Preface
The genesis of this book came from my master thesis of
the same title for an MA in Ministry/Religion. I have since earned an MA in
European History and PhD n Cultural History.
Interest in the topic came from the course work for
the Ministry/Religion degree and being an ordained minister (at the time,13-years)
and the significance of the denominational distinctives of the organization I
was connected to in 1999.
I was ordained in the Full Gospel Methodist Church
headquartered in Rochester, NY in 1986 (Licensed 1984) serving as an
Evangelist. In 1988, while ministering
as a youth leader in a local Wesleyan Church in Ogdensburg, NY, I began
the process of transferring my ordination.
During this time, I started filling pulpits finalizing my transfer in
1992 and entering pastoral ministry shortly thereafter. While an ordained minister
in the Wesleyan Church I served as a pastor in three different churches,
served as the Director of Christian Education and of District Youth in the Easter
New York - New England District, retiring from ministry in 2006.
The Wesleyan Church came about from the unification of
the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Pilgrim Holiness Church in
1968. The Wesleyan Methodist Church (an abolitionist church) separated
from the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1843. The Methodist Episcopal
Church had its beginnings in the Great Awakening of the 1730's & 1740's
with Methodism (which originated with John Wesley) spreading across the
colonies by the 1760's. John Wesley ordained the first ministers in 1784. In
1968 the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Evangelical United
Brethren united to form the United Methodist Church.
Methodist denominations have Wesley's theology in
common and the distinctive of not just justification by faith but additionally
the distinctives of sanctification and entire sanctification, the idea of
Christian perfection.
This concept of Christian perfection fascinated me; to
be perfect, how? How did this theology
of John Wesley come about? How is it actuated? Was mysticism involved? This is
what led me to the thesis and later to this book.
Rev.
Dr. Ernest R. Rugenstein
Introduction
When the majority of people
hear the word "mystic" or "mysticism" a certain interpretation is enjoined, and
certain images arise. Frequently when people hear or read the word mystic, they
automatically assume Eastern Mysticism with its beliefs and practices. To
others the New Age movement with its mysticism and somewhat cultish followers
is proffered as an ideological possibility. Still there are those who think of
Christian mystics, those who sat on poles, in trees, or lived in caves to prove
their devotion to God and to experience a special closeness.
There is no doubt that mysticism has long been part of
the Christian church. Certainly, we find it in the "Old" Testament as well as
in the Gospels and Epistles. The best example of mysticism in the New Testament
is the Day of Pentecost. This is Biblically specified as the presence of the
"Holy Spirit" falling upon the crowd with "tongues of fire" upon their heads
allowing them to speak in other languages. It was seen in a Biblical sense as a
union between God and humanity with outright manifestations.
Christian mysticism didn't
disappear at the close of the Apostolic Age nor was it resigned to the
ascetics. Many within the church saw it as a viable expression of divine
interaction changing the believer with subtle changes over a long period of
time or in some cases catastrophic in the blink-of-an-eye change. An
investigation into Christian mystics such as Saint Teresa, Francis de Sales,
Gregory of Nyssa, Thomas á Kempis, William Law and others who show that they wrote
or testified to this mystical experience having a dramatic impact on their
lives.
What's
interesting is that these mystical experiences not only affect the individual,
but through the individual it can affect institutions, ideologies, and denominations
around the world. Sometimes it affects the understanding of the Eucharist as to
whether it take the form of transubstantiation, consubstantiation, or is it
simply a memorial to what was taught in scriptures. Other times it seems to
manifest itself in the process of salvation or even in forms of personal piety.
Mysticism has been seen to manifest in all forms of Christianity. It has found
expression from the cult-like such as the Shakers and the Oneida Community to
those who are socially accepted as more fundamental Christian denominations,
for example Pentecostal, Charismatic, Evangelical and Holiness movements, to
mainline Protestant denominations and of course the Catholic church. The Holy
Catholic Church and its present iteration the Roman Catholic Church has for
centuries acknowledged and generally accepted the mystics within their midst.
Even though some in the church may not have readily accepted these mystics they
none the less realize the richness they added to the church.
When we look at the how mysticism was an influence, we
find that the founders of these denominations or at least significant
influencers had been either positively or negatively influenced by an
experience that they labeled as mystical. When we look at these individuals who
had such an impact we find people from Mother Ann Lee, John Noyes, Madam Guyon,
Joseph Smith, Charles Fox Parham, to Saint Teresa , Francis de Sales, Gregory
of Nyssa, Thomas á Kempis, Meister Eckhart, William Law. It is supposed by many
that John Wesley who was one of the founders of Methodism was also affected by
a mystical experience.
Bishop William R. Cannon, Bishop of the United
Methodist Church, stated in the forward of Dr. Robert G. Tuttle's monograph, Mysticism in the Wesleyan Tradition,
that Rev. John Wesley was highly influenced by Christian mysticism and that it
formed the essences of his Doctrine of Christian Perfection.
However, there are those who feel Wesley wasn't just
influenced but was a mystic himself.
Wesley both praised and condemned mysticism a number of times both before and after his Aldersgate experience. Wesley was in
a group reading of Luther's introduction to the Epistle to the Romans and as they
were reading Luther's
description of the alteration God makes
in man's heart, he
underwent a conversion experience. Luther said he had his assurance of salvation
where his intellectual conviction was changed into a personal experience.
The book is divided into six major sections. The first
of which is entitled Definitions and Terms. Because the terms used in
the book can have varied definitions and connotation the 'chapter' of the book
gives a common understanding to each,
What is mysticism is covered in the first chapter.
Various mystics and types of mysticism are investigated in this chapter and
give us an introduction to Chapter 2: The Mystics in john Wesley's Life.
It is here we see how widely read Wesley was on the subject even reading
mystics he disagreed with.
One of the mystics Wesley was fascinated with from a
young age was Thomas á
Kempis. Kempis was a favorite of Wesley's mother, and she encouraged John
Wesley to internalize his distinctives and writings. Chapter 3 investigates
this intellectual interaction between Kempis and Wesley.
Chapter 4 takes a closer look
at mysticism and the effect it had on Wesley's theology with Kempis' mysticism
at the base of it. The final section is a literature review of some of the more
important sources used.
It is well known that Wesley was well read in the
writings of the mystics and even praised a few, yet it seems many believe that
Wesley's theology hadn't any connection to mysticism
at all. So, the question some may ask: Did mysticism have an influence on John
Wesley's theology?