Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 18:2 (Summer 2014)
Article: George Whitefield’s Doctrine Of Christ
Author: Jeongmo Yoo

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SBTJ 18:2 (Summer 2014) p. 43

George Whitefield’s Doctrine Of Christ

Jeongmo Yoo

Jeongmo Yoo is Lecturer of Church History and Research Fellow of the “Institute for Korea Baptist Theology” at Korea Baptist Theological Seminary/University in Daejeon, Korea. He is also a Fellow of the Andrew Fuller Center at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He received his Ph.D. from Calvin Theological Seminary under the supervision of Dr. Richard A. Muller. His scholarly writings include John Edwards (1637-1716) on Human Free Choice and Divine Necessity: The Debate on the Relation between Divine Necessity and Human Freedom in the Late Seventeenth- and Early Eighteenth-Century England (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013).

Introduction

George Whitefield (1714-1770) is generally known as a renowned preacher and one of the leading revivalists in eighteenth-century England.1 However, it is a mistake to evaluate him solely on the basis of these two aspects of his career. Whitefield was also an eminent theologian. While he never wrote a formal theological treatise, his sermons remain one of his primary contributions to subsequent generations and are full of outstanding theological discussions. Even though differing formally from the typical theological works, transcripts of his sermons and letters provide insight into his systematic and logical analysis of theological topics.2 Certainly, considering these, Whitefield’s theology is one of the most important sides of his life and ministry.

Nevertheless, Whitefield’s theological thought is still under-explored and somewhat neglected.3 In this regard, the study of his theology is crucial for a more comprehensive understanding of Whitefield’s life and thought, and the purpose of this essay is to contribute to meeting this very need by providing a thorough analysis of his theology through examples of his treatments of theological topics. Since a full investigation

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of his theological thought would require a significant monograph, this work will consider only Whitefield’s doctrine of Christ as an illustration of the way in which he discusses theological topics, and it will focus on his ideas of the person and the work of Christ.4 The doctrine of Christ is an ideal place to examine the theological principles and emphases which this great preacher held because his writings contain extensive exposition of his Christology and discuss highly provocative theological issues in his days, such as whether Christ is fully divine.

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