Partakers of the Life Divine

Participation in the Divine Nature in the Writings of Charles Wesley

S T Kimbrough Jr.

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781498201896
  9781498286824
• eBook ISBN:
  9781498201902
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

This volume is the first attempt to explore Charles Wesley's understanding of "participation in the divine nature," often described by the church fathers as deification and/or theosis, within the full spectrum of his prose and poetical compositions and in relation to many of the church fathers. While the Eastern Church has been the primary harbinger of the doctrine of deification from the patristic era to the present, Charles Wesley's theology illustrates that this emphasis is by no means absent in the West. Though patristic influences on Charles Wesley's thought are primarily through secondary sources such as the writings of Lancelot Andrewes and Richard Hooker, as well as through the influence of his brother John, this volume underscores prominent resonances with the church fathers. The extent of these resonances in Charles's theology as regards "participation in the divine nature" is so widespread in his writings that they form the matrix of his ideas of salvation, perfection, and holiness, all of which are intimately bound with life lived in and through the Eucharist. If taken seriously, Charles Wesley's ideas on "participation in the divine nature" will require a rethinking of the role of Wesleyan theology in spiritual formation and in ecumenical conversation.

1

Background: Charles Wesley’s Theology of Mystery

There have been a few significant studies of Charles Wesley’s ideas related to deification, particularly as pertains to his brother John’s perspectives and those of some of the early church fathers.30 Perhaps the most important study is that of A. M. Allchin, Participation in God: A Forgotten Strand in Anglican Tradition, in which the author avers that Charles Wesley reflects “an earlier view” of deification than John.31 Allchin uses Wesley’s poetry effectively in his discussion,32 but as I have noted elsewhere,33 “‘an earlier view’ suggests a chronology of theological understanding and development,”34 which may miss an important aspect of Wesley’s view of participation: namely, he understands it within a “theology of mystery” that is not necessarily bound by a chronological development of theological ideas.

Allchin includes in the volume just mentioned a quotation from Nicholas Lossky that is a superb summary of the theology of Lancelot Andrewes, which could also be a description of the theology of Charles Wesley, whose name in brackets is substituted for Andrewes.

The final goal of spiritual life being union with God, one can say that the theology of [Charles Wesley] is a mystical theology, as long as one elucidates the meaning of the word “mystical.” It is not a question of an exceptional experience, reserved for a few, in some way outside the traditional ways of theology. On the contrary it is a question of the interiorisation of the revealed Christian mystery, to which [Wesley] calls all baptised. This theology is mystical in the sense that it is not an abstract reflection, but a concrete way of living the mystery in the deepening of the faith through prayer and the renunciation of one’s own will. It is a way of the submission of the human to the divine will, which allows the grace of the Holy Spirit to impregnate human nature. For [Wesley] it is altogether clear that this is only possible in fidelity to the given realities of revelation, that is to say in the scriptural and patristic tradition, or in other words in the catholicity of the Church.35

In another important study, The Kingdom of Love and Knowledge: The Encounter between Orthodoxy and the West, Allchin has shown numerous similarities and some divergences between the theology of St. Symeon the New Theologian and Charles Wesley.

Theology of Mystery

Charles Wesley’s views on any aspect of theology should be seen within the context of a theology of mystery. He struggles to find a balance between the desire to know and the realization that one cannot know the Mystery fully. He is overwhelmed by the thought of God’s expression of love for all humankind in Christ. After reading Deut 7:7–8, “The Lord did not set his love upon you because ye were more in number than any people, but because the Lord loved you,” he penned eight eloquent lines that are the fulcrum of his theological perspective.

What angel can explain

The love of God to man,

The secret cause assign

Of charity divine?

Nothing in us could move,

Deserve, or claim his love:

’Tis all a mystery,

And must forever be!36

Wesley is awestruck by the expression of divine love toward him and all humankind and knows indubitably that no one deserves such love. Furthermore, no one in earth or heaven, no angel, can explain God’s charity. It is, and shall always be, a mystery.

In another poem from the same publication, Scripture Hymns 1762, he emphasizes yet further the incomprehensibility of God.

1. Shall foolish, weak, short-sighted man

Beyond archangels go,

The great almighty God explain,

Or to perfection know?

His attributes divinely soar

Above the creatures’ sight,

And prostrate Seraphim adore

The glorious Infinite.

2. Jehovah’s everlasting days

They cannot numbered be,

Incomprehensible the space

Of thine immensity;

Thy wisdom’s depths by reason’s line

In vain we strive to sound,

Or stretch our labouring thought t’assign

Omnipotence a bound.

3. The brightness of thy glories leaves

Description far below;

Nor man, nor angel’s heart conceives

How deep thy mercies flow:

Thy love is most unsearchable,

And dazzles all above;

They gaze, but cannot count or tell

The treasures of thy love!37

In t...

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Abbreviations
• Technical Matters
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Background: Charles Wesley’s Theology of Mystery
• Chapter 2: Prose Sources: Journal and Sermons
• Chapter 3: The Life Divine and Participation in the Divine Nature
• Chapter 4: The Incarnation and Participation in the Divine Nature
• Chapter 5: The Sacraments and Participation in the Divine Nature
• Chapter 6: The Trinity and Participation in the Divine Nature
• Chapter 7: The Church and Participation in the Divine Nature
• Chapter 8: Divine Love and Participation in the Divine Nature
• Chapter 9: Illumination and Participation in the Divine Nature
• Chapter 10: Transfiguration and Participation in the Divine Nature
• Chapter 11: Sanctification and Participation in the Divine Nature
• Chapter 12: Participation in the Divine Nature as Progression
• Chapter 13: Evaluating Charles Wesley’s Views of Participation in the Light of the Early Church Fathers
• Selected Bibliography