Revised edition of: John Wesley's scriptural Christianity. c1994.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Introduction : The teaching homily as Christian doctrine : The scope of Wesley's teaching ; The teaching homily ; The whole compass of divinity. Wesley's evangelical connection of spiritual formation : The connection ; The scope of Wesleyan connection today. My purpose : Why I write on Wesley: a not on vocation ; Clear exposition ; Adhering to primary sources. History and doctrine : The chief mentor of modern Wesley studies ; Whether Wesley was a systematic theologian ; How to make practical use of this study -- God : Attributes of God : The eternity of God ; Time ; The omnipresence of God ; The unity of the divine being ; Relational attributes: goodness, mercy, holiness, spirit ; God, happiness, and religion ; True and false religion ; The wisdom of God's counsels ; The first article of the articles of religion: on God. God the father, God the son, God the spirit : On the trinity ; Spiritual worship-on triune spirituality -- The primacy of scripture : The authority of scripture : The primacy and normative authority of the plain sense of scripture ; The analogy of faith ; Spirit and scripture ; Scripture, conscience, and general revelation. The inspiration of holy scripture : A clear and concise demonstration of the divine inspiration of holy scripture ; Wesley as commentator on scripture ; On corrupting the word of God -- God's particular method of working -- Tradition : Tradition as the consensual reception of the apostolic teaching : The unchanging apostolic tradition of scripture teaching through changing history ; Wesley as editor of classic Christian writings -- Reason : On reason : Reason as God's gift ; Reasoning out of scripture ; The case of reason impartially considered ; What reason can and cannot do ; The imperfection of human knowledge. Natural philosophy : Whether there is gradual improvement in natural philosophy ; On human understanding -- Experience : On experience : The necessity and limits of experience in religion : On spiritual senses ; On living without God-the parable of the tree toad ; The new birth of spiritual senses. On enthusiasm : The nature of enthusiasm ; Types of enthusiasm ; How scripture corrects experience. The Catholic spirit : The premise of tolerance ; Challenging latitudinarianism ; To a Roman Catholic--a irenic letter. A caution against bigotry : Why bigotry is an offense against the Catholic spirit ; How the spirit of bigotry is tested ; How to examine our own bigotry -- Creation, providence, and evil : The goodness of creation : God's approbation of His works ; The free-will defense. Spiritual creation : Of good angels ; Of evil angels. Providence : On divine providence ; Special providence ; On God's sovereignty. Theodicy : Whence comes evil? ; The promise of understanding in the future. Evil : On natural evil ; The groaning of creation and the general deliverance -- Man : Human existence: created, fallen, and redeemed : The anthropology of the articles of religion ; Free will after the fall (article 8). The image of God : In his own image ; Whether the image of god may be recovered. What is man? Two discourses : Man in space, man in time (first discourse) ; On the greatness of the human soul within space and time ; Suppose there were other worlds ; I find something in me that thinks (second discourse) ; Human life a dream ; Heavenly treasure in earthen vessels ; Countering the overreach of natural science -- Sin : On the deceitfulness of the human heart : Why optimists forever misjudge the human heart ; Toward scriptural realism about the human heart: why desperately wicked? ; Why deceitful above all things? ; Toward the mending of self-deceived will. On the fall of man : Why does God allow misery and heartache in the world he loves? ; The consequence of sin for the body-soul composite. Spiritual idolatry : Keep yourselves from idols ; Idolatry in the form of sensuality ; Idolatry in the form of pride ; The idols of imagination ; Inordinate love of money and sex ; Whether penitent faith can break the bondage of idolatry -- Original sin : The doctrine of original sin according to scripture, reason , and experience : Why Wesley wrote his longest treatise on sin ; Whether sin is a socially transmitted disease ; Combating the deist denial of original sin: a searching response to John Taylor. Evidences of sin displayed in the history of sin : Human history attests the universality of corruption ; Whether human corruptibility and misery are found universally. Sociological evidences of the universality of human corruption : The universality of sin in nontheistic cultures ; The universality of sin in theistic cultures ; The universality of sin in predominantly christian cultures ; Whether war is a prototype of social sin ; Experiential self-examination confirms the universality of sin ; The unhappiness of universal human history is due to the unholiness of human choices. Learning from scripture about original sin : From the beginning ; Whether one suffers from another's sin. Sin and death : Distinguishing temporal death from spiritual death ; Whether redemption in Christ makes up for losses suffered in Adam ; The Westminster catechism on original sin. Adam's headship with Eve's cooperation : Adam as a public person: on federal headship ; The consequence of Adam's fall for subsequent human history ; The abyss into which humanity plunged ; Distinguishing original sin from actual sin. Answering the questions on the insidious spread of sin : The intergenerational sociality of sin ; The communication of the sin of Adam and Eve to all humanity ; Whether loss of communion with God sharpens the sting of unexplained suffering ; Whether there remains a natural tendency to sin ; Whether guilt may be imputed from one to another. The hidden link between redemption and original sin : Original sin and new birth ; Reframing Wesley's doctrine within contemporary culture. V. 1. God and providence -- v. 2. Christ and salvation -- v. 3. The practice of pastoral care -- v. 4. Issues of ethics and society.
"Wesley was a prolific writer and commentator on Scripture, yet it is commonly held that he was not systematic or internally consistent in his theology and doctrinal teachings. On the contrary, Thomas C. Oden intends to demonstrate here that Wesley displayed a remarkable degree of consistency over sixty years of preaching and ministry. The book helps readers to grasp Wesley's essential teachings in an accessible form so that the person desiring to go directly to Wesley's own writings (which fill eighteen volumes) will know exactly where to turn."--Publisher's description.