Continuing (finally) - on the other side of the Calvinist - Arminian divide, among figures like Pelagius, Erasmus, Arminius, John Wesley - I've been unable to find anyone with blood on their hands.
The best documented figure on this side of Christianity that I've found was John Wesley. Wesley was one of the greatest evangelists of all time. He was an Arminian theologically and a rhetorical opponent of Calvinism. In addition to justification by faith, he taught a concept of "means of grace" which were a result of salvation. These means of grace included Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and acts of compassion. Wesley and those influenced by his teachings and sermons became the backbone of the anti-slavery movement, the temperance movement, founded the Salvation Army, and provided an immense amount of aid to the poor via soup kitchens, education, health care, moral exhortation, etc.
While learning about and reflecting on the figures of Calvin and Wesley as standard bearers of Calvinism and Arminianism, respectively, I couldn't help but recall Jesus's statement that by their fruit shall you know them.
It's sort of ironic that conversations with Calvinists on line have caused me to learn things about Arminiamism and Wesleyanism that I never realized and have resulted in an appreciation of and admiration for those spiritual movements that I probably would not have developed otherwise. |
