A Study of Religious Epistemology in the Theology of John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards

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· 저자명 : 김인수

초록

Our body, as a sensory apparatus, plays a pivotal role in constructing contemporary theology as an alternative to the Cartesian “cogito.” But it is not the common as we know that body is consist of natural senses, such as five senses —sight, smell, hearing, tough and taste, which lead us to concern spiritual sense. A retrieval of the tradition of the spiritual sense has been a major part of the theology of John Wesley and Jonathan Edward.
The spiritual sense is the main idea of Origen of Alexandria in which inner and outer mode of perception are divided. But Gregory of Nyssa adjusts this division for us to allow develop ment from the physical to the spiritual in the spectrum of purgation of the senses. John Wesley argues spiritual sense is separated from the natural sense, but they are in mutual relationship because by the healing power of the spiritual sense, the natural sense can rightly see and realize the Divine reality.
Jonathan Edwards, unlike Wesley, asserts that spiritual sense is working with the natural senses. But this is not the meant that the spiritual sense is identical with the natural sense. Yet they are in mutual relationship, because God’s love, excellence and beauty are not excluding the natural sense in perception of the Divine. It seems that Edwards is affected by Calvin’s natural theology in terms of his perception of God. For the both, Wesley and Edwards, emphasizing on experience is crucial followed by John Locke who asserts that an idea does not come from reason but from experience of the external. Empiricism is the common denominator between Locke and the two theologians, but the most important thing for Wesley and Edwards is that the spiritual and natural senses are in mutual relationship.

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