Pleasure to welcome Matthew McEwen as our presenter for this next paper.
Matthew is a pastor at Holtfree Methodist
Church in Mount Albert, just north of Toronto.
He's also a
Tyndale alumnus, three time Tindale alumnus, and most recently did his Doctor
of Ministry, focusing on Wesley and spiritual formation.
And that's relevant to his paper that he's going to be presenting now.
So welcome, Matthew, and please go ahead and take it away.
Well, thank you very much.
And at first it may seem that Ignatius of
Loyola and John Wesley have little in common.
Ignatius was a wounded war veteran, a
Spaniard, a Roman Catholic, john Wesley a minister even before the
Alder State experience, British, a member of the Church of England.
Despite his historic and geographic differences between the two men, the
differences that exist between the Protestants and Catholics, beyond the mere
fact that they both engaged in renewal efforts that created movements, the
Jesuits and Methodists, they share a number of similarities and approach.
A possible conversation between these two
spiritual leaders would likely explore the positive points of comparison.
Beginning perhaps with their emphasis on mission conversion, they shared an
emphasis on spiritual formation with their respective approaches to discipleship.
Ignatius of Loyola created the Spiritual
Exercises, whereas John Wesley had rules or a method for all of life and faith.
And so, with these points of similarity between these two men, their conversation
would also find compatibility and approach and purpose in the reading of Scripture.
There is a particular approach to Scripture that's closely associated with
the Ignatian tradition and yet a spiritual discipline that is
consistent with the Wesleyan reading of Scripture and faith.
The story is told that John Wesley was preaching May 1548 near Dublin, Ireland.
As he was preaching, a man in the crowd shouted, I he is a Jesuit.
That is plain.
Sorry, I can't do the Irish accent for that line.
The Roman Catholic priest who happened to
be in the crowd responded with, no, he is not.
I would to God he was.
This reply from the Catholic may seem like a compliment, but Wesley's adversaries saw
the comparison between Wesley and the Jesuits as opportunity for criticism.
One of Wesley's critics was Bishop William Warburton.
He accused Wesley of being an enthusiast.
Warburton's description of the enthusiasm
is that it's kind of an ebulation of ferment, a critical ferment of the mind.
Its fervor soon rise into madness, unchecked by reasons.
According to Warburton, Ignatius of Lola was the greatest example
of this kind of enthusiast, and Wesley was obviously the diligent imitator.
In the article The Influence of the
Ignatian Tradition, philip Sheldrick explains the apparent enthusiasm present
in early Methodism led to accusations that Wesley was a disciple of Laola in a satire
the fanatic Saint Displayed, and his stress on the necessity of good works
led to a Calvinist attack entitled The Jesuit Detected.
Wesley's preachers were often compared to
friars or described as crypto paths, and describes
in an effort to refute these accusations, John Wesley publishes an open letter, a
letter to the Author of The Enthusiasm of Methodist, and Papers compared 1750.
In it, he addresses the claim that he has adopted theology from a Jesuit, A-J-E.
Nierenberg, and he says, Sir, I know not
the man I am holy, stranger to both his person and his doctrine.
Sheldray's review of a possible influence of the Ignatian tradition, and John Wesley
admits wesley was a person in whom an astonishing number of spiritual
tributaries converged and were synthesized.
However, that remains evidence for direct Ignatian influence on John Wesley is
slight, except to some degree through secondary sources.
There's also the curious detail that
Wesley included a number of substantial Catholic writers, spiritual writers, in
his Christian library, but there are no Jesuits among them.
The only specific reference to Ignatius of
Leola and the works of John Wesley are in his journal entry from August 16, 1742
I wrote to Oxford, and then the next day to Epstein.
On Wednesday and Thursday and riding from Epsilon to Bristol, I read over that
surprising book, the Life of Ignatius of Loyola.
Surely one of the greatest men that ever was engaged in support of so bad a cause,
I wonder any man should judge him to be an enthusiast.
It's difficult to say whether John Wesley
was familiar with the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius.
No doubt, though his sermon The Catholic Spirit or John Wesley's Letter to a Roman
Catholic would suggest he would be open to this conversation, even though his journal
entry continues and compares Ignatius of Loyola with Count Zinzendorf.
Before looking at this similarity between Ignatius and Wesley and their approach to
Scripture, their shared view of spiritual formation needs to be understood.
The reading of Scripture is an important spiritual discipline in spiritual
formation, and one of the aims of spiritual formation is mission.
M.
Robert Mohullan defines spiritual formation as the process of being formed
in the image of Christ for the sake of others.
Ignatius and Wesley read Scripture in a
way that informed their mission and their respective movements.
Louisa Gallagher's article, A Wesleyan Ignation Approach to Spiritual Formation
A Case Study in Jesuit Higher Education, identifies three areas of focus
students in Jesuit higher education need to be trained in cognitive thinking,
the inward journey, and the outward expression.
According to Gallagher, Ignatian
spirituality is not merely the accumulation of information,
but a transforming, a relational, practical encounter with the living God.
And her conclusion states that there's more in common between the traditions than
originally anticipated with regards to spiritual formation.
The commonality between these two traditions is clear.
Jesuits are often called contemplatives in
action, focusing on action and reflection in their spiritual development.
In a similar understanding to spiritual formation, a Wesleyan expression of faith
balances the works of piety with the works of mercy.
In the sermon on Visiting the Sick, john Wesley describes the works of mercy as
necessary, essential for spiritual formation.
So whether it's people who are contemplatives in action or those engaged
in works of piety and works of mercy, spiritual formation leads to mission.
The Jesuit expression, the world is our
house is echoed in John Wesley's statement the world is my Parish.
And when it comes to conversion, it's been
said that both Wesley and Ignatius there is a firm conviction that the process of
conversion, if genuine, must immediately show itself in a transformation of life, a
determination to place oneself as totally as possible at the service of God.
Therefore, a supposed conversation between Ignatius and John Wesley would find this
common ground in the area of spiritual formation and mission.
In a letter that Ignatius had written, his
pastoral heart is evident more than anything else I should wish to
awaken in you the pure love of Jesus Christ, the desire for his honor and for
the salvation of souls whom he has redeemed.
It's safe to suggest that with regards to
this sentiment, john Wesley would be in full agreement.
Another possible topic of conversation
between the two men is the potential to encounter God in all things.
In fact, the phrase finding God in all
things instead is the hallmark of Ignatian spirituality.
In another letter that Ignatius wrote, he
refers to various spiritual exercises assigned for perfection.
Perhaps another point of conversation between the two.
But then Ignatius adds to the list that there should also be the practice of
seeking God's presence in all things in conversation and walks and all that you
see, taste, hear and understand in all your actions, because God's divine
majesty is truly in all things by his presence, power and essence.
Likewise, in Wesley's sermon, The Sermon on the Mount, Part Three, john Wesley
refers to Matthew five, verse eight the pure in heart shall see God.
And Wesley says, the great lesson, which our blessed Lord is called hacier, which
he illustrates by this example, is that God is in all things, and we are to see
the Creator in the glass of every creature.
We should use and look upon nothing as
separate from God, which indeed is kind of a practical atheism.
But what true magnificence thought survey
heaven and earth and all that is contained by God and in the hollow of his hand, who
by his intimate presence holds them all in being, who pervades and actuates the whole
created frame, and is a true sense the soul of the universe.
In the book Spiritual Formation a Wesleyan
paradigm, this hallmark of Ignatian spirituality is found
John Wesley calls us to watch for God, to look for his fingerprints in ordinary
life, watch for how he's working in our lives and in the lives of those around us
watching as one metaphor listening another.
God wants to communicate with us and often uses ordinary aspects of life to do so.
We hear God from any place we inhabit, from the church sanctuary to the streets,
from the highway to the mountaintops, from the study to the supermarket, god is
present and waiting for us to turn our attention to Him.
The challenge is for us to be fully present in the spaces we inhabit.
Finding God in all things means
experiencing God through all of life, including positive or negative events.
The Ignatian terminology here is constellation and desolation.
When it comes to consolation and
desolation, the Ignatian response is one of indifference.
In The Principle and Foundation,
Annotation, number 15, Ignatius writes the one giving the Exercises should not urge
the one receiving them towards poverty or any other promise more than towards their
opposites, or to one state or way of life more than another.
During these Spiritual Exercises, when a
person is seeking God's will, it is more appropriate, far better, that the Creator
and Lord Himself should communicate Himself to the devout soul, embracing it
with love, inciting it to praise Him, disposing it for the way of life, which
will most enable the soul to serve Him in the future.
Accordingly, the one giving the Exercises
ought not to lean or include in either direction, but rather while standing by,
like the pointer of a scale in equilibrium, allow the Creator to deal
immediately with the creature, in the creature with its Creator and Lord.
Indifference is not lack of care, the absence of desire.
It's rather an openness to whatever God may deem best.
Another writer on the Ignatian tradition
and this topic of indifference explains it this way it is the desire for indifference
before a loving God that opens a person towards clarity of ends and means.
Our end is union with our loving Creator, redeemer and sanctifier everything else
health or sickness, long life or short life, et cetera.
It's a means to this end.
While any one of us would naturally prefer one means rather than another,
indifference acknowledges that our end is attainable through many means.
So it's one thing to find God in all things.
An encounter with God is possible through consolation and desolation.
But this Ignation indifference, this openness, is I find in the heart of the
Wesley covenant Prayer I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me, with
whom you will put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for you, or they decide
for you, exalted for you, or brought low for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.
Finding God in all things includes consolation and desolation.
Since it's possible to encounter God in
all things, the imagination is not beyond the work of Holy Spirit.
The Ignatian approach to the reading of Scripture is called Gospel contemplation.
The practice involving the imagination is included in the Spiritual Exercises.
It's been said that Ignatius did not invent this type of prayer, but he did
sharpen its focus, he made specific suggestions for its practice.
Gospel contemplation is an exercise of imagining a passage of Scripture and
experiencing it with all your senses, as if you are truly present in the scene.
So, as one writer explains in the course
of the Exercises, ignatius proposes many such scenes from the Gospels.
For imaginative contemplation,
he chooses scenes of Jesus acting, rather than Jesus teaching and telling parables.
He wants us to see Jesus interacting with
others, jesus making decisions, jesus moving above, Jesus ministering.
He doesn't want us to think about Jesus.
He wants us to experience Him.
He wants Jesus to fill our senses.
He wants us to meet Him.
This spiritual discipline, it's more than just a practice of daydreaming.
Again, another writer puts it this way through the act of contemplation, the Holy
Spirit makes present a mystery of Jesus life in a way that is meaningful for you.
Now, use your imagination.
Dig deeper into the story so that God may
communicate with you in a personal, evocative way.
In this approach to Scripture and the Ignatian tradition, god is experienced in
all things, including your imaginative entry into the biblical text.
This is also related to spiritual
formation, as Gregory Boyd explains, what Ignatius clearly understood was that
it's not what, you know intellectually that affects your life.
It's what you experience, what is concrete and tangible that transforms your life.
And the central place where we experience spiritual realities is the imagination.
Ignatius clearly saw the need for abstract
ideas to be incarnate in our imagination if they're to have transforming power.
He understood that God who became incarnate, who inspired the Scripture,
isn't above becoming so concrete in our experience.
As Foster wrote, to believe that God can sanctify and utilize the imagination
is simply to take seriously the Christian idea of incarnation.
And ultimately, it's been said, the goal
of this way of prayer is not seeking answers or solutions to problems,
nor is the goal of contemplation gaining new insights about God.
The goal of contemplation is to fall ever more deeply in love with God.
So gospel contemplation is the spiritual discipline involving the imagination.
And that is potentially a point of concern for Wesley.
In his defense against the accusations of him being an enthusiast, he provides this
definition it is a sort of religious madness, a false
imagination of being inspired by God and by enthusiast, one that fancies himself
under the influence of the Holy Ghost, when in fact, he's not.
And then Wesley adds, let him prove me guilty of this.
Who can?
Well, a false imagination is certainly
problematic, but a sanctified imagination, one under the influence of the Holy
Spirit, is part of experiencing God in all things.
As one Jesuit writer explained, we might
initially worry about going beyond the text of the Gospel.
But if you've offered your time of prayer
to God, begin by trusting that God is communicating with you.
If you wonder if your imagining is going too far.
Do some discernment with how you are praying.
Where did your imagination lead you?
Closer to God or farther away?
Is your imagination bringing you constellation or desolation?
And for whatever reason, John Wesley does
not seem to practice or promote gospel contemplation.
Yet it's been said that for Wesley,
scripture is more than just informing doctrine.
It is intended as a transformative impetus of the human affection.
This transformative reading of Scripture
in the Wesleyan tradition, it can be found in Wesley's Rules for the Reading of
Scripture, which are part of his notes, his preface to the Old Testaments,
and that is the handout that's been made available to you.
So just as gospel contemplation is an
encounter with God through the imagination, so to Wesley's approach with
the reading of Scripture, his rules, his method, it is also an encounter with God.
Then said that Wesley did not merely read Scripture.
He listened to God personally, speaking to him in his pages.
Scripture represented the living words of God.
Concerning this directive for the reading
of Scripture, Maholand writes john Wesley's guidelines for the reading of
Scripture provide an excellent description of the posture necessary for our reading
to become an encounter with the living, penetrating word of God.
They move us from informational to formational level of reading, from the
functional to the relational aspect of response to what we read, from the doing
to the being mode of implementation of what we read.
In particular, John Wesley's third point about Scripture, that one should read with
a single eye to know the whole will of God and a fixed resolution to do it.
When Mohalin calls that line
the heart of the approach to Scripture in spiritual formation,
the reading of Scripture informs not only spiritual formation, but leads to mission.
Wesley ends his list of rules for the
reading of Scripture with a call to prayer and self examination number six.
It might also be of use if while we read, we were to frequently pause and examine
ourselves by what we read, both with regard to our heart and our lives.
So once more, reading of Scripture relates
to spiritual formation, just as Jesuits are contemplatives in action.
Well, Wesley, an examination accompanying
Scripture prompts action because the rules conclude with a promise, and whatever
light you then receive should be used to the uttermost, and that immediately.
Let there be no delay.
Whatever you resolve, begin to execute the first moment you can, so shall you find
this word indeed to be the power of God unto present and eternal salvation.
So in the Wesleyan tradition, the reading of Scripture is a means of grace.
And Scripture reading is more than just an exercise to increase knowledge,
but transformation of heart, prompting action and a change of life.
If Ignatius of Loyola and John Wesley were in a conversation about Scripture and
other matters, they would talk about mission and spiritual formation.
Wesley would hear Ignatius explain gospel
contemplation he would offer his own rules for the reading of Scripture.
It would excite Ignatius of Lola, who
concluded a prayer of examine in his Spiritual Exercises.
For Ignatius made a prayer of examine, a
way to experience God, as well as a way to assess our behavior.
He designed the daily examine to sustain and extend the experience.
Ignatius wanted to help his people develop a reflective habit of mind constantly
attuned to God's presence and responsive to God's.
Leading the examine became the foundation
for this graced awareness, and both John Wesley and Ignatius had this
discipline in the Spiritual Exercise of examine.
Ignatius put it into his spiritual exercises.
In the Wesleyan context.
The daily office, the support network of
classes and bands would facilitate the examiner.
The examine is part of reading Scripture.
According to Wesley, that's part of integrating faith and practice.
So Mohullin's summary on Wesley's rules for the reading of Scripture.
He says the dynamics of these guidelines allow Scripture to become iconographic.
Using these guidelines will draw us into
those dimensions of chirotic existence through which God can transform our
distorted word into the word God speaks us forth to be in the world.
By this process, Scripture becomes a means of grace by which God shapes our lives.
Ignatius of Loyola and John Wesley have
different methods in the reading of Scripture, but their end is shared.
The reading of Scripture is an opportunity
to encounter God and be transformed for mission in the world.
A lot of this research comes from part of
my Doctor of Ministry thesis, chapter Four, and I go into some more detail with
Wesley's approach to experiencing God that didn't have time to share in this paper.
Thank you very much, Matthew.
That was fascinating.
I've often heard people say, sort of offhand, oh, there's
parallels here between Ignatius and Wesley, but I've never had the time or
never heard anyone go through it in this kind of a focused way.
So that was very interesting.
And as someone who's been involved in
Catholic evangelical dialogue for a few years now, I want to share some of this
with some of my colleagues as well, and hear what they have to say.
So please, as we did in the earlier
session, if you were there, if you have a question, I'd ask you to just put it in
the chat, and I'll keep my eye on that and
post some of those for Matthew, I guess. One question.
You talked about this a little bit, but if you could say a little more,
a lot of Protestants are going to be nervous about this idea, I guess.
What sort of guardrails for this process in terms of how do you
prevent someone from going totally off the deep end or correct or whatever in the
midst of this process of imagining yourself in the Scripture?
Thank you.
Yes, because there are certainly pitfalls, one pitfall we have to guard our life and
our doctrine closely so we hold to historic creed statements of faith.
We hold the scripture.
And if you're imagining is starting to introduce things that are inconsistent
with God's revealed word, you've gone off the rails.
There's a problem there, for sure.
It could become highly divisive.
Spiritual exercises are to nurture our
relationship with God and our relationship with one another.
But people could use it as a point of spiritual pride.
I do this practice and elevate themselves, and it could cause division.
If you see things one way and someone else
sees things another way, you need to have that openness to one another.
So I think there are potential pitfalls.
Acknowledging those does not mean that it's forbidden, though.
Yeah, of course.
We need one another to keep ourselves accountable.
Yes.
There are pitfalls in any form of spirituality.
It's true.
I wonder if one difference I'm thinking of
is when we go back to Wesley, an early method of spirituality.
There was a strong emphasis on experience, but it was experienced primarily framed in
a communal sense and in a public sense, which is why testimony was so important.
Right. That you share all the time.
You're sharing what God's doing in your
life, and then that becomes a way of continuing the dialogue.
And for those in your small group, your closed circle, to share their feedback to
you on what they're hearing you say, possibly correct or add insight.
And so the idea of the experience, then, is a sort of public, collective kind of
sense of learning, like we're in an apprentice in a guild
sort of, rather than a sort of private, individual meditation approach.
Is there something similar in the Ignatian tradition, or is it more of a.
One on one kind of the Ignatian tradition?
The spiritual exercises were meant for
a spiritual director, and the spiritual director is in a
position of being seasoned and experienced and trained.
So they're a wise mentor type position.
I'm not aware of it happening in a small group or larger format,
but I don't see why it could not be adapted into a small group curriculum.
So that's important to say, though, that
it's envisioned as done in a sort of mentoring.
Well, I guess that's not quite the
language that spiritual direction would use, but a guided exercise.
Wesley himself says as much.
When things confuse him, he'll consult
those in his preface to the sermons on several occasions.
He does consult those who are what's his wording?
Knowledgeable and things of God.
Yes. And I was also thinking of where he
mentioned in those rules about let's see, what number was it?
The analogy of faith?
Number four.
Right.
In his Rules for reading Scripture, he talks about the analogy of faith.
And for Wesley, that really is a sense of the big picture of Scripture.
The whole grand narrative would be a more contemporary phrase.
We might use sort of the overarching message of Scripture.
And you have to have that grounding, you
have to be sort of already sort of immersed in Scripture and have a good
knowledge of the most important themes and developments, and then that allows you to
explore, keep individual passages in perspective.
And I did see
Possibility of Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius in the hymns of Charles Wesley,
but know that that's argued, and I haven't researched the hymns at all
charles sermon, Awake, Thou that sleep does invite the congregation to see
themselves as condemned, peter past bound in chains.
The night is at hand.
So it's almost a gospel contemplation.
It's coming from the Book of Acts.
Well, I would say, yeah.
I mean, I think the hymns are so
chock full of scriptural images and analogies, and they shape people's
spirituality even more so than the preaching, probably.
And so if you have people who are immersing themselves in Scripture and in
these hymns, which you're right, there's a lot of putting yourself in the story,
and that's sort of shaping their spiritual imagination, as you could say, that
they're picking up this biblical putting Biblical worldview.
Or think of what wrestling Jacob, right?
The great Charles Wesley hymn wrestling Jacob, where you are imagining yourself as
Jacob wrestling the angel who is Christ, and putting yourself in the story.
And I was thinking about when you talked about indifference on the one side and
then the Covenant Prayer, that was a great combination.
A word that Wesley and Wesleyans would have used is resignation.
That might be a parallel to indifference.
And there is a book on Charles Wesley resignation and the sanctification
theology of Charles Wesley, which you might be interested in.
So, yeah, that might be helpful for you.
But I was also wondering, how different is this from just a good sermon?
Like, if you have a good sermon on a
narrative about Jesus is going to involve people imagining the story.
Right. It's going to tell the story.
And as the story is being told in the sermon, everyone's imagining it.
Right. Everyone is not in the same way.
Maybe, but that might be helpful for us if
we're thinking this is totally weird and we shouldn't do it.
I've seen some comments in the chat,
and James, you're on mute.
My apologies.
Dennis Chadwick has asked what is meant by
the oracles of God number five on the handout.
Do you want to tackle that?
I take that to be just another way of describing Scripture.
Consult god's commands to us.
Yeah.
One of the phrases Wesley used for Scripture, just meaning this is
God's revelation, god's word to us, another word for Scripture in general.
Does anyone else have any questions they want to pose for Matthew?
Here's a question from Sean.
How do cultural norms of today, for
example, personal independence, present attention for Wesleyan context?
Other than personal independence, what are
the other personal value issues that create that tension in the faith community
and the journey we share toward mission in the world.
Sean, if you want to come on and pose your question or just say a little more about
where you're going with that, you're welcome to wherever you are.
Yeah. Just wondering, with regard to
the value of independence and achieving and living in the world in a very
independent way, which does present a tension, I think, within the Wesleyan
context, how do we resolve that tension or create a healthy space in that tension to
realize our call toward mission in the world?
Very good question.
One of my favorite themes for my congregation is the one another's.
I hear the concern about independence.
I also know there's a cultural concern for privacy.
A lot of people want to separate home life or faith life.
And I think for mission, it's all
being authentic and being real and being present to one another.
Not sure if that answers question.
James, maybe you might have another perspective on that.
No, it is a great question.
And I guess just to say we are really
swimming upstream against the current values and cultural norms of our context.
Yes, that values are right.
Independence, privacy, we're, religion.
And this could connect to some of the things that Joel was saying this morning.
Religion is seen as a private matter and people don't want to talk about it.
And so, yeah, a lot of teaching, I think,
and trying to find ways to move beyond that.
But it's going to require, I think,
deep relationships and building authentic community to get there.
Nathan, Kwan, Wesley and Ignatius dealt
with secularism in their own centuries, the unbelief of God.
Do you think there is anything they taught
we should be aware of when bring it to our society?
So I guess their response to unbelief,
their response to their context, which in some ways unbelief or nominal belief.
Right. People who said they were Christians but
didn't have a vibrant faith, do you have any thoughts, Matthew?
Well, trying to find a specific thing from
a sermon of Wesley, perhaps, that addresses this
and sermon kind of coming to mind is just the almost Christian.
There are those who can go through the motions of faith and
spirituality but lacking the faith and the trust in God.
The Relationship with God
the danger for the church is that we become products of our culture
and our relationship with God is what will draw us closer to be formed in the image
of Christ rather than formed in the image of our culture.
Right. I think both Ignatius and Wesley address
the secularism with the spiritual formation response.
Yeah, I think that's important.
And I think
a lot of the forms of evangelism that have dominated, certainly in the evangelical
church in the last, say, since the 20th century, have been revivalistic and
focused on the point of conversion and on decisions.
And that, I think, presuppose a Christendom context
where people already had a basic sort of frame of reference that.
Was Christian or they assumed some similar beliefs.
And so you could just build on that and
scare them about hell and try to get them across the line, so to speak.
But that wasn't the way that the
18th century certainly wasn't the way Wesley operated.
So even though he was in a Christian in
context, his focus was more on depth, right.
And forming people, as you said, not just
converting people, but putting them into community where they
could be formed with one another in a deep way.
And I think
we need to move more towards that and away from the decisionistic kind of
approaches that I don't think are going to work in our context anymore.
Well, thank you, Matthew.
It was a fascinating, fascinating paper,
and I hope you've just taken a moment to look at the comments and see, because
there's a lot of appreciative comments there.
So it's great that you've been able to share some of your insights from
your own doctoral work, and I hope you continue to continue the dialogue and find
people able to continue this conversation in the future.
Thank you very much. Thank you all.