff death on t he c ross. Fletcher expla ined his own "reasona ble" understanding of Chri t ian religion before his me e t ing the Me t hodist s in t he following Methodist Theology in the 18th Century Its Bask Structures with the Background of Other Theological (Calvinism) words: "You (Fletcher speaks about himself) be lieve in God, in Jesus Christ, and Philosophical (Enlightenment) Concepts you are a Christian; you don't do wrong to a nybody; you have never A Case Study of Fletcher of Madeley ( 1729-1785) got drunk; you have neve r desired t he wife of your ne ighbour; in general, you fulfil all duties; ~Opie e ven say you do it with accuracy; you go to c hurch, a nd you pra y more regularly t han ma ny; somet ime s you eve n see m to do it wit h ea gerness; c a lm yourself; Jesus Christ died for he sinners a nd his merit will supply what misses you." {letter It i well known that the 18th century was the age of reason and that in Fre nch to his brother Henri Louis, May 11, 17 55). the Wesleys were opposed to C lvinism. It is well known, too, t hat the At this t ime of his life, it was important for Fletcher to obe y the laws Wesleys had a positive understanding of reason and, at t he same t ime, of God. Obedience had to be as perfect as possible. What will be missing Joined the Calvinistic Methodists with their essentia l doctrine of salvation f r perfection at t he t ime of dea t h, wil l be supplied by Christ 's merit. by grace through fait h. Fletcher's Christ ianity was built on moral grounds, not on the "Credo". The important question is, in which way We sleyan Methodist Theology In contrast, t he teaching and li fe of the Me thodists were a rediscovery answered the challenges brought forward by t he age of reason a s well of the "Credo", a redisc overy of Paulinian and Reformation-doctrines. as by the Calvinists. The former ask d not only "How reasonable i your The Met hodists tressed teaching?" but also "What moral impact does it have?". The latte r asked 1) The radica l fall of man into sin out of whic h he can't deliver himse lf; not only "Do you teach salvation by grace alone?" but also "Wh a t do 2) The need of salvat ion in Christ, the justification by grac e t hrough you think about the total depravity of man a nd his u ter ina bilit y to faith in Christ; do any good work what soever?" 3) The holiness of heart and life. In the . 18th and 19t h century, one man was considered a s the theo logian (cf. Let ter of John Wesle y to Lord Da r t mouth, April 19, 1764, Wesley­ and saint of Methodism: John William Fletcher. His t heologica l work Letters ed. Telford, IV, 235-239). -fully approved, highly esteemed and widely circulated by John Wesley - lhese three essentials gave the basic structure to Methodi t theology. reflect s a thorough knowledge of t he cha llenges bot h by "reasonable They were linked with a rediscovery of the powerf I meaning of the Christians" and by Calvinists. In this case study of Fletcher, I will t ry creed, e.g. in pneumatology: The Holy Spirit bring not only e nlightenme nt to s~ow his way of dealing w th theological and philosophical challenge s of reason but is a recrea t ing, renewing power. of his age and what i fundamental to his theology. I will start with So far, there is a basic differe nc e be t we en "reasona ble orthodoxy" and ome very brief biographical notices because every theology is t ied Methodism. But t he most inter est ing and fascinating fact is the wa y up with history. in which Wesleya n Methodists - in opposition to Calvinistic Me t hodist s - t ried to integra te reasonable crit ics against t ra ditional or t hodoxy into Fletcher was born in Switzerland, beside the lake of Geneva. He studied their teaching. The whole t heological c ontrove rsy within Me thodis m between in Geneva, but not theology. He was theologica lly self- t ught. At t he 1770 and 1777 is a cont roversy about t he possibility of integrating new time of his studies, Geneva no more belonged to the Ca lvinistic orthodoxy. insights f a "re asonable Chris tianity" into the basic, common Me thodist Fletcher studied c las ics with a professor who later became one of the teaching of sal ation. Following Arminian tradition, the Wesleyan Methodists leading persons of the so-called "reasonabl orthodoxy". Fle tcher got approved t hi s possibility and t he Calvinistic Me t hodists disapproved. (I nstead to know the influence of enlightenment and t he c rit ics again t Ca lvinistic of "Calvinistic Controversy" I prefer t o speak of the "Antinomian-Pre desti­ orthodoxy already in Geneva. narian Controversy"). The reasonable orthodoxy is c haracterized by three main theme s which I will t a ke three main examples to show in which wa y Fle t cher tried give an inner structure to its whole t heology: t o answer the c hallenge: the t opics of free will, predest ination a nd 1) Man is c reated with a free will. The free wi ll d rives from man being merit. (The most concise t e xt of Fletc her is his "Fictitious and Ge nuine created after the image of God. It is the privileg of man t ha t God C reed" ( 177 5) where you can find his doct rines more ful.l y developed). set s good and e d before him. Man an c haos his way in full libe rt y and responsibilit y. He is a. free, responsible, acting crea t ure. Free will 2) God has given the law. The law is the revela t ion of his will. It is Free will is a ma in t opic in reasonable Christianit y. But how does it the guiding line form an wh1c h he has to obey. Theologically, t he f it in with t he doctrine of t he sinfullness of all ma nkind? If everybody law has a positive meaning. Witho ut it, man would err because of has fallen in to sin, is s pa rated from God, without any possibility to his free will. He need the orders of the law. do good, he has no free wil l in ma t t ers of his salvation. Since the 3) God has linked promise and punishment with hi law in order to educate Refor mat ion, this has been a strong a rgume nt against free wi ll. The man to obedience. Whoev r obeys the law will get eternal life from challe nge of the Calvinists was: How ca n you, Wesleya n Methodist s, God on the day of judgement. Whoever doesn't obe y, will be punished. pre tend to believe in t he falle n state of mankind and at the same time Promise a nd punishment are the reasonable, educa t ional mea ns of speak of the free will of ea ch person? God in order that free man will live in obedi nee to God. The response of Fletc her to solve this contradict ion was a unique inter­ Reasonable orthodoxy teached essentially a pr c tical, moral, educati nal pretation of a doctrine of "initial salvation". Fle tche r realize d that you Christianity. Of course, its theologians could also talk of Christ's m ritorious can 't ju t talk of prevenient grace wor king in man. There are more 3. 4. radical questions to be answered: Is grace irresist a ble or not? If you in talking of foresight whic h is opposite to any true notion of grace ). can re ist grace and if you take eriously the fall of man (h1s t horough Fletcher's oppone nt s, t he Ca lvinist s, brought him t o reahze the impor tance rebellion against God), man wi 1 always resist resistable grace. of biblical passages on God's free , electing grace. Bu t Fle tche r ca me to understand God's elec ting, partial grac e on t he ba sis of the funda mental Fletcher wrote severa t imes in his Chec ks, that he had learnt a lot c ovenant of grace . Wit hin this cove na nt, the re is a t rinit~rian dispensation from his Cal inistic friends. One point was: If the fall of Ada m was of grace both in history a nd in pe rsonal e xpe rienc e . Election and_ re~rn- . not only a stupid disobedience but unbe lief a nd rebellion against God, bation is God's free a nd partial will to spre ad more or less of his d1stmgu1sh­ if it was sin only the irresistable grace of God c ould de liver Adam ing grace, t o give a hi gher or lowe r dispensation but not - _as in Ca lvi- and in him all mankind. Fletcher's doc trine of "init ial salvat ion" took nism - a giving or excluding from salvat ion.
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