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209 @ Notes Introduction 1 A detailed history of these dialogues and of the whole Methodist-Catholic encounter is ably narrated by David Chapman in his study In Search of the Catholic Spirit: Methodists and Roman Catholics in Dialogue (Peterborough, england: epworth Press, 2004). 2 “All the faithful are invited and obligated to holiness and the perfection of their own state of life. Accordingly let all of them see that they direct their affections rightly, lest they be hindered in their pursuit of perfect love by the use of worldly things and by an adherence to riches which is contrary to the spirit of evangelical poverty,” Lumen Gentium in Vatican Council II, vol. 1: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents (northport, n.y.: Costello Publishing, 1998), 402. 3 Christian Home and Family (Denver, 1971), §52. even though this doctrine has sometimes been misapplied in overly individualistic ways, “our traditional shared concern for sanctification has been a source of strength,” Growth in Understanding (Dublin, 1976), §22. 4 The Grace Given You in Christ: Catholics and Methodists Reflect Further on the Church (seoul, 2006), §56. 5 the 2006 Methodist Statement of the World Methodist Council on the 1999 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification underscores the centrality of the doctrine of Christian perfection in Methodist soteriology and sketches the outlines of this doctrine (§4.4). However, the exposition of the doctrine in an ecumenical context lies beyond the purview of the statement, which rightly focused on the roman Catholic and lutheran consensus on justification. 6 George Croft Cell, The Rediscovery of John Wesley (new york: University Press of America, 1935), 361. the present “orientalism” of Methodist ventures into ecumenical soteriology is surprising when one considers that earlier in the twentieth century George Croft Cell memorably described Wesley’s doctrine of salvation 210 Notes to pp. 1–3 as a “necessary synthesis of the Protestant ethic of grace with the Catholic ethic of holiness.” Admittedly, Cell’s remark originated from a partisan spirit, not a Catholic one. His intent was to show the superiority of Wesley to both the Protestant reformers and the Catholics, in what cannot inaccurately be described as a Hegelian Aufhebung. For Cell, Wesley’s theology is the necessary synthesis of the Catholic thesis and the Protestant antithesis, which will itself be surpassed, according to Cell, by schleiermacher’s. 7 Cf. randy Maddox, Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology (nashville: Abingdon, 1994), 180–81; theodore runyon, The New Creation: John Wesley’s Theology Today (nashville: Abingdon, 1998), 91. 8 Albert outler, ed., John Wesley (new york: oxford University Press, 1964), 9–10; emphasis in original. 9 Cf. steve McCormick, “theosis in Chrysostom and Wesley: An eastern Paradigm on Faith and love,” in Wesleyan Theological Journal 26 (1991): 38–103. 10 Kenneth Collins, John Wesley: A Theological Journey (nashville: Abingdon, 2003), 195–99. 11 David Ford, “saint Makarios of egypt and John Wesley: variations on the theme of sanctification,” in Greek Orthodox Theological Review 33, no. 3 (1988): 285–312; D. stephen long, John Wesley’s Moral Theology: The Quest for God and Goodness (nashville: Kingswood Books, 2005), 134, n. 15. 12 Collins, A Theological Journey, 196–97. 13 this contrast comes from Albert outler, who states in his introduction to Wesley’s “sermon on Christian Perfection” that “Protestants, convinced of the simul justus et peccator—and used to translating perfectio as some sort of perfected perfection—were bound to see in the Wesleyan doctrine, despite all of its formal disclaimers, a bald advertisement of spiritual pride and, implicitly, work righteousness . even the Methodists, working from their own unexamined latin traditions of forensic righteousness, tended to interpret ‘perfection’ in terms of a spiritual elitism—and so misunderstood Wesley and the early eastern traditions of τελειότης as a never-ending aspiration for all love’s fullness (perfecting perfection)” (The Works of John Wesley, ed. Albert outler [nashville: Abingdon, 1984] 2:98: “the Principles of a Methodist Farther explained”). When possible i will rely on this critical text of the “Bicentennial edition” edited by outler; henceforth referred to as WJW. otherwise, i will use the “Jackson edition” of the The Works of John Wesley, ed. thomas Jackson (Grand rapids: Baker Book House, 1984), henceforth referred to as WW. For “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection,” i will be using John and Charles Wesley: Selected Prayers, Hymns, Journal Notes, Sermons, Letters and Treatises, ed. Frank Whaling (Mahwah, n.J.: Paulist Press, 1981). 14 the ecumenical significance of sanctity is affirmed by the 1981 Honolulu...

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