A scene from the Leben der heiligen Altväter (1482)

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Review of Gunton’s The Triune Creator and Coffey’s Deus Trinitas

If anyone has written prolifically enough on the Trinity to declare with some credibility that the subject is temporarily overexploited and in need of a moratorium, it would be one of these two prolific authors. Both…

Entangled in the TrinityEconomic and Immanent Trinity in Recent Theology

There is a noteworthy line in John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 16, where the poet extols the Son of God for freely sharing the benefits of salvation while at the same time retaining “his jointure in the…

R.W. Moss, The Rev. W. B. Pope, D.D.: Theologian and Saint

This 126-page book is the fullest biography of Pope yet. It has eight chapters, covering Pope’s youth, student years, family life, Wesleyan ministry, position as theological tutor, preaching, literary output, and closing years. The author had…

I, II, and III Johnin The International Illustrated Commentary on the New Testament, by American and English Scholars of Various Evangelical Denominations, ed Philip Schaff

A rare instance –perhaps the only instance?– of Pope engaging Scripture in a traditional commentary format. Pope considered I John to be the crowning statement of biblical revelation, and here at the end of his career…

1889 printing of A Compendium of Christian Theology, 2nd Edition, Revised and EnlargedBeing Analytical Outlines of a Course of Theological Study, Biblical, Dogmatic, Historical

This 1889 American printing is the final one during Pope’s lifetime. It is still the 2nd edition (there was no 3rd), but I believe it has a few silent alterations. I have not yet done a…

The Inward Witnessand Other Discourses

Seventeen chapters, 296 pages. “Most of these Discourses were officially delivered, as they severally show, on important occasions; and their publication is in a certain sense matter of duty. A few have been added in deference…

“William Burt Pope, D.D.” in Methodist Worthies

A substantial biographical entry (14 pages) published during Pope’s lifetime. Stevenson provides a fuller account of Pope’s 20 years of church ministry than any other source. There are a few loose statements that are hard to…

A Higher Catechism of Theology

389pp. Much to say about this book! Pope’s Higher Catechism was translated into Welsh in 1905 as Uch-Holwyddorydd Diwinyddol.

Ezra and Nehemiahfrom An Old Testament Commentary for English Readers by Various Authors

Only late in life did Pope undertake to write any traditional verse-by-verse Bible commentary, and this 1883 work on Ezra and Nehemiah is his only extended, running interaction with Old Testament text. Ellicott’s multi-author commentary has…

“The Education and Special Training of Ministers in Theological Schools”

This essay, which runs about 11 pages, was delivered to the Oecumenical Methodist Conference in London in 1881. Pope delivered it on Wednesday, September 14, during the session on education. The Proceedings of the meeting (published…

Methodist Doctrine

In this essay published in 1881, Pope sketched the ways in which Methodist doctrine stood in strong continuity with the great tradition of classic Christian theology, and also drew out the unique contribution Methodism had to…

Discourses: Chiefly on the Lordship of the Incarnate RedeemerDelivered in the Chapel of the Wesleyan Theological Institution, Didsbury. Third and Enlarged Edition.

23 chapters, 408 pages. Although it has a different title, this is actually the third edition, enlarged, of 1869’s Discourses on the Kingdom and Reign of Christ. The changes are noted below in red. The Prophecies…

Erich Haupt, The First Epistle of St. John: A Contribution to Biblical Theology.Translated with an
introduction by W. B. Pope.

Pope provides a very long “Translator’s Preface,” running to 20 pages and giving his own view of the unique characteristics of First John. It is one of Pope’s fullest statements of his view of the letter’s…

A Compendium of Christian Theology, 2nd Edition, Revised and EnlargedBeing Analytical Outlines of a Course of Theological Study, Biblical, Dogmatic, Historical

This 1879 London edition of the Compendium, 3 volumes (1361 pages plus index), is the first definitive version. (There was never a third edition, but I have noticed a few minor changes in subsequent printings through…

Sermons, Addresses, and ChargesDelivered During his Year of Office

The Prayers of St. PaulBeing an Analysis and Exposition of the Devotional Portion of the Apostle's Writings

“The substance of these Papers has appeared in the Methodist Magazine. The Writer, being requested to collect them into a volume, has taken the opportunity of expanding the original Essays and making them somewhat more complete…

Memoir of the late James Heald of Parrs Wood

Pope’s biography of James Heald (1796-1873), a devout lay Methodist banker and MP (representing Stockport in the House of Commons). 68pp Includes one of Heald’s sermons on 3 John 1:2 (“that you may prosper and be…

A Compendium of Christian Theology (1st ed.)Being Analytical Outlines of a Course of Theological Study, Biblical, Dogmatic, Historical

This is the single-volume, 752-page first edition of Pope’s Compendium. Pope greatly expanded it for the three-volume, 1361-page second edition with a general index. This first edition was so definitively superseded by the second edition that…