Beauty in Creation: John Wesley's Natural Philosophy

John Wesley's compendium on natural philosophy is comparable to a second book of revelation about God; the first book is scripture. In light of this, scripture can only function as a hermeneutic for creation; it is not a textbook for the discovery of creation. Wesley used the language of Thomas...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Rainey, David (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Penn State Univ. Press [2017]
In: Wesley and Methodist studies
Year: 2017, Volume: 9, Issue: 1, Pages: 18-35
IxTheo Classification:KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KDE Anglican Church
NBB Doctrine of Revelation
NBD Doctrine of Creation
VA Philosophy
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:John Wesley's compendium on natural philosophy is comparable to a second book of revelation about God; the first book is scripture. In light of this, scripture can only function as a hermeneutic for creation; it is not a textbook for the discovery of creation. Wesley used the language of Thomas Aquinas to explain that there is a revealed cause and effect, which leads to a First Cause. With this understanding, creation reveals a beauty that is derivative from God and this type of beauty is an interconnected relationship within all of creation. Because of humanity's limitation of knowledge, empiricism cannot assume a primary source of knowledge for natural philosophy since it can become a misleading source. Natural philosophy, as a result, remains its own objective source of knowledge.
ISSN:2291-1731
Contains:Enthalten in: Wesley and Methodist studies