Editing Twenty-five Articles

{{Short description|Official doctrinal statement of Methodism}}
{{Methodism |doctrine}}

The '''Articles of Religion''' (also called the '''Twenty-five Articles of Religion''' or '''Twenty-five Articles''') are an official [[doctrinal]] statement of [[Methodism]]—particularly American Methodism and its offshoots. [[John Wesley]] abridged the [[Thirty-nine Articles]] of the [[Church of England]], removing the [[Calvinism|Calvinistic]] parts among others, reflecting Wesley's [[Arminian]] theology.<ref name="Melton2005">{{cite book|last=Melton|first=J. Gordon|title=Encyclopedia of Protestantism|date=1 January 2005|publisher=Infobase Publishing|language=en |isbn=9780816069835|page=48|quote=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. }}<!--|access-date=26 May 2015--></ref><ref name="Phelan">{{cite book |last1=Phelan |first1=Macum |title=Handbook of All Denominations |date=1916 |publisher=Smith & Lamar |page=113 |language=en |quote=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.}}</ref>

The resulting Twenty-five Articles were adopted at the [[Christmas Conference]] of 1784,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jonas |first1=W. Glenn |title=Religious Traditions of North Carolina: Histories, Tenets and Leaders |date=9 October 2018 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-7646-3 |page=178 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7VqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT186 |language=en}}</ref> and are found in the Books of Discipline of Methodist Churches, such as Chapter I of the ''Doctrines and Discipline'' of the [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]] and paragraph 103 of the ''[[United Methodist Church Book of Discipline]]''.<ref name="AME">{{cite web|url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/ame/ame.html|title=Doctrines and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church|year=1817|publisher=Richard Allen and Jacob Tapsico|language=en|access-date=27 July 2018}}</ref> They have remained relatively unchanged since 1808, save for a few additional articles added in later years in both the United Methodist tradition and [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]], among other Methodist [[connexionalism|connexions]].<ref name="AWMC2014">{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Original Allegheny Conference)|year=2014|publisher=[[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]]|location=[[Salem, Ohio|Salem]]|language=en|page=11}}</ref><ref name="KurianLamport2016">{{cite book |last1=Kurian |first1=George Thomas |last2=Lamport |first2=Mark A. |title=[[Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States]] |date=10 November 2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-4432-0 |page=1808 |language=English}}</ref>

==Content==

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 the [[Reformed Christianity|Reformed]] doctrinal position of the Church of England in relation to [[Catholicism]] and [[Anabaptism]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Milton |first1=Anthony |title=Catholic and Reformed: The Roman and Protestant Churches in English Protestant Thought, 1600-1640 |date=9 May 2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-89329-9 |page=396 |language=en |quote=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.}}</ref>

Wesley revised the Articles in 1784 for the Methodist work in America.<ref name="Melton2005"/><ref name="Phelan"/> 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 the [[Methodist Protestant Church]], and ''Of the Duty of Christians to the Civil Authority'' were added by the Uniting Conference that constituted the [[Methodist Church (United States)|Methodist Church]] in 1939.

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+Twenty-five Articles
|
1. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity.<br/>
2. Of the Word, or Son of God, Who Was Made Very Man.<br/>
3. Of the Resurrection of Christ.<br/>
4. Of the Holy Ghost.<br/>
5. Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation.<br/>
6. Of the Old Testament.<br/>
7. Of Original or Birth Sin.<br/>
8. Of Free Will.<br/>
9. Of the Justification of Man.<br/>
10. Of Good Works.<br/>
11. Of Works of Supererogation.<br/>
12. Of Sin After Justification.<br/>
13. Of the Church.<br/>
14. Of Purgatory.<br/>
15. Of Speaking in the Congregation in Such a Tongue as the People Understand.<br/>
16. Of the Sacraments.<br/>
17. Of Baptism.<br/>
18. Of the Lord's Supper.<br/>
19. Of Both Kinds.<br/>
20. Of the One Oblation of Christ, Finished upon the Cross. <br/>
21. Of the Marriage of Ministers.<br/>
22. Of the Rites and Ceremonies of Churches.<br/>
23. Of the Rulers of the United States of America.<br/>
24. Of Christian Men's Goods.<br/>
25. Of a Christian Man's Oath.<br/>

Of Sanctification.<br/>                                                     
Of the Duty of Christians to the Civil Authority.<br/>

|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|1=Articles of Religion (Methodist)|2=Articles of Religion}}
* [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds3.v.vi.html Methodist Articles of Religion. A.D. 1784.] in ''Creeds of the Evangelical Protestant Churches.'' by [[Philip Schaff]]

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[[Category:Christian statements of faith]]
[[Category:Methodism]]
[[Category:18th-century Christian texts]]