Estimated reading time: 14 minutes
Salvationist theology draws on and utilises the Welseyan quadrilateral. The Salvation Army inherited its early theological formation from the Wesleyan tradition, as expressed through New Connection Methodism. The ‘Wesleyan Quadrilateral’ provides a key theological method for the Army.
The Salvation Army Is A Wesleyan Movement
Whilst the writing and preaching of American ‘Great Awakening’ revivalists and proto-Pentecostal ‘charismatic’ elements within the Holiness Movement influenced early Salvationism, it was Wesleyanism which provided the language and the ground for Salvationist thinking.
Central to the legacy of the specifically Methodist way of doing theology is the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. However, it is time to put that into perspective in a distinctively Salvationist mode of theological activity.
The Salvation Army may have emerged from the Wesleyan movement, but it is its own thing with its own way of doing theology.
The Salvationist method of theology needs to be developed and emphasised rather than relying on external theological work. If this occurs, then Salvationist ecclesial and theological identity will become stronger.
Theology Is Not Just For Academics, It Is For Everyone
The mistake often made is to think that theology is purely academic, open only to those who go to university or are more intellectually gifted than others. This is just not the case. The Bible says that we are to love God with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul (Matthew 22:37).
Theology is the act of loving God with our mind.
Taking part in the theological task – to reflect and reason about the person and work of God – is an act of worship.
Theology is an Act of Worship.
We praise and glorify God through our intellectual effort. It is one way we love God, giving our very best to God through those endeavours. It is fundamentally the difference between the study of religion and theology.
Thus, even academic theology is an act of prayer and worship. Anyone who intellectually responds to the self-revelation of God is a theologian at prayer.
Not Just About Intellectual Capacity
But that doesn’t imply that individuals without rational capacity or without the opportunity to develop their reasoning are less capable of worshipping and praising God. Or that they cannot contemplate and know God.
It is only possible to think and reason about God by reflecting on what God has done. This is only because God has acted to renew us. Our fallenness leaves our reason incapable of reflecting on the truth of God, but only on our own inventions.
Salvationist Theology Is A Matter Of Holiness
The Holy Spirit makes theology possible through the renewing of the mind. This means the person may know the will of God (Romans 12:2). Theology is a graced response to grace. Sanctification makes it possible.
Sanctification sits as the ground of all theological endeavours, so that to reason and reflect on the person and work of God is to offer worship back to the one who made us able to do that task.
Theology, as an activity, is a way of worshipping God with our minds.
Not as special or Gnostic knowledge that only those with particular gifts can receive. Instead, as the graced response to the love of God by reflecting, thinking, contemplating, and reasoning. The quadrilateral offers a method of undertaking this work.
Salvationist Theology and The Wesleyan Quadrilateral
John Wesley never used the term quadrilateral to refer to his theological method.
Albert Outler introduced it as a key to opening up the way John Wesley did his theology. However, that Outler rather than Wesley used the phrase does not mean it is inadequate for its task.
To explore Outler’s work further, look at Albert C. Outler, “The Wesleyan Quadrilateral – in John Wesley” in the Wesleyan Theological Journal 20 (1985) pp.7-18.
The quadrilateral claims that John Wesley did his theology through four modes or voices: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience.
Sources of Theological Authority in the Wesleyan Quadrilateral
The four modes are sources of ‘authority’ for theology. They are the boundaries within which a person who is reflecting on God can safely navigate questions.
When taken together, they prevent a person from wandering off into the weeds of false or dangerous beliefs.
The four modes of the quadrilateral are not separate from each other. While they are distinct sources of theological authority, they are all interlocking and self-reflective voices in conversation with one another.
The way we read scripture is within the context of our own personal experience, influenced by the historic teaching of the Christian tradition, and processed and interpreted by our reason.
We approach the history of Christian thought as held accountable to scripture, reflected on in our own experience, and engaged with by our reason. Scripture, Christian history, and the powers of our reason help us understand our personal experience. Scripture judges our reasoning, keeps it real by our experience, and challenges it by the history of Christian teaching.
Understanding The Four Sources of Authority
The order in which we apply each mode to the theological task affects how we approach the process. To find out more about this, here is a good video by Professor Tom Greggs:
We consider the quadrilateral’s modes as interconnected, even though they have distinct characteristics, and we engage in a conversation that involves all three.
Next, I will give a brief summary of each of the four modes of the quadrilateral before moving on to the distinctively Salvationist element.
The Wesleyan Quadrilateral – Scripture
Wesley claimed to be a person ‘of one book’ (Wesley, Sermons 1, pp. 104-5) and believed that scripture held a unique status.
In his preface to Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, Wesley wrote that “The Scripture therefore…is a most solid and precious system of Divine truth. Every part therefore is worthy of God…it is the fountain of all heavenly wisdom.” (Explanatory Notes, p. 5)
The authority of Scripture is not an abstract attribution to a specific book, divinely inspired as it may be. It is not only an historic authority, it is a living authority in the life of the believer and the Church. Wesley wrote that “…the Spirit of God not only once inspired those who wrote it, but continually inspires, supernaturally assists those that read it with earnest prayer.” (Explanatory Notes, p. 554)
The Inspiration of Scripture
The Scriptures are inspired and inspiring. They are uniquely authoritative for the Christian Church.
The Salvation Army maintains this belief through its first doctrine, which states that the Old and New Testaments are inspired by God and are the only divine source of right Christian practice.
(https://www.salvationarmy.org/doctrine/doctrines)
The Handbook of Doctrine of The Salvation Army states that there are three secure foundations for the teaching of the Christian faith, which are found in Scripture. These are: the teaching of Scripture, the direct illumination of the Spirit, and the consensus of the Christian community. (Handbook of Doctrine, pp. 6-7)
These correspond to the modes of Scripture, experience, and tradition, all of which are engaged with through our reason.
The Wesleyan Quadrilateral – Reason
Reason is less a source of theological authority, but a tool to use in order to engage with the other modes of theology.
Without the use of reason, the person cannot engage in the wider theological tradition. This does not mean they cannot receive the revelation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit works as it does. Theological worship is done through rational engagement with God’s self-revelation.
The kind of reason being spoken about is not pure reason, in a Kantian sense. Instead, sanctified reason is always in the context of the Holy Spirit.
The Limits of Our Reason
This goes back to first principles by which no one can move themselves closer to God nor to approach God by their own powers, and any attempt to do so does not result in God but in an idol of self-projection.
We know God only because God first revealed God’s self to us through Scripture, and through the direct revelation of Jesus and in the Holy Spirit. Our reason is flawed and fallible, corrupted by the fall, and as such it is only through the work of God in renewing our minds that we can think about the things of God.
Theology is Worship With Our Reason
As said before, theology is how we worship God with our sanctified mind, a graced response to grace. Reason, as a theological mode, is sanctified reason applied to the things of God, not abstract reasoning about a problem or theoretical model.
Sanctified reason is how we make sense of our experiences by applying them to the test of Scripture. Our sanctified reason is how we can engage with the historic Christian tradition and learn from it for our own times and experiences. Sanctified reason is how we read the Scriptures with an open heart, seeking the inspiration of the Holy Spirit rather than treating them as historical texts.
The Wesleyan Quadrilateral – Tradition
Wesley did not use the word ‘tradition’ to refer to the sources of historic Christian theology. He didn’t ignore Christian history. Wesley was particularly fond of the Greek Patristic tradition. He spoke about ‘Christian antiquity’ rather than ‘tradition’.
What Is Tradition?
The term “tradition” had a particularly negative connotation in the 18th century, thanks to the Reformation and the English Civil War. What is clear is that Wesley does engage with and make use of the work of Christian teaching, particularly in the Early Church.
Tradition becomes a way of talking about the authority that rests in the reception and interpretation of the Scriptures. In the historic Christian tradition, we see how people have understood, interpreted, applied, and made sense of Scripture within their own context and according to their own reason.
Taking Seriously The Past
We should approach the historic Christian tradition in the same way we would a seasoned scholar, a gifted teacher, or a wise interpreter of scripture. It is not the fact that it is old that gives it authority. The authority of tradition rests in its graced response to the illuminating and inspiring work of the Holy Spirit through Scripture.
Tom Greggs writes that “The theologian listens to the voices of the past in order to receive Scripture in the present through the living voice of the communion of saints.” (Greggs, Nature, Task and Method of Theology, p. 322)
Salvationist Theology and Tradition in the Wesleyan Quadrilateral
The Salvation Army has a rich narrative tradition and a strong sense of history woven into its identity.
The hagiographical myths about its founders set the tone for the kind of denomination it would become. Whilst there is a lack of traditional academic theology within The Salvation Army, there has been ongoing engagement with Scripture in sermons, songs, statements, and some books.
Why should the words of William Booth have any kind of authority over Salvationist theology today? Because what he did was done as a response to the work of the Holy Spirit.
The same is true for the wider Salvationist tradition, in all its distinctive and messy complexity, as a source of theological authority which claims its authority from the way it receives, interprets, and applies Scripture.
The Wesleyan Quadrilateral – Experience
The emphasis on the experience of the sanctified life differentiates the particular Methodist mode of theology from its Anglican heritage.
The same is true of Salvationism, with its particular emphasis on the experience of discipleship as a witness to the work of God. Crucially, however, the personal experience which acts as a source of theological authority is not an uncritical and subjective sense of interiority or ‘what I feel to be true for me’.
The Importance of Personal Experience
For Wesley, personal experience as a theological mode is experience of and within the Church. It is rooted in “…the experience not of two or three, not of a few, but of a great multitude which no man can number.” (Wesley, Sermons 1, p. 290)
Wesley was aware of the limitations of this kind of experience and its tendency for self-deception, where he says, “How many have mistaken the voice of their own imagination for this ‘witness of the Holy Spirit'” (Wesley, Sermons 1, p. 269)
It is only through the combination of Scripture, the historic teaching of the Church, and under the guidance of sanctified reason, that experience is able to recognise and understand the things of God.
But Not Just Our Experience
This is not a matter of relying uncritically on every experience. Instead, we must locate our experiences within the wider narrative and teaching of Scripture and the Church. Only with an understanding of the sanctified believer moving within the movements of grace can experience be understood as a mode of theology.
It is important to engage with all four modes of theology as a conversation rather than as separate activities when we do theology.
Salvationist Theology and Distinctives in The Wesleyan Quadrilateral
The Salvationist distinctive enters the conversation as a kind of meta-narrative within which the theological task is carried out. The distinctively Salvationist element within the theological task is in the locus and telos of the theological act – where is theology being done and what is the goal of theology?
My suggestion is that a distinctively Salvationist method of theology is carried out through the four modes of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. And also with a firm commitment to the concrete world we live in. Salvationist theology is not abstract reasoning as a form of intellectual game or speculative amusement.
What makes Salvationist Theology Distinctive?
Salvationist theology is always grounded in concrete reality and is undertaken within, and for, the world. It is in the world that the Church is found. In this sense, theology is inherently worldly.
The telos of Salvationist theology is driven by a foundational belief that everyone has been invited to come and become part of the Kingdom of God. This is a Kingdom whose reign has already begun. It is a Kingdom revealed through acts of service and love to our neighbour. A Kingdom found in challenging injustice and seeking mercy. Through worship and preaching, and most especially through how we love one another.
What Is Salvationist Theology?
All Salvationist theology is undertaken with this goal in mind and with the intention of working towards achieving this goal.
Salvationist theology is undertaken in the concrete, everyday world to reveal the Kingdom of God. As such, I suggest we call this distinctive marker ‘pragmatism’.
Pragmatic Salvationist Theology and the Wesleyan Quadrilateral
Salvationist theology is pragmatic. Not because it is uninterested in detail or debate. But because it is not abstract game-playing, it is done with a specific goal in mind. Salvationist theology is trying to achieve something.
Properly, Salvationist theology can tend to discard certain questions if they do not contribute to its goal. There are other spaces where those questions can be answered.
This does not mean that only Salvationist theology is ‘pragmatic’ in the sense outlined above. Only that Salvationist theology is distinguished as such by the utilisation of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral in a pragmatic form.
Where does Salvationist Theology Come From?
But, is there a degree to which any form of theological work undertaken by a Salvationist is a form of Salvationist theology?
Yes and no. We draw a distinction here between the method and the results. The method may well be Salvationist, but the results are not necessarily Salvationist theology in a Dogmatic sense.
This is where the four modes of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral can be helpful. The personal identity of the theologian is not necessarily sufficient for what they produce to be Salvationist theology if it does not rest within the historic tradition of The Salvation Army.
This does not mean that there can be no development or movement within Salvationist theology. Far from it. The historic tradition is not a matter of conformity to previous positions or statements of belief, but rather participation within an ongoing shared narrative. In this sense, the possibility of dissent is still able to be properly Salvationist theology.
Can Only Salvationists Do Salvationist Theology?
But is it possible for someone who is not a Salvationist to do Salvationist theology?
Again, they might utilise the same method and form as Salvationist theology. But, as they lack the personal experience and are not part of that continuing communal narrative, what is produced is not Salvationist theology. It may influence Salvationist theology in much the same way as many thinkers and writers have. But that does not make it Salvationist. By taking a pragmatic view of the quadrilateral, it becomes possible to reframe some of the questions and debates currently underway. It prevents those discussions from being held in the abstract, and it guides them towards a specific purpose.
The Importance of The Wesleyan Quadrilateral for Salvation Army Theology
This work in progress aims to show that my suggested approach to Salvationist theology will benefit both academic theologians and the entire Army. It reminds us to love God with our minds and seek the Kingdom of God in our world.
I’d love to hear your feedback on this one. If you found it interesting or helpful, please do share, like, follow, etc.
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