Woolman's Books and his Peers: Constructing Theology, Maintaining Tradition
This post concludes our look at the theology of John Woolman. In the first post, I introduced Woolman and his historical and cultural context. In the second through fifth posts, I described the theological elements that animated his social witness. I argue that these components constitute an apocalyptic theology, a radical vision of Christ's governance of human affairs. These elements are: revelation, propheticism, eschatology, and perfection/judgment. This final post does two things:
1: Compare Woolman to some of his reform minded Friends, to see how similar he was to them. My contention is that Woolman’s theology was different from many of his peers. It was not oppositional to his peers, but it was different, and we don’t see the same type of this-worldly eschatology in them that we do in him.
2: Look at some of the books that were on Woolman’s bookshelf to see if we can find any clues as to the main influences on him. He read in the early Quakers, he read mystical literature, he also read some apocalyptic literature. My argument is that Woolman innovated on his Quaker tradition and the larger mystical tradition to construct a theology that was not a passive replication of any one source, but that was within the tradition of his readings while pieced together in a way that showed individuality and theological acumen.
