Richard Watson
Encyclopedia
Richard Watson was a British
Methodist
theologian who was one of the most important figures in 19th century Methodism.
Watson was born in Lincolnshire
and entered the Methodist itinerancy in 1796, serving as President of Conference in Britain in 1826 and as secretary to the Wesleyan Missionary Society from 1821 to 1825. In Britain, he was a leading opponent of slavery.
Watson was a gifted writer and theologian. In 1818 he wrote a reply to Adam Clarke's
doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ; Watson believed that Clarke's views were unorthodox and, therefore, not faithfully Wesleyan. In 1823 he began to publish his Theological Institutes, which remained a standard for many years. It was the first attempt to systematize John Wesley's theology and by extension Methodist doctrine. In 1831 he wrote a well-regarded life of John Wesley
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
theologian who was one of the most important figures in 19th century Methodism.
Watson was born in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
and entered the Methodist itinerancy in 1796, serving as President of Conference in Britain in 1826 and as secretary to the Wesleyan Missionary Society from 1821 to 1825. In Britain, he was a leading opponent of slavery.
Watson was a gifted writer and theologian. In 1818 he wrote a reply to Adam Clarke's
Adam Clarke
Adam Clarke was a British Methodist theologian and Biblical scholar, born in the townland of Moybeg Kirley near Tobermore in Ireland...
doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ; Watson believed that Clarke's views were unorthodox and, therefore, not faithfully Wesleyan. In 1823 he began to publish his Theological Institutes, which remained a standard for many years. It was the first attempt to systematize John Wesley's theology and by extension Methodist doctrine. In 1831 he wrote a well-regarded life of John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
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Further reading
- Theological Institutes by Richard Watson
- Sermon: The New Birth by Richard Watson
- Practical Divinity: Theology in the Wesleyan Tradition (1982) by Thomas A. Langford (ISBN 0-687-07382-0)
- Biographical sketch