Beyond the quadrilateral: The place of nature in John Wesley’s epistemology of theology

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Beyond the quadrilateral: The place of nature in John Wesley’s epistemology of theology
 
Creator Pratt Morris-Chapman, Daniel J.
 
Subject Theology; Epistemology; Philosophy epistemology of theology; John Wesley; nature; natural philosophy; wesleyan quadrilateral; William Abraham
Description Many writers have sought to outline Wesley’s conception of how human beings obtain revelational knowledge. In this regard, the use of what has been dubbed the Wesleyan quadrilateral continues to remain widespread in both the academy and the pulpit. However, this presentation of Wesley’s thought has received severe criticism from the late William Abraham, philosopher of religion and Methodist commentator. He has proposed the creation of a new subdiscipline in epistemology for examining theology. This view has prompted a handful of attempts to extrapolate John Wesley’s epistemology of theology from his various writings. The present essay will contribute to this discussion by examining Wesley’s approach to these questions. In doing so, it explores mainly the function and place of nature in Wesley’s theological reflections. Drawing mainly upon Wesley’s A View of the Wisdom of God in Creation (1763), this essay shows that the natural world (read: creation) played an important, neglected role in Wesley’s epistemology of theology.Contribution: This article contributes to a new subdiscipline in epistemology for examining theology by presenting a new perspective on John Wesley by exploring the role of nature in his thought. Offering an epistemological–theological interpretation of John Wesley, this article fits well within the scope of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, particularly this subsection.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2022-07-14
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Historical Inquiry; Literary Analysis
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v78i2.7643
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 78, No 2 (2022); 8 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
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https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7643/22596 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7643/22597 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7643/22598 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7643/22599
 
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Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Daniel J. Pratt Morris-Chapman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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