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Invitation to a Journey Session Eight: Authoritative Travel Guides
Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illuminated by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason. (The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, 1996, p 74)
[Wesley's via media was] a way of theologizing in which the concern for connecting theological thinking with daily living required that the authoritative written sources of Christian theology be in a living relationship with the visible church (tradition and reason) producing an experience of divine reality that graciously gives rise to even the smallest beginnings of each. (W. Stephen Gunter, "The Quadrilateral and the 'Middle Way'," in Wesley and the Quadrilateral: Renewing the Conversation [Nashville: Abingdon, 1997], p 38)
I. Tradition
Tradition defined
Modern understanding: The normative understanding of Christian history, positively understood as the location of God's continuing work in the world. "Tradition" implies a normative content, and is distinguished from Christian history in general.
Wesley and tradition:
The content of tradition. For Wesley, tradition consisted of those parts of the Christian community in which he recognized some form of unity with the apostolic faith. This involved primarily the first four centuries of the Church, and the earlier history of the Church of England, particularly the documents of the Elizabethan Settlement (i.e., the Thirty-Nine Articles, the Edwardian Homilies, and the Book of Common Prayer). Cf. Wesley's 1777 sermon, "On Laying the Foundation of the New Chapel, near the City Road, London," where he identifies Methodism as "the religion of the whole church in the purest ages," which he links closely to the first 3-4 centuries of the Church and the English Reformation. See also Wesley's "Farther Thoughts on Separation From the Church," written in 1789. Note also Wesley's letter to Sir Harry Trelawny from August, 1780, where he says that the Church of England, "with all her blemishes, [is] nearer the scriptural plan than any other in Europe."
The authority of tradition. Prior to 1737, Wesley appealed to tradition based on the doctrinal purity and continuity of the early church. For him, the practices observed in the early church were of apostolic origin, and were therefore binding on all Christian communities. After 1737, Wesley appeals to tradition and the ancient church more out of an appeal to moral purity than consensus regarding doctrinal practice. (Cf. Ted A. Campbell, Wesley and the Quadrilateral, p 69).
Regarding the tradition of the Church of England, the authority Wesley acknowledged was that of the foundational documents of Anglicanism, not so much the living authority of the church as it existed in his day. He believed that these Anglican documents reflected the purity of the apostolic faith.
Wesley also attempted a "via media" between Roman Catholicism and the Reformed Tradition regarding the authority of tradition.
Wesley was ever concerned to steer a middle course between the Scylla of Catholic elevation and the Charybdis of Reformed denigration. He believed that Christians had to think and live creatively within the context of church history rather than undervaluing its valid place and function. But in affirming tradition's place as a religious authority. Wesley then had to determine its relation to Scripture and how it best functioned in illuminating and bringing biblical truths to life. (Thorsen, The Wesleyan Quadrilateral, p 155)
For Wesley, tradition played a vital role in the interpretation of Scripture and the development of central motifs of religious belief. He often used the hermeneutical principle of consulting the ancient fathers when dealing with complex biblical passages. He believed them to be the most authentic commentators of Scripture, and he seriously studied their writings during the course of his life.
The uses of tradition. At times, Wesley appealed to tradition to buttress his arguments against theological opponents (e.g., against the Calvinists, Wesley quoted Augustine's dictum that "he who created us without ourselves will not save us without ourselves." At other times, Wesley cited tradition positively in defense of certain Anglican theological positions. (Cf. Wesley and the Quadrilateral, p 72)
But by far the largest appeal to tradition in Wesley was for the purpose of promoting renewal within the Church of England. Wesley cited precedents in the ancient church for his societies, watch night services, and love feasts. And he also cited his own Anglican tradition against the Anglican culture of his day (e.g., Wesley believed that the Methodists had recovered the early Anglican view of justification which had subsequently become moralistic and oriented toward works righteousness).
Summary of Wesley on tradition
For Wesley, tradition was useful in that it gave evidence to the authority of the Old and New Testaments, and in the way that it faithfully interpreted, communicated, and applied the content of the Gospel. This was especially true of the way tradition helped to explicate the "Scripture Way of Salvation," i.e., the soteriological thrust of the Bible in terms of 1) original sin, 2) justification by faith, and 3) sanctification and holy living. Donald Thorsen notes:
Wesley considered tradition second only to Scripture as a source of religious authority, to the degree that it reflected both the intellectual content and the spiritual vitality of Christian faith. Tradition, especially as found the ecumenical creeds and patristic writings of Christian antiquity, supplemented church doctrine in matters where Scripture was silent. To the extent that the Holy Spirit continued to direct decisions in the early church, Wesley believed tradition was an essential extension of the witness of Scripture. Sensing the need to be critical in evaluating tradition, Wesley believed that Christians are capable of separating the wheat from the chaff. Having sifted the wheat, Christians should learn from and appreciate the truth regardless which tradition it springs from. (The Wesleyan Quadrilateral, p 168)
II. Reason
Wesley's definition of reason
Basic Definition: A reason or argument, i.e., an explanation for our motives or justification for our actions
Philosophical definition: Reason is a tool or capacity for understanding. For Wesley, reason does not generate knowledge on its own, but only processes data and knowledge that originate in experience. Reason is a tool, not a source:
When we say that reason is a "tool," we are asserting that for Wesley reason is an authority in a very different way from Scripture, experience, or tradition. The other three authorities are all similar. Though they each carry different weight, all three are resources from which to draw data; reason alone, on the other hand, yields no data. It is only a tool that processes data from other sources. (Rebekah Miles, Wesley and the Quadrilateral, p 78)
Once again, Wesley is attempting to steer a "middle course" between two opposing camps, the Cambridge Platonists and the Oxford Aristotelians (Empiricists). For the Platonists, reason has within itself eternal truths that transcend our ordinary human experience. The Empiricists, on the other hand, rejected the notion of innate ideas and subscribed to the motto that "nothing is in the understanding which was not first perceived by the senses."
In the tradition of the British empiricists, Wesley claims that experience, not reason, is the primary source of human knowledge (empiricism is the greek term for "experience"). Reason is simply a tool, a faculty of the mind for understanding and working with data. But in a departure from the Empiricists, Wesley claimed that God gives "spiritual senses" to believers, enabling them to see, hear, and taste the spiritual realm - to know and feel the presence of God. (Wesley and the Quadrilateral, p 135). Rebekah Miles notes:
Because Wesley believed in the spiritual senses, he could remain an empiricist, insisting on reason's dependence on experience, while still claiming that humans could have direct knowledge of the spiritual realm. The spiritual senses allowed Wesley to unite his empiricist method with platonic ends. (Wesley and the Quadrilateral, p 92)
Our spiritual senses, therefore, are not innate. They are a gift of prevenient grace. They are latent, but not automatically operative. They are "switched on," or become operative, by the work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth.
How Reason Functions (for Wesley)
Simple apprehension: noticing or taking in data presented to the senses.
Judgment: processing new data in relation to old data; comparing, contrasting, judging. Differentiating, sorting and categorizing data in relation to each other.
Discourse: The mind begins to think actively with the data, progressing from one judgment to another. Ideas are not only compared and contrasted, but new, mediating ideas are formed. We see what is, but also imagine what might be. (Wesley and the Quadrilateral, p 87)
Limits of Reason
Reason alone cannot be a source of knowledge about God or of God. It may provide a cursory knowledge about God, but not a detailed knowledge. However, Wesley was more optimistic about the potential of reason when it was "in good company" (i.e., the data of experience, the spiritual senses, and Scripture).
Reason fails to produce the three primary Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love. Faith, for example, is consistent with reason, but not produced by reason. Because hope depends on faith, reason cannot produce it, either. And reason is impotent to produce or engender love for God.
Reason cannot produce happiness.
Reason is tainted by sin. It is subject to distortion and deceit and false conclusions, even among godly Christians. This is especially true during times of spiritual crisis or doubt. (Cf. Wesley's sermons, "The Case of Reason Impartially Considered," and "The Imperfection of Human Knowledge.")
Summary of Wesley on Reason
Wesley was logic on horseback, and reason enfleshed. His style and personality were driven by rationality. Wesley's rational, logical structure fit right into Enlightenment era. It is easy to see that accusations of enthusiasm and irrationality provoked his emphatic defense of the rationality of the Methodists..., Wesley tried to find a happy medium between those who discounted reason and those who valued it too highly. (Miles, Wesley and the Quadrilateral, pp 83-84)
III. Experience
Types of Experience in Wesley: (cf. Maddox, WQ, 108ff.)
The conscious awareness of being affected by an event or action. This emphasizes the subjective dimension. This usage is prominent in religious traditions that highlight the need for a "felt" personal relationship with God (including Methodism).
Sympathetic understanding derived from similar subjective experiences. This type of experience is still subjective, but the focus shifts from our being affected to insight gained through the occasion which enables us to sympathize with others who undergo similar events.
Practical skill developed through repeated performance. Persons who are skilled at their trade, vocation, etc., not through book knowledge alone, but by lengthy practice under many circumstances.
Practical/moral wisdom derived from life-long learning. Developing wisdom about the "art of living" through challenges and opportunities which life presents. (cf. Proverbs, where "wisdom" is defined as the art or skill of living wisely and well, not the accumulation of data.)
Practical "testing" or trial and error as a means of determining truth. Maddox notes: While Wesley appreciated the prominent role of empirical observation in modern science, he questioned the assumption that reliable insights into truth emerge only in professional environments where research is focused on testing prespecified hypotheses. He was convinced that we should continue to value the way that truth is discovered through the accidents of life and ordinary trial-and-error, even in a field like medicine. (WQ, p 111)
Observation of facts or events as a source of knowledge. (i.e., publicly verifiable observation of facts or events)
Uses of Experience in Wesley
Experience is useful in empowering Christlike living. E.g., the spiritual senses and the "witness of the Spirit," provide us direct knowledge of God.
Note: Wesley's use and emphasis of this more subjective side of experience is almost exclusively confined to the role of empowering Christlike living. When it comes to the role of experience in determining or testing doctrine, Wesley appeals to another type of experience to serve that function. See below.
Experience can provide guidance for our spiritual pilgrimage. We look to experience to help us "put to work" God's gracious empowerment in our lives. Wesley uses experience here, however, in the corporate and communal sense of the gathered wisdom of the Christian community over time. (Cf. Maddox, WQ, p 119)
Experience can provide guidance in doctrinal decisions. It helps not so much in demonstrating the truth of doctrinal claims, but in the prior question of what to teach as doctrinal standard, and what to keep teaching. When it comes to guidance in doctrinal matters, Wesley's emphasis was once again upon the public, corporate, and long term experience of the Christian community. It involved the practice of "Christian Conference," and the practice of consulting the wisdom of past saints. Maddox observes:
...the experience which most benefitted Wesley in doctrinal reflection was not the elite observational experience of the Enlightenment scholar, let alone the elite inner experience of certain forms of mysticism. It was the pastoral wisdom that is nurtured by practical testing in the daily corporate life of the Christian community and is enriched by conferring broadly with the experience of others, past and present. (WQ, 125)
Interestingly, the role of experience in providing guidance in doctrinal matters is most focal in current debates regarding the Quadrilateral. Yet, this was not the area of Wesley's primary focus regarding experience. In addition, many of our modern discussions relative to experience and the Quadrilateral revolve around the personal, subjective dimension, whereas in Wesley the focus was on the corporate, communal, time-tested dimension.
For Further Reading:
John Wesley. "On Laying the Foundation of the New Chapel, Near the City Road, London." WJW, Volume 3.
John Wesley. "Farther Thoughts on Separation From the Church." Works [Jackson], Volume 13.
John Wesley. An Earnest Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion. WJW, Volume 11.
John Wesley. "A Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion." WJW, Volume 11.
John Wesley. "The Nature of Enthusiasm." WJW, Volume 2.
John Wesley. "The Case of Reason Impartially Considered." WJW, Volume 2.
John Wesley. "The Imperfection of Human Knowledge." WJW, Volume 2.
Ted A. Campbell. John Wesley and Christian Antiquity: Religious Vision and Cultural Change. Nashville: Kingswood, 1991.
Donald A.D. Thorsen. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral: Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience as a Model of Evangelical Theology. Indianapolis, IN: Light and Life Communications, 1997.
W. Stephen Gunter, et al. Wesley and the Quadrilateral: Renewing the Conversation. Nashville: Abingdon, 1997.
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