True Christianity
True Christianity

Author: J. Russell Frazier

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2014-01-22

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 163087339X

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John William Fletcher (1729-1785) was a seminal theologian during the early methodist movement and the Church of England in the eighteenth century. Best known for the Checks to Antinomianism, he worked out a theology of history to defend the church against the encroachment of antinomianism as a polemic against hyper-Calvinism, whose system of divine fiat and finished salvation, Fletcher believed, did not take seriously enough either the activity of God in salvation history or an individual believer's personal progress in salvation. Fletcher made the doctrine of accommodation a unifying principle of his theological system and further developed the doctrine of divine accommodation into a theology of ministry. As God accommodated divine revelation to the frailties of human beings, ministers of the gospel must accommodate the gospel to their hearers in order to gain a hearing for the gospel without losing the goal of true Christianity. This book contains insights for pastors, missionaries, and Christian thinkers on true Christianity from Fletcher, who devoted himself, according to Wesley, to being "an altogether Christian."

The Limits of a Catholic Spirit
The Limits of a Catholic Spirit

Author: Kelly Diehl Yates

Publisher: Lutterworth Press

Published: 2023-06-29

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0718896599

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The Limits of a Catholic Spirit presents an extraordinary, in-depth study of John Wesley's relationship with Catholicism, examining the limits to which Wesley, as an evangelical Protestant, practiced his ideal of a Catholic spirit. Through the use of rare primary sources from the National Archives, Kelly Diehl Yates provides a refreshing investigation of Wesley's interaction and strained relationship with Catholicism, taking the path less trodden in studies of his theology. While revisionist scholars argue that Wesley proposed principles of religious tolerance in his sermon, Catholic Spirit, Yates argues that he did not expect unity between Protestants and Catholics, remaining wedded to anti-Catholic beliefs himself. By paying attention to this previously unfilled gap in Wesley studies, Yates' exemplary historical and critical study tackles questions which have beset Wesley scholars for decades, including Wesley's relationship with the Jesuits, Jacobitism, the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780, and his time in Ireland. Grounded in historical case studies, Yates explores these questions from a fresh perspective, providing answers to these questions, and more.