“Seeing the Invisible God”: John Ryland Jr.'s Spirituality of Triumphal Living in Christ

Abstract

This dissertation argues that John Ryland, Jr.’s doctrines of the Trinity and the incarnation, as they relate to the deity of Christ and his presence among believers, have a direct bearing on his spiritual formation. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the Trinitarian conflicts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the response to these conflicts by the English Particular Baptists in their creation of the First and Second London Baptist Confessions of Faith. This chapter also introduces two key theological mentors of Ryland: John Gill and John Collett Ryland. Chapter 3 explores key issues of Ryland’s Trinitarian theology, including his understanding of the deity of Christ. The chapter seeks to demonstrate the direct bearing Christ’s deity has on Ryland as a pastor and hymn writer. Chapter 4 examines Ryland’s thoughts concerning the presence of Christ as it relates to the incarnation of the Son of God and how this Evangelical truth lived out in Ryland’s pastoral care among the Particular Baptists. Chapter 5 is the conclusion, and it summarizes the thesis and arguments of this dissertation to answer the research question.