Book digitized by Google and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.

My thesis is: A process-theological reading of Wesley's doctrine of perfection, by constructing an adequate concept of God in process, gives renewed importance and vitality to Wesley's doctrine of perfection, a doctrine that has been confused and virtually ignored even by Methodists themselves, despite the central importance Wesley himself assigns it. Why, then, has Wesley's doctrine of perfection been so often misunderstood, confused or even ignored from his time until today? The clue to the answer lies in the failure clearly to heed the distinction between the two senses of divine perfection: perfected perfection (a static state of perfection) and perfecting perfection (a never ending aspiration for all of loves perfecting fullness). I suggest that the notion of perfected perfection in God's essence is not theologically adequate, given the Christian belief in God as love. What should be rejected is the idea of perfection as perfected, influenced by the Greeks, in which love in its essence as relation is impossible. The problem of this doctrine of perfection as perfected will not be solved without first constructing an adequate concept of God in perfecting perfection, that is, God in process. The primary method that I will use is, thus, "theological construction." By constructing God in process, I want to recapture the doctrine of perfection as perfecting in Wesley's theology. For Wesley, Christian perfection, that is, perfecting perfection, is a life of love that is interchangeably love of God and love of creatures. I believe that a process interpretation of Christian perfection clarifies the relational love for God and the world at the heart of Wesley's doctrine of perfection. Process metaphysics can provide a theological foundation to construct an adequate concept of God in perfecting perfection, in which God and the world can enjoy perfect love that is ever growing.

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/2562/thumbnail.jpg

35 p. : 21 cm

Continued by General minutes of the annual conferences of the Methodist Church issued by the Methodist Church (U.S.)

87 p. ; 19 cm

Description based on: 1946; title from cover

It is well established that John Wesley’s understanding of faith shifted radically between 1735 and 1740. The nature of that shift is variously understood, but most agree that Wesley shifted from defining faith as assent only to faith as a heartfelt trust; from faith as a bottom-up effort to faith as a top-down gift. What is often overlooked is that Wesley’s new version of faith was influenced by his previous epistemological commitments. Faith, accordingly, is defined in terms of a conscious state, something not deducible by inference but directly available to its subject, and located epistemologically at the forefront of the mind’s tripartite operations.