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Type of Document Dissertation Author Lowery, Kevin Twain Author's Email Address klowery@nd.edu URN etd-03302004-215523 Title Constructing a More Cognitivist Account of Wesleyan Ethics Degree Doctor of Philosophy Department Theology Advisory Committee
Advisor Name Title Jean Porter Committee Chair Gerald McKenny Committee Member Jennifer Herdt Committee Member Maura Ryan Committee Member Keywords
- Wesley
- Wesleyan
- ethics
- perfection
- assurance
- Kant
- Edwards
Date of Defense 2004-03-25 Availability unrestricted Abstract
CONSTRUCTING A MORE COGNITIVIST
ACCOUNT OF WESLEYAN ETHICS
Abstract
by
Kevin Twain Lowery
The underlying premise is that two of John Wesley’s most distinctive doctrines, the doctrines of assurance and Christian perfection, have not been intellectually developed to a sufficient degree. Rather, these doctrines, to a great extent, have either been distorted or neglected. I suggest that Wesleyan ethics needs to be recast in a schema that more adequately emphasizes the cognitive aspects of religious knowledge and moral development. A new framework is constructed in three stages. First, Wesley’s reliance upon Lockean empiricism is explored, and I contend that Wesleyan epistemology should remain more closely tied to empirical knowledge and distance itself from mystical and intuitionist models like Wesley’s own “spiritual sense” analogy. Second, by carefully examining the way that Wesley appropriates Jonathan Edwards’ view of the religious affections, I show that Wesleyan ethics should not regard emotions as something to be passively experienced. Rather, emotions have cognitive content that allows them to be shaped. In fact, Wesley rejected mystical approaches to spirituality in favor of a more cognitive approach to spiritual and moral development. Third, the new framework is completed by suggesting ways that Wesley’s own conceptual framework should be revised and expanded. This will allow more of Wesley’s concerns to be incorporated into the schema without sacrificing his core commitments. The final chapter provides a sketch of what the doctrines of assurance and perfection will look like in the new framework. Essentially, assurance will be based on religious faith and on self-knowledge, both empirical and psychological, and perfection will be understood in a more teleological context. Hopefully, the end result will be a version of Wesleyan ethics that is a more faithful development of Wesley’s own thought and can withstand the scrutiny of higher intellectual standards.
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