Edwin Lewis (1881–1959) was an American

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

theologian primarily associated with

Drew University Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey, United States. It has a wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three schools. While affiliated with the Methodism, Me ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Biography

Born in

Newbury, Berkshire Newbury is a market town in West Berkshire, England, in the valley of the River Kennet. It is south of Oxford, north of Winchester, southeast of Swindon and west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. It is also where West Berkshire Council is hea ...

, England, Lewis became a Methodist local preacher at the age of seventeen. In 1900 he traveled to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

, Canada as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

before continuing his education in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He eventually became a professor of theology at Drew. Lewis' early work demonstrates the influence of Boston personalism, a school of Protestant liberal theology widespread among Methodists during the first half of the 20th century, and British

idealism Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...

. His book ''Jesus Christ and the Human Quest'' is an example of his early perspective. In the book, Lewis argues that the Christian faith has its foundation in the nature of persons and personhood. In 1929 he was named one of three editors of the ''Abingdon Bible Commentary''. While preparing the massive reference work, Lewis claimed to have "rediscovered the Bible" for himself. He reacted strongly to the 1931 report '' Re-Thinking Missions: A Laymen's Inquiry after One Hundred Years'', which he believed hampered the Christian missionary effort, in his article "The Re-thought Theology of the Re-thinking of Missions" which appeared in the ''

Christian Century ''The Christian Century'' is a Christian magazine based in Chicago, Illinois. Considered the flagship magazine of US mainline Protestantism, the monthly reports on religious news; comments on theological, moral, and cultural issues; and reviews ...

''. Growing more suspicious of the subjective theological liberalism of the day, he published ''A Christian Manifesto'' in 1934. In the book, Lewis railed against liberal theology (which he referred to as

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

), reasserting classical Christian themes such as the transcendence of God, the sinfulness of humankind, the

divinity of Christ In Christianity, Christology is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would be in the freeing of ...

, and the objective work of the atonement. Lewis wrote: "No statement of Christian belief which does not include a supernatural reference...is a true statement." He followed ''A Christian Manifesto'' with ''A Philosophy of Christian Revelation'' and ''The Creator and the Adversary'', both of which continued his reclamation of Christian orthodoxy from an

Arminian Arminianism is a movement of Protestantism initiated in the early 17th century, based on the Christian theology, theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed Church, Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remo ...

perspective. Lewis argued that God triumphs over evil by outsuffering and outloving his adversary. Lewis contributed sixty signed articles to the original edition of ''Harper's Bible Dictionary'' first published in 1952. He died at Morristown Memorial Hospital on November 28, 1959, after a long illness. Lewis' work proved influential to an entire generation of Methodist theologians, notably Carl Michalson and Albert C. Outler.

Works

Books

* ''Jesus Christ and the Human Quest''. New York, NY: The Abingdon Press, 1924.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Edwin 1881 births 1959 deaths 20th-century American Protestant theologians Arminian theologians Lewis