Through Faith to Understanding
Leon Hynson

Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-0975543528   Retail: $30.00

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This book offers a contemporary interpretation of John Wesley’s theology. Here are a few of the themes: the relation of prayer and the task of theology, war and peace, the controversy over the homosexual lifestyle, abortion, the right of private judgment and religious toleration, the commands of love, the implications of deconstructionism and postmodernism, Wesley as a serious theologian, divine sovereignty and human freedom, the preconditions for living well and dying well. These issues, among others, are discussed with ease and grace as the reader is invited to consider the significance of Wesley’s thinking for today.

This book reflects the veteran insights of a Wesley Scholar whose mind and heart have been shaped by the best of the Wesleyan tradition. Contemporary theology, biblical studies, and social/moral/political issues are interpreted from the perspective of the theology of John Wesley and his relevance for today. The author has served the Church as pastor, college and seminary professor, and seminary president. He combines a pastoral and academic approach that integrates the practical and theoretical disciplines in fresh and relevant ways. His conversational, and even poetic style, informed by seasoned familiarity with his sources, will engage both the theological student and the general reader, and will challenge both to a life-changing encounter with John Wesley's witness to vital Christianity.

-- J. Steven O'Malley, Ph.D., Asbury Theological Seminary

Leon Hynson brings together the theology of John Wesley and the best of today’s Christian thinking in these essays. As well, the author offers a clear explanation of Wesley’s thought in the context of his 18th century sources. Hynson shows how Wesley both synthesized and critiqued such thinkers as the Early Church Fathers, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, Richard Hooker, Jeremy Taylor, John Locke, Puritanism, Pietism, and Anglicanism. In a remarkably instructive fashion and with compelling prose, the author brings Wesley’s thought into conversation with contemporary theologians and ethicists, including Karl Barth, H. Richard Niebuhr, Albert Outler, Robert Jenson, Martin Hengel, Theodore Runyon, Gerald R. Cragg, and Alasdair MacIntyre. This noteworthy volume brims with the mature wisdom of an experienced pastor and theological scholar.

-- Kenneth Cain Kinghorn, Ph.D., Asbury Theological Seminary

About the Author:

     Dr. Leon Orville Hynson was President of Evangelical School of Theology from 1975 to 1982 and served as Wesley Scholar from 1992-2002. He was Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Asbury Theological Seminary from 1983-85. Hynson’s ministry in pastoral service covered twenty years. From 1963 to retirement in 2002, with a five year pastoral interlude, he taught at United Wesleyan College, Spring Arbor College, where he was chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Religion, at Asbury Theological Seminary, and Evangelical School of Theology.

     Dr. Hynson graduated from United Wesleyan College (Th. B), and Asbury College, (A. B.). Graduate work followed at the University of Delaware (M. A.), Lutheran Seminary, Philadelphia (M. Div.), Princeton Theological Seminary (Th. M., 1966), and the University of Iowa in Religious Studies (Ph.D., 1971).

     His major interests have been in Christian Ethics and in Historical Theology, particularly in issues of Church and State. To Reform the Nation: Theological Foundations of Wesley’s Ethics (Zondervan: 1984), with a foreword by Albert C. Outler, is considered a classical work in Wesley Studies. His journal articles have appeared in Wesleyan Theological Journal, Methodist History, Drew Gateway, Religion in Life, Asbury Seminarian, Asbury Theological Journal, Journal of Church and State, Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Journal of Religious Thought, A. M. E. Zion Quarterly Review, and others.

    Leon and Ruth (Hallam) Hynson were married on January 20, 1951, and have three sons: Leon P., Jonathan, and David, and ten grandchildren. Having been brought up in the Wesleyan tradition from his birth, Dr. Hynson devoted his life and ministry to theological education for more than forty years until his death in 2006.