{"id":1711,"date":"2021-05-17T03:44:56","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T01:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/?p=1711"},"modified":"2021-06-19T05:09:28","modified_gmt":"2021-06-19T03:09:28","slug":"the-new-creation-john-wesleys-theology-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/?p=1711","title":{"rendered":"The New Creation: John Wesley\u2019s Theology Today"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Theodore Runyon\u2019s\u00a0<em>The New Creation: John Wesley\u2019s Theology Today<\/em>\u00a0offers a theological reading of John Wesley\u2019s soteriological thought. Runyon argues that Wesley\u2019s views regarding society and social change are rooted in Wesley\u2019s soteriology. He asserts that the renewal of the creation and the creatures through the restoration of the\u00a0<em>image of God<\/em>\u00a0in humanity is what Wesley identifies as the very\u00a0<em>heart<\/em>\u00a0of Christianity. In<em>\u00a0The New Creation<\/em>, Runyon attends to apply Wesley\u2019s views to the contemporary context. Runyon\u2019s methodology suggests that Wesley\u2019s theology must be first examined within Wesley\u2019s own historical theological and socio-cultural context, hence it could be insightfully applied to contemporary communities. Therefore, the author dedicates the\u00a0greatest portion of his book to examine major themes in Wesley\u2019s theology, such as\u00a0<em>imago Dei<\/em>, original sin, prevenient grace, etc.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through his discussion of the Methodist structure of societies, classes, bands; within his broader endeavor to examine Wesley\u2019s social witness, the author argues that Wesley abandoned mysticism early in his ministry. Runyon\u2019s claim may need further examination. A dialogue with Robert G. Tuttle\u2019s\u00a0<em>Mysticism in the Wesleyan Tradition<\/em>\u00a0could enrich the discussion regarding this point.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In\u00a0<em>The New Creation<\/em>\u2019s final chapter, Runyon discusses contemporary themes, such as human rights, religious freedom, poverty, women\u2019s rights, and ecumenism, in the light of Wesley\u2019s writings. Runyon\u2019s understanding of Wesley\u2019s views regarding human rights and religious freedom could enhance the theological discussions on these issues in the Middle East and the Arab World, especially after the Arab revolutions during the second decade of the 21st century. Moreover, the discussion on \u201csanctification\u201d in terms of \u201cparticipation in the energies of God\u201d \u2013 within Runyon\u2019s discussion of the Wesleyan tradition potential contribution in ecumenism \u2013 opens future trajectories in the dialogue between the Wesleyan and the Cappadocian traditions. Runyon concludes his book with a proposal for rethinking the Wesleyan belief of sanctification. In this final proposal, the author deviates from the main Wesleyan stream by suggesting abandoning the instantaneous aspect of the entire sanctification experience, in order to\u00a0harmonize Wesley\u2019s thought with contemporary theological trajectories.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Theodore Runyon\u2019s\u00a0The New Creation: John Wesley\u2019s Theology Today\u00a0offers a theological reading of John Wesley\u2019s soteriological thought. Runyon argues that Wesley\u2019s views regarding society and social change are rooted in Wesley\u2019s soteriology. He asserts that the renewal of the creation and the creatures through the restoration of the\u00a0image of God\u00a0in humanity is what Wesley identifies as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12],"tags":[22,15,18],"class_list":["post-1711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theological-studies","category-wesleyan-studies-book-reviews","tag-book-reviews","tag-theological-studies","tag-wesley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1711"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1924,"href":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711\/revisions\/1924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heavenuponearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}