Albert Cook Outler was a 20th century American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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 and philosopher. Outler is generally considered to be one of the most important 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...

 scholars in the history of the Church as well as the first real United Methodist

United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...

 theologian. He was also a key figure in the 20th century ecumenical movement.

Outler was born and raised in Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

 and was an ordained

Holy Orders

The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....

 Methodist Elder who served in several appointments. He graduated from Wofford College

Wofford College

Established in 1854 and related to the United Methodist Church, Wofford College is an independent, Phi Beta Kappa liberal arts college of 1,525 students located in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. The historic campus is recognized as a national arboretum and features “The...

 and received his Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 degree from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, teaching at both Yale and Duke University

Duke University

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

 before beginning a long tenure at Southern Methodist University

Southern Methodist University

Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...

 in Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. He was a delegate to Consultation on Church Union

Consultation on Church Union

The Consultation on Church Union was an effort towards church unity in the United States, that began in 1962 and in 2002 became the Churches Uniting in Christ...

, served on the Faith & Order board of the World Council of Churches

World Council of Churches

The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service. It is a Christian ecumenical organization that is based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland...

 and was an official observer at the Second Vatican Council

Second Vatican Council

The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...

.

Outler is widely credited with being the first to recognize John Wesley's method for theologizing, via what Outler referred to as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral

Wesleyan Quadrilateral

The Wesleyan Quadrilateral is a methodology for theological reflection that is credited to John Wesley, leader of the Methodist movement in the late 18th Century. The term itself was coined by 20th century American Methodist Albert C...

: Scripture, Church Tradition, Reason, and Personal Experience. This understanding of Wesleyan theology is prevalent throughout Methodism, particularly in The United Methodist Church. Using this model, Outler was a key figure in organizing the theological statement put forth by The United Methodist Church after its formation in 1968.

With his many references to the early Church, Outler's work has proven very influential to those in the paleo-orthodox movement

Paleo-Orthodoxy

Paleo-orthodoxy is a broad Christian theological movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries which focuses on the consensual understanding of the faith among the Ecumenical Councils and Church Fathers...

 and contemporary evangelicalism

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

, notably Thomas C. Oden

Thomas C. Oden

Thomas Clark Oden is an American United Methodist theologian and religious author associated with Drew University in New Jersey. He was born in Altus, Oklahoma, and holds a Doctor of Literature from Asbury College....

.

Albert Outler wrote and edited a great many works. Many of his writings have been collected in the Albert Outler Library series by Bristol House publishers.

Key works

• Albert Outler: The Churchman (ISBN 1-885224-02-8)
• Albert C. Outler: The Gifted Dilettante by Bob W. Parrott (ISBN 1-885224-28-1), a definitive biography
• Albert Outler: The Historian & Interpreter of the Christian Tradition
• Albert Outler on the Holy Spirit: The Pneumatology of Albert Cook Outler
• Albert Outler: The Preacher (ISBN 0-687-00950-2), a collection of sermons
• Albert Outler: The University Professor (ISBN 1-885224-03-6)
• Christology (ISBN 1-885224-08-7)
• The Ecumenical Theologian (ISBN 1-885224-35-4)
• Evangelism
• Evangelism & Theology in the Wesleyan Spirit (ISBN 0-88177-151-1), a synthesis of Wesleyan thought
• John Wesley (ISBN 0-19-502810-4), considered perhaps the finest one volume introduction to Wesley
• The Pastoral Psychology of Albert C. Outler (ISBN 1-885224-11-7)
• The Works of John Wesley, an ongoing series for which Outler served as initial editor, presenting what is hoped to be definitive editions of Wesley's writings

External links

• "A Fund for 'Evangelical' Scholars" by Albert C. Outler
• "Ordeal of a Happy Dilettante" by Albert C. Outler