TheArticles of Religion (also called theTwenty-five Articles of Religion orTwenty-five Articles) are an officialdoctrinal statement ofMethodism—particularly American Methodism and its offshoots.John Wesley abridged theThirty-nine Articles of theChurch of England, removing theCalvinistic parts among others, reflecting Wesley'sArminian theology.[1][2]
The resulting Twenty-five Articles were adopted at theChristmas Conference of 1784,[3] and are found in the Books of Discipline of Methodist Churches, such as Chapter I of theDoctrines and Discipline of theAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church and paragraph 103 of theUnited Methodist Church Book of Discipline.[4] They have remained relatively unchanged since 1808, save for a few additional articles added in later years in both the United Methodist tradition andAllegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection, among other Methodistconnexions.[5][6]
The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England were intended to establish, in basic terms, the faith and practice of the Church of England. While not designed to be a creed or complete statement of the Christian faith, the articles explain theReformed doctrinal position of the Church of England in relation toCatholicism andAnabaptism.[7]
Wesley revised the Articles in 1784 for the Methodist work in America.[1][2] His twenty-four Articles reflect both his theological commitments and his desire for doctrinal clarity, shortening some articles and deleting others if they could be easily misread.Of Sanctification, taken from theMethodist Protestant Church, andOf the Duty of Christians to the Civil Authority were added by the Uniting Conference that constituted theMethodist Church in 1939.
1. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity. Of Sanctification. |
Among the items deleted by Wesley as unnecessary for Methodists were articles on Of Works Before Justification, which in Calvinism are largely discounted, but in Methodism lauded; Of Predestination and Election, which Wesley felt would be understood in a Calvinist manner that the Methodists rejected; and Of the Traditions of the Church, which Wesley felt to be no longer at issue.
A discipline was adopted, contianing the General Rules and Articles of Religion, abridged by Wesley from the Thirty-Nine Articles, the new form being stripped of all distinctly Catholic and Calvinistic elements, and a liturgy, also prepared by Wesley.
Nevertheless, the Thirty-Nine Articles were certainly broadly consistent with the Reformed consensus in doctrinal matters, and the generally received interpretation of the doctrine of the church was more directly in live with the tenets of continental Calvinist doctrine.
