'Knowledge of the Three-One God is interwoven with all true Christian faith': John Wesley and the wisdom of 'Trinitarian minimalism'
In recent years around Trinity Sunday, laudable Practice has considered a stream of thought in divines of the late 17th and early 18th century Church of England which I have (somewhat inelegantly) described as ' Trinitarian minimalism '. To be clear, this is not at all about minimizing faith in the Holy Trinity. Rather, 'minimalism' here refers to a consistent view amongst leading Church of England divines of this era that saving belief in the Holy Trinity - the belief proclaimed from pulpits - was not required to be an exposition of scholastic dogma, but of the revelation of the Trinity in the Scriptures. One God, Three Persons is not the result of scholastic and philosophical speculations, but is the God witnessed to in the holy Scriptures. Not only is this sufficient for saving faith, but, as Tillotson stated, "the modesty of Christians is contented in Divine Mysteries to know what God hath thought fit to reveal concerning them, and hath no curiosity to be wi...