Wesley Outdoors
In addition to preaching outdoors, John Wesley saw nature as "the first Bible" based on God's creation of the world. beginning in Genesis. (File Illustration)
July 23, 2024
Looking through Wesley windows, we see the milieu in which Wesleyan formation exists. Theology never operates in a vacuum. It is a response to something larger. With respect to Wesleyan formation, the milieu is multi-faceted, I must explore it in several posts. I begin with nature—the largest milieu. [1]
harper ident 2024
Beginning in the first creation story (Genesis 1:1—2:4), the Wesleys began with original righteousness, not original sin. [2] They saw, celebrated, and proclaimed the essential goodness noted seven times by the Genesis writer. This is a topic to which I must and will return because it is that first biblical “splash” which created a ripple effect in Wesleyan formation. For now, I will only note that a belief in original righteousness shapes the salvation story and the formation pattern.
But even noting this calls for an immediate turning to creation spirituality in its physical manifestations. In Wesleyan formation, the creation is not merely a paradigm, it is an actual product arising from God’s creative act. This union of the intangible and tangible energized John Wesley’s natural theology, which he developed in a five-volume work. [3] It also engaged him in a lifelong exploration of the interplay of science and religion. [4] With respect to Wesleyan formation, John Wesley’s creation theology is a reminder that spirituality is a nondual experience with heaven/earth, spirit/flesh.
Mixed into Wesleyan formation’s natural theology is creation care. Howard Snyder has explored this in detail, He even says that ecology should be added to the quadrilateral, making creation care a fifth element in Wesleyan hermeneutics. [5]
Taken together, what we see in Wesleyan formation makes the phrase “nature is the first Bible” visible and influential. There’s no doubt about it—the Wesleys would certainly have agreed with St. Francis’ declaration, “God is doing cartwheels in creation.”
[1] I am indebted to Matthew Fox for instructing me in creation theology. All of his writing is about it, or related to it. Others who have influenced me in this genre are Ilia Delio, Brian Swimme, and J. Philip Newell.
[2] Eknath Easwaran, ‘Original Goodness’ (Niligri Press, 1996). Randy Maddox writes about this in his book, ‘Responsible Grace’ (Kingswood Books, 1994), 65-67.
[3] The volumes shared the title, ‘A Survey of the Wisdom of God in Creation, or A Compendium of Natural Philosophy.’ He made a final revision of it in 1784. A good interpretive article about John Wesley’s natural theology is by Daniel J. Pratt Morris-Chapman, “Beyond the Quadrilateral: The Place of Nature in John Wesley’s Epistemology of Theology” in HTS Theological Studies, Vol. 78, No 2(University of Pretoria, 2022).
[4] Randy L. Maddox, “John Wesley’s Precedent for Theological Engagement with the Natural Sciences,” in the Wesleyan Theological Journal, 44:1 (Spring 2009), 23-54.
[5] Howard Snyder, “Holistic Mission and the Wesleyan Pentalateral” (unpublished article, 2006). His book, co-authored with Joel Scandrett, ‘Salvation Means Creation Healed’ (Cascade Books, 2011) develops this in detail.