High and Low? The Heritage of Anglican Latitudinarianism in the Thought of John Wesley

Abstract

An increasing number of historians have highlighted the complex nature of much eighteenth-century churchmanship. These writers argue that in this period many clergyman possessed altitudinarian and latitudinarian tendencies simultaneously. While John Wesley's theological heritage has been examined from a variety of different perspectives, a growing body of literature has accentuated the altitudinarian tendencies in his theology and ministry. For this reason, several writers have closely identified Wesley with the Anglican High Church tradition. As a result, even though many of these scholars have compared Wesley's ecclesiology with the work of Edward Stillingfleet, the question as to whether or not Wesley might possess Latitudinarian tendencies has been neglected. Given the equivocal nature of much eighteenth-century churchmanship, this essay concentrates on whether Wesley also exhibits Latitudinarian tendencies by examining whether his focus on the essentials of religion, his tolerance concerning the inessential, and his emphasis on godliness resemble similar emphases in seventeenth-century Latitudinarian writers.