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 in the 18th Century Its Bask Structures with the Background of Other Theological () 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 -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 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 : John William Fletcher. His t heologica l work Letters ed. Telford, IV, 235-239). -fully approved, highly esteemed and widely circulated by - 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 , 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 . 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 , 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 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. The free e lecting gr~ce up the point. It gave th ological grounds t o talk of prevenient gra e. of God working in a three fold dispe nsa t ion as Fa ther, Son and Spm t Unless God had been gracious to Adam, he would have died a nd with was Flet c her's "key and sword" to understand t he respective biblical him all mankind. But, as Paul says: "So the n, as the one sin condemned passages (and highly e st ee med by John Wesley). Because God doesn 't all mankind, in the same way the one righteous act sets all ma nkind want t o force man as a free, responsa ble pe rson, man can resist God 's free and gives them life" (Rom. V, 1&). It is t he fundame ntal covenant elect ing grace. But man has to bear responsibilit y for his refusing of grace. In1t1al salvation means: God's gra ce in Christ is given t o God's grace . everyone; it is saving grace; it is irresista ble. ln init ial sal~atio~, God If we look at Fletcher's d ctrine of e lec t ion and re probation, he is restore free wi11 in man, which is no more na t ural free wtll (given again strongly influe nced by Calv inistic insights into biblical t ruth (God's in creation) but graciously (through Christ's merits) freed will. All God 's freedom in spreading grac e ) but a t t he same t ime ea ger to respe ct . . _ further work in grace needs no more to be ir resist a ble because He has reasonable arguments aga inst Calvi nist ic pre destina t ion (man 's respons1bd 1t y freed the will of man to choose what is good. Ma n is again a responsable, has to be taken seriously). free acting partner. Free will i no more in cont radict ion t o free grace but is itself a consequence of a initial gracious act of God the Redeemer. Three point s in Fletc her's understanding of election a nd re proba tion ca n Ever y good act of man is based on God 's free grace e nabling man to be underlined: do good. Man is a free acting, responsable person no longer by creation a) It stresses God 's freedom: God is absolutely free in the dispensation but by redempnon. of his grace. He is not bound t o t he foresight of man 's acts. The freedom of God needn't frighten man. God uses his freedom w1 hin Methodists in the 19th and 20th century have oft en talked of free will, his covenant of grace in Christ wit h everyone. God will ne ve r be responsable man prevenient grace without being cle ar e nough about a t yrant playing with e t ernal life or dea th of man. He t a nds to his the theological grounds of the1r posit ion and therefore, of its consequences. covena nt. He is love (A t heme more fu lly deverloped by F letcher I wi ll just mention four consequences of Fletcher's doctrine: in his la t er yea rs). a) Because we always live beyond Eden, even man freed through initial b) Initial sa lvation is not synonymous with final salvation. The hist ory salvation turns again to sin and stands in need of repentance a nd in between (both of ma nki nd and of individua ls) is dynamic. The re justification through faith. Therefore , the Methodist s put a strong is a develo pment from t he dispensation of the Fa t her to t he dispensa tion emphasis on evangeli zing. of the Son a nd to t he dispensa t ion of t he Spirit. It is a dynamic b) Initial salvation is real salv tion. Babi es or ment a ll y handicapped way ena bl ing t o lea d t hrough justific a t ion and sa nc t if ic a t ion up to people who can't confess their faith are neverthe le ss saved. On this 01ri st ian pe rfe ction or pure lo ve. background the Methodists stressed t hat Christ died for a ll, and the y c) The Trinity is no more a obscure doctrine which has to be believed had good reason for infant bapt ism , too. wit hout be ing fully understood, but a n e xpression of the life of God c) Even the heathens needn't be lost. Wit h enlight ened Christ ia ns, Flet c he r (Anot her t he me more fully developed by Fletc her in his later yea rs). was convinced that God never requires more t han he give s (cf. Minutes The Holy Spirit is no more restric ted to an enlighte nment of reason. of the Conference I 770, point 3/2; Acts X, 32) a nd never requ ires It is a changing power. The Me t hodists react ualized fundame ntal explicit faith if someone has no possibility t o hear the Good Ne ws. biblic a l trut h. A dead reed for enlightene d Christian in 18th c ent ur y Mission according to Fletcher, was originally base d on t he willingness beca me a vita l doctrine. to bring the brighter light of t he explic it reve lat ion in Christ to a ll mankind. Merit d) Through the initial salvation in Christ, nobody is excluded from the The t hird e xa mple is the notion of merit. The Confe rence Minutes of working of God's grace. But this prevenient grace is no longer irresist a ble 1770 whic h had been the starting point of the a nt inomian-pre destinarian because God doesn't force His will against freed man. The working cont rove rsy of the se ve nt ie , stated in point 6: of this common grace (common to e veryone) is not only t he grac e "As to merit itse lf, of whic h we have bee n so dreadfully afraid: of the Creator t o sustain creation (as wit h Ca lvinist s) but the grace we a re re wa rded "a ccording t o our works", yea "because of our wor ks". of the Redeemer. It wants to lead man to fina l salva tion. How doe s t his diffe r from for t he sake of our works? And how diffe rs this from sec undum merita operum , - as our works deserve? Can lTedestination you split t his ha ir? I doubt I cannot." A second example of the challenge both from Ca lvinist s and from en­ For Calvinists, "me rit" in relation t o human acts was a horrible word lightened Christians to Methodist t heology is the interpre t a tion of opening a gat e for salvat ion by works. For enlightened Christians the predestination. works and merits of men are necessa r y and will be judge d by a God Arminian theology didn't talk of f ree, e lect ing grace of God (except who rewa rds a nd punishes according t o the a cts of man. Wesleyan 5. 6.

Methodists had a different understanding. They t ried to re-inte rpre t only give a valuable cont ribution to the mission of t he whole church the words merit , reward, worthiness according to biblical passages of Christ if it stands the t wofo ld test of ke epin g fait hful to the basic and their understanding of God 's grac . tenets of Christian fait h and of remaining open t o the challe nge of Everybody has to appear before God 's throne and will be judge d according modern societ y ( social and political implic at ions and consequences of to his works. The judgement will not only involve our acts but our t heology). Ext remes have t o be overcome: If we we re only inte rested thoughts and desires as we ll. Everyone wil l be judged according to the in evange lizing and in personal a spects of fait h, we would lose our dispensation of grace he has received. Works of man are good if they credibil it y and impac t in modern socie t y. If we were only in te rested are founded in truth. Christ Js the trut h. Pharis aic se lf-sufficiency can in establishing more justice in this world and in living in be t te r harmony never bring forth good works. There c an 't be any self- mer it in good wi th nat ure , we would lose ourselves in hopeless activism (hope less because it would not be rooted in God's changing power). The rediscovery (i n works. Every good work is primarily rooted in God's grace and only 11 11 secondarily in hu man obedience. God 's judge ment is gracious in t hat every generation) of t he powerful life behind t he Credo has to be He doesn't demand anything which He hadn't given beforehand. It is linked with an openess of spirit towards modern challenges and needs. ju t in so far as God judges everyone without par t ialit y according to what he has received. God rewards the good works of man, but it is by grace and man can never claim it (in c laim ing it, man withdraws from grace and becomes proud). God rewards in his overwhelming grace t he fruits of that grace tie initially gave to everyone. The belie ver will be blessed in a double way. Whoever neglects t he grace of God will be punished. lhe judgement is the impartia l and and reprobation according to God's retributive justice. Reprobation therefore has no longer any notion of free-wrath in God. The doctrine of a last judgement according to t he works or the fruits of grace was impor ant to secure the basic doc trine of salvat ion by grace, rooted in the merit and sacrifice of Christ alone, against ant i­ nomian interpretation. For Wesleyan Meth dists, it was the only safe­ guard against fai th without works. On the ot her ha nd, t he only sa feguard against pride and self- righteousness was in t heir doc t rine of grace, fundamental to every good wo rk. No one can stand in front of God in confidence of his own good works, bu t only in re lying on God 's a bundant grace enabling him to do good works.

In all thr e examples (free will, predest inat ion a nd me r it) one can discover the influence of arguments both from Calvinism (wit h its roots in Paul's letters and the Reformation) and fro enlighte nment (wit h its influence 11 in church through "reasonable Chr istianit y ) . All t he same Fletche r pre ents not a theological potpourri bu t a well e la borated t heology. The valuable contribution oi We leyan Me t hodist theology in t 8th cent ury is twofold: a) Their theology is faithful to the fundamental doc t rines of Pa ul and the Ref rmation (contrary to all kinds of reasonable Chris t iani t y). It t akes part with the whole Method is t movement (including Ca lvini t ic Met hodists) in the rediscovery of basic tenets of Christian faith (the creed is no more a obscure, dead doctrine). b) We leyan Methodist theology is open to t he challenges of t he age (contrary to the Calvinist ic Methodists) and t ries to int egra te them without losing the basic tenets of faith. It takes part wit h t he who le age of reason in a re-discovery of the responsibility and gift s of man and in the importance of ethics.

Let me add a personal word at the end: t he challenge nowada ys has develoi:i,ed from reasonable theology and moral Christ ianit y to a world­ wide social dimension of theology and to politica l Chr istianity (politica l in a broad sense). The c rit 1ci m of reason (after t he c riticism of re ligion in 19th century) tresses the consequences of every t hought, doc t r ine or act for human society and in recent t imes more and more for the whole realm of nature with in wh ich we live . Me t hodi st t heo logy ca n