John Wesley: Catholic Evangelical

Examining chiefly Wesley's "Sermons on Several Occasions" (i.e., tracts), the course delineates Wesley's theological identity. It locates Wesley in his immediate environment: theological, religious, intellectual and social. It honours Wesley's insistence on a "practical divinity" that subserves evangelism and Christian formation rather than speculation--without thereby sacrificing theological substance, academic integrity or ecumenical significance. It probes important aspects of his theological formation; e.g., his grasp of the Magisterial and English Reformation, his expertise in Patristics, his debt to the Puritans, his affinity with aspects of Eastern Orthodoxy, and his appreciation of Counter-Reformation spirituality.