How do Wesleyan theologians define omnibenevolence?
Upvote:-1
The all encompassing goodness of GOD and his desire to lavish good things on all people is a very important tenet of Christianity, despite the fact that omnibenevolence is a word that has been used less and less since the Wesleyan movement used it. However, the goodness of GOD is certainly a tenet of "traditional" Christianity, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the Wesleys all hold that GOD is inherently Good.
This is a paragraph way down on the wikipedia page for "omnibenevolence."
"Theologians in the Wesleyan Christian tradition (see Thomas Jay Oord) argue that omnibenevolence is God's primary attribute. As such, God's other attributes should be understood in light of omnibenevolence."
So, for Wesleyans, all of God's attributes flow out of His goodness. But the truth might be that the love, goodness, and holiness of GOD are so intermingled that it could be difficult to separate them and to define which receives pre-eminence.
For a very very good book on this subject check out Church Dogmatics Vol 2 Section 1 by Karl Barth, he addresses this area of theology with so much depth that it would be hard to copy and paste it here.
However, the difficulty of the word has less to do with the word and more to do with individuals' understanding of what it means that GOD is good. But I would rest upon the statement that Jesus makes in Matthew 7:11 (ESV),
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
That God is good is a very important aspect of the Christian faith, but it must always be held in tension with the fact that we, as humans, do not know how to accurately discern what is "good" in every situation.
In many ways the Wesleyan movement was dead on accurate and orthodox, and in the sense of how the Wesleyans view the goodness of GOD they are only echoing what has been said for thousands of years,
- GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME; ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD.
I hope this helps!
Upvote:3
As I understand it, this needs to be taken in the context of Arminian/Calvinist debate. Calvin held that God's primary attribute was his sovereignty. All other attributes of God, including his love, must be understood in light of his sovereignty. From this idea springs the entire TULIP paradigm.
Arminius (and Wesley following him) disagreed and held that God's primary attribute was his goodness. All other attributes of God, including his sovereignty, must be understood in light of his goodness. Because God is perfectly good, he can never sin or cause anyone to sin.
This led Arminius and Wesley to reject the "U" ("Unconditional election") of TULIP on the grounds that it implies God is the author of sin. That, in turn, caused them to reject the "I" ("Irresistible grace") because if God doesn't foreordain people to hell, there must be a way for people to reject God's grace and separate themselves from God.
In short, to the extend that Arminian/Wesleyan theology differs from Calvinist teaching, it is due to being grounded in the belief that God's primary attribute is his goodness rather than his sovereignty.
More post
- 📝 Has there ever existed a Catholic local church feast at Rome in honor of the Domine Quo Vadis?
- 📝 What does Paul mean by "divine nature", as revealed through creation?
- 📝 What is the Protestant belief known as "faith alone"?
- 📝 What were the ages of the Apostles Peter and John when Jesus was crucified?
- 📝 Did any Jews have the same canon as Jesus during the time of Christ and did the early church ever quote from it?
- 📝 How does God speak today?
- 📝 Is there a doctrine or Biblical justification that explains why God chose the number 7 to be so significant?
- 📝 Which scripture was Paul quoting in 1 Corinthians 15:45?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis that individual gifts can be revoked by God?
- 📝 How do Calvinists understand "anyone" in 2 Peter 3:9?
- 📝 Is a moral society more open to the gospel than an immoral one?
- 📝 Jehovah's Witnesses Memorial of Christ's Death
- 📝 Do any authorities have anything to say about "criminality" as grounds for divorce in addition to "adultery," alluded to in the New Testament?
- 📝 Pharisees and Sadducees - A "brood of vipers"
- 📝 Do Any Protestant Churches do Stations of the Cross?
- 📝 Why did the Western and Eastern churches react to their respective states so differently?
- 📝 Why does Calvinism need the doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints if it believes in Unconditional Election?
- 📝 Are there published testimonies from individuals who had a Christophany in which Jesus explicitly affirmed or denied his deity?
- 📝 Is there a Christian definition of "social justice?"
- 📝 Is there any historical evidence that the early church believed in the doctrine of intercession of saints during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD?
- 📝 Will the wicked really get their body back?
- 📝 At the greater emergence of democracy in Europe during the 'Enlightenment' did the papacy support democracy?
- 📝 St. Augustine's view on transmission of original sin?
- 📝 Do Lutherans now consider the followers of Zwingli and Calvin to be their brothers in Christ?
- 📝 Are there books that are included in the Protestant Bible that were disputed as canonical?
- 📝 What is an overview of the main interpretations of "day" in Genesis 1?
- 📝 In Hebrew 5:9, what changed about the Son's perfection?
- 📝 Regarding doubt, how do we apply Romans 14 in difficult situations?
- 📝 What did the carnivores/predators eat on the Ark?
- 📝 What is Christianity’s view on moral dilemmas?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How do Wesleyan theologians define omnibenevolence?
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses define "active" membership?
- 📝 How do various traditions define the term "sufficient grace"?
- 📝 How have Calvinist theologians dealt with statements about God repenting?
- 📝 How do Christians define knowledge and faith?
- 📝 How does the New Testament define a Christian and a non-Christian, a brother in Christ and not a brother in Christ?
- 📝 How did Reformed Theologians view works-based "Heavenly Rewards"?
- 📝 How do Covenant Theologians explain the Noahic covenant?
- 📝 How do Biblical Unitarians understand what some theologians refer as the Kenosis in Philippians 2?
- 📝 How did theologians conclude that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit meant a refusal for repentance?
- 📝 How to define an independent interference by God?
- 📝 How does Christianity define idolatry?
- 📝 How do non-Reformed Theologians interpret Romans 9:11-23?
- 📝 How does C. S. Lewis define the "natural" and "supernatural" in his book Miracles?
- 📝 How does John Polkinghorne define the soul?
- 📝 How does the loss of Wesleyan perfectionism differ from Catholic distinctions between mortal and venial sins?
- 📝 How do Orthodox Bishops and theologians view the Church Fathers' definition of the word "catholic?"
- 📝 If marriage is not a sacrament, why should Christians care how the civil authorities define it?
- 📝 How does Christianity define "character"?
- 📝 How Did the Earliest Church Define Salvation?
- 📝 How do Christian theologians view and/or use Jewish commentators?
- 📝 How do the reformed theologians understand Hebrews 3:14?
- 📝 How do Evangelicals define Expository Preaching and how prevalent is it within Protestantism?
- 📝 Have any Wesleyan theologians compared Outler's Quadrilateral to PaRDeS?
- 📝 How does the Church define reason?
- 📝 How do reformed theologians reconcile John 15:2 with “once saved always saved"?
- 📝 What is an overview of how different Christian denominations define well-known phrases related to the ministry of the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 How does Roman Catholicism define "the simplicity that is in Christ" found in 2 Corinthians 11:3?
- 📝 How does Christ define a Christian?
- 📝 How do Catholic theologians reconcile h*m*ousion with the vulgate translation of Hebrews 1:3?