Abstract:
This essay begins by offering some observations about how holiness was comprehended and
expressed in Victorian and Edwardian England. In addition to the ‘sensibility’ and ‘sentiment’
that characterised society, notions of holiness were shaped by, and developed in reaction to,
dominant philosophical movements; notably, the Enlightenment and Romanticism. It then
considers how these notions found varying religious expression in four Protestant traditions –
the Oxford Movement, Calvinism, Wesleyanism, and the Early Keswick movement. In
juxtaposition to what was most often considered to be a negative expression of holiness
associated primarily with anthropocentric and anthroposocial behaviour as evidenced in these
traditions, the essay concludes by examining one – namely, P.T. Forsyth – whose voice called
from within the ecclesial community for a radical requisition of holiness language as a
fundamentally positive reality describing the divine life and divine activity. The relevance of a
study of the Church’s understanding of holiness and how it sought to develop its doctrine
while engaging with larger social and philosophical shifts endure with us still.
Description:
Dr Goroncy is participating
in the research project,
‘Gender Studies and Practical
Theology Theory Formation’,
directed by Prof. Dr Yolanda
Dreyer, Department of
Practical Theology, Faculty
of Theology, University of
Pretoria.
