Richard Watson
Personal Information
Description
Richard Watson (1781 - 1833) Richard Watson was a British Methodist theologian considered an important figures in 19th century Methodism. Watson was born in 1781 in Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire, England and the family moved to Lincoln in 1789 to continue his training. Following his conversion in 1795, Watson chose to serve in the Methodist Society where his gift of prayer and exhortation became known. At age 15, Watson preached his first sermon in a village near Lincoln. His professional life consisted of preaching, serving as Secretary and President of a Methodist Conference and developing the Wesleyan Missionary Society. He entered the Methodist itinerancy in 1796. Watson was a gifted writer and theologian. In 1818 he wrote a reply to Adam Clarke's doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ; Watson believed that Clarke's views were unorthodox and, therefore, not faithfully Wesleyan. In 1823 he began to publish his Theological Institutes, which remained a standard for many years. It was the first attempt to systematize John Wesley's theology and by extension Methodist doctrine, serving as secretary to the Wesleyan Missionary Society from 1821 to 1825 and as President of Conference in Britain in 1826. In 1831 he wrote a well-regarded life of Lincolnshireman John Wesley (1703-1791) and in Britain, he was a leading opponent of slavery. Watson died in 1833 in Myddelton Square, London, England.
Books
Two Apologies: One for Christianity in a Series of Letters Addressed to Edward Gibbon, the Other ..
A Biblical and theological dictionary: explanatory of the history, manners, and customs of the Jews, and neighbouring nations
Conversations for the young: designed to promote the profitable reading of the Holy Scriptures
The religious instruction of the slaves in the West-India colonies advocated and defended
Theological institutes, or, A view of the evidences, doctrines, morals, and institutions of Christianity
A theological dictionary
Richard Watson was one of the greatest theologians the Church has ever known. This edition contains 220 entries ranging from a paragraph to several pages. Watson addresses philosophical issues, comparative religions, apologetics, matters of hermeneutics, and basic Christian beliefs. Watson's definitions and historical accounts, his exegesis and citation of primary sources will strength this generation of ill-equipped Arminians to defend their faith. - Publisher. We have a profound respect for Richard Watson. We also agree with Thomas Jackson that his sentences are sometimes too long and involved and that the arrangement of words could have been improved. Therefore, we have done some minor editing in order to make his work more readable. Although the original dictionary was a biblical and theological reference work, the availability of many Bible dictionaries makes the reprinting of Watson's entries on biblical topics unnecessary. Therefore, we have abridged the dictionary to include only Watson's theological definitions. And we have extracted from his Institutes entries on the eternal sonship of Christ, mercy, and Christian perfection. Bracketed passages and phrases were added by the American editors, working under Nathan Bangs, in 1832. It is our desire that this new edition will make available to a new generation the warm evangelical scholarship of early Methodism. - p. 9.