John and Charles Wesley

Paper Summary:

The paper states that the goal of this lesson is to develop a basic understanding of the common United Methodist concepts of John Wesley's quadrilateral, sin and the necessity to live responsibly within the gift of God's grace. The quadrilateral, the author explains, describes reliance on scripture, tradition, reason and experience to discover the truth about God. The paper concludes that United Methodists believe that God's grace brings people into the fold of the Christian family where they are as Christ was when on earth, a shining example of God's love to the world.

Table of Contents:
General Goal(s)
Specific Objectives
Required Materials
Estimated time to complete lesson
Lesson Sequence
Anticipatory Set (Lead-In)
Overview of activities
Activity One
Activity Three
Activity Four
Closure (Reflect Anticipatory Set) Closing Prayer
Brief History of John and Charles Wesley
John Wesley and the Quadrilateral
John Wesley and Sin
God's Saving Grace

From the Paper:

"Scripture is the cornerstone of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. In order to have a greater understanding of God in our lives, the scriptures must be at the center of the process of discerning God's presence in our lives. Scripture must be our first source of gathering God's meaning and direction as it has divine authority that must be weighed against our earthly understanding of God's purpose. However, we cannot discern from scripture the specifics of that which God wants us to do in our complicated world, so tradition and reason must join to fill the void in our understanding."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Carder, K.L. (1994). Proclaiming the Gospel of Grace. In J.C. Logan (Ed.), Theology and Evangelism in the Wesleyan Heritage (81-94). Nashville: Abington Press.
• Forbush, W.B. (Ed.) (n.d.). An account of the life of John Wesley from Fox's book of martyrs. Retrieved August 22, 2007, from http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/foxwesley.stm
• Maddox, R.L. (1994) Responsible Grace: John Wesley's Practical Theology. Nashville: Kingswood Books.
• Wesley, J. (1966). A Plain Account of Christian Perfection. Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.

More papers on John and Charles Wesley:

• Comparison Essay # 91318 : "Methodism in North America and Great Britain"
• Book Review # 99977 : "John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life"
• Essay # 65724 : "The United Methodist Church - Inside Religion"

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