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Created page with ''''Joseph Agar Beet''' was a methodist priest. His writings equal that to the pope. JosePh Agar Beet is one of the forgotten theological giants of Wesleyan Methodism. Methodism…'
'''Joseph Agar Beet''' was a methodist priest. His writings equal that to the pope.
JosePh Agar Beet is one of the forgotten theological giants of
Wesleyan Methodism. Methodism has a strange capacity for
neglecting its great theologians of yesteryear other than the
Wesleys themselves. Such neglect is ecclesiologically irresponsible
since it obscures the essential connectedness of our tradition.
One occasionally encounters the name of W. B. Pope, often
regarded as the last of the great Wesleyan systematic theologians.
That honour should rather belong to Beet, who wrote his own
Manual of Theology, the first such major general work since that of
Pope, as well as a trilogy on trinitarian theology and eschatology, a
short book on ecclesiology and sacramental theology, and an
invaluable short work on holiness!. Beet's works are lucid and easily
accessible to the painstaking reader. His interweaving of trinitarian
and christological themes in his little book on holiness is impressive 2
-
In sacramental theology, he anticipated elements of the later
ecumenical consensus on the eucharistic memorial. He was the first
Wesleyan theologian to show a markedly more eirenic
understanding of the 'catholic' tradition 3
- Yet, today, Beet is largely
forgotten, partly due to the regrettable Methodist tradition of
theological amnesia, but also, perhaps, to the damage his reputation
! The works referred to are Holiness, Symbolic and Real (1880, 2nd edition, 1910)
Through Christ to God, (1892, 2nd edition, 1897), The New Life in Christ (1895, 2nd
edition, 1895), The Last Things, (1897, 2nd edition, 1905) The Church and the
Sacraments, (1907) and the Manual of Theology, (1906).
2 See Holiness. op cit, esp 56-8, 62-3, 94-5.
3 Rather than just repudiating it as ego had Benjamin Gregory. See The Church and
The Sacraments, op cit, pp 85-6, 90, 98ff.
JosePh Agar Beet is one of the forgotten theological giants of
Wesleyan Methodism. Methodism has a strange capacity for
neglecting its great theologians of yesteryear other than the
Wesleys themselves. Such neglect is ecclesiologically irresponsible
since it obscures the essential connectedness of our tradition.
One occasionally encounters the name of W. B. Pope, often
regarded as the last of the great Wesleyan systematic theologians.
That honour should rather belong to Beet, who wrote his own
Manual of Theology, the first such major general work since that of
Pope, as well as a trilogy on trinitarian theology and eschatology, a
short book on ecclesiology and sacramental theology, and an
invaluable short work on holiness!. Beet's works are lucid and easily
accessible to the painstaking reader. His interweaving of trinitarian
and christological themes in his little book on holiness is impressive 2
-
In sacramental theology, he anticipated elements of the later
ecumenical consensus on the eucharistic memorial. He was the first
Wesleyan theologian to show a markedly more eirenic
understanding of the 'catholic' tradition 3
- Yet, today, Beet is largely
forgotten, partly due to the regrettable Methodist tradition of
theological amnesia, but also, perhaps, to the damage his reputation
! The works referred to are Holiness, Symbolic and Real (1880, 2nd edition, 1910)
Through Christ to God, (1892, 2nd edition, 1897), The New Life in Christ (1895, 2nd
edition, 1895), The Last Things, (1897, 2nd edition, 1905) The Church and the
Sacraments, (1907) and the Manual of Theology, (1906).
2 See Holiness. op cit, esp 56-8, 62-3, 94-5.
3 Rather than just repudiating it as ego had Benjamin Gregory. See The Church and
The Sacraments, op cit, pp 85-6, 90, 98ff.