Abstract
This essay begins by offering some observations about how holiness was comprehended andexpressed in Victorian and Edwardian England. In addition to the ‘sensibility’ and ‘sentiment’that characterised society, notions of holiness were shaped by, and developed in reaction to, dominant philosophical movements; notably, the Enlightenment and Romanticism. It thenconsiders how these notions found varying religious expression in four Protestant traditions – he Oxford Movement, Calvinism, Wesleyanism, and the Early Keswick movement. Injuxtaposition to what was most often considered to be a negative expression of holinessassociated primarily with anthropocentric and anthroposocial behaviour as evidenced in thesetraditions, the essay concludes by examining one – namely, P.T. Forsyth – whose voice calledfrom within the ecclesial community for a radical requisition of holiness language as afundamentally positive reality describing the divine life and divine activity. The relevance of astudy of the Church’s understanding of holiness and how it sought to develop its doctrinewhile engaging with larger social and philosophical shifts endure with us still.
Highlights
Description: Dr Goroncy is participating in the research project, ‘Gender Studies and Practical Theology Theory Formation’, directed by Prof
One point of significant divergence between Calvinist and Wesleyan Evangelicals, lay in their teaching concerning sanctification. While both confessed that sanctification was, to varying degrees, the result of divine and human synergy, and while both described the journey towards sanctification as a process involving pugna spiritualis, Wesleyans maintained that entire sanctification was theoretically possible this side of the grave
Because modern Church life has been so deeply affected by patterns of Victorian religion, it behoves us to try to understand them – what shaped them and their responses – and to take encouragement as well as warning from their example
Summary
Holiness in Victorian and Edwardian England: Some ecclesial patterns and theological requisitions. This essay begins by offering some observations about how holiness was comprehended and expressed in Victorian and Edwardian England. In addition to the ‘sensibility’ and ‘sentiment’ that characterised society, notions of holiness were shaped by, and developed in reaction to, dominant philosophical movements; notably, the Enlightenment and Romanticism. It considers how these notions found varying religious expression in four Protestant traditions – the Oxford Movement, Calvinism, Wesleyanism, and the Early Keswick movement. It is commonplace to observe that the patterns of sensibility and sentimentality that characterised Victorian and Edwardian society consciously sought to transcend doubt. 2. still on the decrease, especially among the working classes and the poor, the figures were higher in Scotland, in the Western Isles and in the Highlands
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