Oxford Methodism

OXFORD METHODISM was coined at Whitefield Theological Seminary's Graduate School of Church-State Relations in 2020 where it was officially named "Reformed Methodist Theology," because it conceptualizes "Methodism" as second-generation, broad-based Puritanism with deep roots in Calvinism, Arminianism, the 17th-Century English Reformation, Puritan covenant theology, and the Puritan constitutional heritage of colonial New England. 

Oxford Methodism is particularly deeply-rooted in the Christian foundations of England’s constitutional law and equity jurisprudence as they were developed under the auspices of the Church of England's lawyers, theologians, and clergymen since at least the 11th century; and as this law and jurisprudence were later bequeathed to the American colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries. In the United States of America, Oxford Methodism seeks to promulgate and to preserve this Christian heritage within American jurisprudence.  See, e.g., Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765). 

Oxford Methodism is also founded upon Christian political theology that is in the Sacred Scriptures which holds that all civil polities that exist upon the earth today are also fundamentally ordained by the LORD God to establish civil justice. “[A] republic cannot be administered without justice,” wrote St. Augustine in The City of God. “Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms?” See, also, Psalm 2: 1-3; 10-12. 

And because this Christian political theology on the establishment of civil justice was thoroughly incorporated into the text of the American Declaration of Independence (1776) and into the Preamble to the United States Constitution (1787) (e.g., "to... establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility... secure the blessings of Liberty," etc.), Oxford Methodism holds that the essential fundamental principles of the Christian religion were thoroughly incorporated into the constitutional foundations of the United States. 

Furthermore, the United States Supreme Court has affirmed the "principles of Oxford Methodism" in several of its decisions, to wit: Terrett v. Taylor, 13 U.S. 43, 52, 9 Cranch 43 (1815)( referencing “the principles of natural justice, upon the fundamental laws of every free government”); Vidal v. Girard’s Executors, 2 How. 127 (1843)(the United States is “a Christian country”); Holy Trinity v. United  States, 143 U.S. 457 (1892)(providing an extensive history of the influence of Christianity upon  state and federal constitutional documents and traditions, and concluding that the United States  is “a Christian nation”); and United States v. Macintosh, 283 U.S. 605, 625 (1931) (stating that  "[w]e are a Christian people according to one another the equal right of religious freedom and acknowledging with reverence the duty of obedience to the will of God”). 

This means that, constitutionally speaking, the churches of Jesus Christ throughout the United States ought to address concerns of social justice; to have a voice in the administration of civil government; and to ensure that justice is properly administered in the courts. Psalm 2: 1-3; 10-12; John 7:24.

In the Calvinistic-Puritan tradition, Oxford Methodism thus sees the Christian Church as heir and counterpart to the ancient Jewish "synagogue," and as playing an influential role in the administration of secular justice within the state and federal courts of the United States. 

Like Judaism, Oxford Methodism emphasizes the admonition given in Deuteronomy 16:20, "Justice, justice shall you pursue...." See, also “Jesus in the Synagogue” (“As the local town hall and place of Jewish law, public synagogues also served other civic functions, especially that of a court of law and justice. The Gospels and Acts mention this on a number of occasions (Mark 13:9; Matthew 23:34; Luke 12:11-12; Acts 22:19).... Similar hints at the judicial function of synagogues appear in the Mishnah as well (Makkot 3:12; Shevu’ot 4:10).”  [See, e.g., Luke 10: 25-37 (Jesus tested by "expert in the law" (NIV) or "lawyer" (KJV)); Luke 11: 45-52 (Jesus' debating "experts in the law" (NIV) or "lawyers" (KJV))]. Hence, Jesus of Nazareth "discussed and debated the interpretation and practice of Jewish law in synagogues (Mark 3:1-6; Luke 13:14-17; John 6:30-59)."  

Hence, the shibboleth of Oxford Methodism is exemplified in the phrase, "Social Holiness, Social Justice!"

For this reason, Oxford Methodism is particularly attractive to Christian lawyers, judges, legislators, and political and social scientists. And the Methodist Law Centre provides a platform upon which church leaders and lawyers can meet, confer, and organize for the provision of social justice advocacy in the courts.

The question, “What is Oxford Methodism?” is no different than the question, “What is Methodism?”

In 1745, the latter question, “What is Methodism?” was amply explained by one of its principal founders John Wesley (1703 – 1791) in his article entitled “Advice to the People Called Methodist,” whereby he thus explained:

“By Methodists I mean, a people who profess to pursue (in whatsoever measure they have attained) holiness of heart and life, inward and outward conformity in all things to the revealed will of God; who place religion in an uniform resemblance of the great object of it; in a steady imitation of Him they worship, in all his imitable perfections; more particularly, in justice, mercy, and truth, or universal love filling the heart, and governing the life.”

During its earliest beginnings, Methodism began as a religious society within the Church of England, and it was, as Rev. Wesley explained, “gathered out of so many other congregations” and attracted like-minded Christians from various denominations into a form of ecumenical worship. 

During the period of the Great Awakening (1730s -40s), “Baptists and Quakers, bringing their own sense of organizational identity into the revival, moved in and out of the Methodist societies regularly.” (Heitzenrater, Wesley and the People Called Methodists, p. 164).

And in North America, the great Methodist revivalist George Whitefield (1714 – 1770), a Calvinistic Methodist who worked closely with the Wesley brothers (Arminians) and others in the Methodist Movement, preached “under the auspices of Independents, Presbyterians, Baptists and sometimes Quakers, and above all helping Wesley, and this was the work he began to undertake from” the mid 1740s until his death." (Dallimore, George Whitefield: The Life and Times, Vol. 2, p. 257).

Today, Oxford Methodism sees in English and American constitutional law and jurisprudence the "fundamental law" of Christ (e.g. Matthew 7:12). As such, it is a carbon copy of this early Methodism from the 1730s and 40s. It is Presbyterian, Baptist, Quaker, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Independent (non-denominational), etc., as well as Methodist. Oxford Methodism is, in a word, conservative, evangelical Christianity that is also fundamentally ecumenical and interfaith in its mission and scope. 

Oxford Methodism thus proudly takes its name from that first group of students at Oxford University, who led what was the “first rise of Methodism,” which occurred during the period 1725 – 39. 

“The Oxford Methodists in the early 1730s, nearly all university men, had spent a good deal of their time, money, and energy in a ministry of mercy to the poor—educating the children in the workhouses, taking food to the needy, and providing wool and other materials from which people could make clothes and other durable goods to wear or sell. This particular emphasis on ‘love of neighbor,’ Acts 19:38) continued to characterize Methodism as it entered the revival.” (Heitzenrater, Wesley and the People Called Methodists, p. 137).

Similarly, present-day Oxford Methodism is focused upon improving society through charitable community service, social holiness (e.g., advanced discourses on Aristotelian corrective and distributive justice), and the resolution of major social problems.  

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* Author: Elder Roderick Andrew Lee Ford, LL.D., Esq., a current "Ambassador" to the Primitive Baptist Church Convention; a former "Virgil Hawkins Fellow" at the University of Florida College of Law; a former "President's Fellow" at the Whitefield Theological Seminary; and the present General Legal Counsel of The Methodist Law Centre, where he incorporated "Whitefield Ministries, Inc." as a 501(c)(3) organization on behalf of the Whitefield College & Theological Seminary; phone: (352) 559-5544; email: admin@methodistlawcentre.com.