Methodist Theology: (Doing Theology)

Methodism is serious about worship, public and personal, since it wants to celebrate the reality of God's presence with God's people - that is, as Methodists understand it, with all God's people. This volumes focuses on the origins of this theological tradition, its foundations, key concepts, eminent thinkers and historical development.

Table of Contents:
Preface / Chapter 1: Foundations. / Chapter 2: Preaching and Singing the Faith. / Chapter 3: Grace Abounding. / Chapter 4 The Presence of God. / Chapter 5: A Revolutionary Gospel. / Chapter 6: A World Without Boundaries. / Chapter 7: The Mind of Christ. / Chapter 8: Listening and Hoping . / Chapter 9: The Wesleyan Revival: A Thankful Worshipping Community / Conclusion

About the Author :
Kenneth Wilson was educated at Cambridge and Bristol Universities and is a Methodist Minister. After chaplaincies to London University and Kingswood School, Bath, held the Rowbotham Chair in Philosophical Theology and Ethics at Wesley College Bristol and taught at Bristol University, (1973-80). 1980-1996 Principal Westminster College, Oxford; 1996-2001 Director of Research Queens Foundation, Birmingham. Currently: - Visiting Research Fellow, Canterbury Christ Church University, and Chichester University. His publications cover: Making Sense of It (Epworth); Focus on God (with Frances Young, Epworth); Freedom and Grace (ed. with Ivor Jones, Epworth); Readings in Church Authority (ed. with Gerard Mannion, Richard Gaillardetz and Jan Kerkhofs, Ashgate, 2003); Learning to Hope (Epworth, 2006).

Review :
'This is a book in which the author defies the gravity of age, and combines a rare mix of well earned wisdom with inspiring youthful enthusiasm. Dr Wilson moves effortlessly through the roots, branches and flowering of Methodist Theology, with a passionate believe in reasonable Christianity, and in the part that Methodism can play in that today. An up to date book with an old fashioned commitment to the disciplines of study and thoughtfulness.' - Mark Wakelin, Secretary for Internal Relationships, The Connexional Team, The Methodist Church, UK. 'A Methodist Theology by Kenneth Wilson is a book that will enlighten, inform and inspire all who pick it up. It comes from one of the most gifted, creative and ecumenically-minded Methodist scholars of his generation. At a time when some Methodists are fearful for their future, it shows the distinctive riches and gifts that the Methodist tradition has bestowed upon the entire Christian family and so it demonstrates that there will always be things old and new which Methodist perspectives and practices can bring to the wider Christian table. With the meticulous attention to conceptual and theological detail that Wilson's readers have come to admire and learn from, just as they have from his application of the open and conversational theology of engagement with the world that represents Methodism at its very best, this book skilfully encompasses within a single volume an articulation and reflective appraisal of the past, enduring present and hopeful future of this truly dynamic and energizing Christian tradition. This work sets Methodism and its distinctive theological and ecclesiological traditions in their wider historical, intellectual and social context and makes the story of how Methodism came into being come alive in a highly accessible manner. Wilson paints rich parallels across the centuries and explains the more complex theological emphases dear to the heart of the Methodist movement with a clarity rarely found in foundational textbooks. He makes the great figures of Methodist history come alive and their passion and joy for service of the gospel and their affirming doctrinal outlook grasps and holds the reader's wonder, attention and admiration. A tour de force of historical and systematic theology alike, this work should be required reading for anyone interested in contemporary doctrinal and ecclesiological currents of thought.' - Gerard Mannion, University of San Diego, CA, USA. ... members of other Churches will be fascinated by an account of Methodist theology that looks at both doctrines and the teaching of major Methodist figures. Kenneth Wilson has done an excellent job articulating the theological thinking of those "reflective practitioners" who call themselves Methodist. The aim of the [T&T Clark “Doing Theology” ] series, edited by Gerard Mannion, is introductory and, while Wilson certainly accomplishes that, his volume is much more... Wilson presents a lovely, stimulating proposal with much to commend... Methodist Theology, while suggestive enough for academic theologians, would serve very nicely for theology undergraduates, seminarians, and educated laypersons. We have here a generous proposal from a major British Methodist theologian. [Wilson's] study of Methodist theology is not just a book about its subject matter but above all an exemplar of it. ... True to his principles, Wilson is to be congratulated for his wide-ranging ecumenical sympathies ... Read [this book] for a sense of the 'flavour' and 'atmosphere' (the 'ethos', if you will) of current Methodist theologizing, for its hopeful and kind sentiments, its energy and its broad sympathies.