We recognize four sources and criteria for theological thinking: Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Reason. Together these are known as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. Scripture is primary, so we understand our primary theological task as disciplined study of the Bible. The traditions of the Church throughout the ages, our personal faith experience and reason all serve to enlighten and enliven our understanding of scripture and its interpretation today. We do not, therefore, understand theology as static, for the exclusive property of any one particular doctrine or creed, but as a dynamic process involving the entire community of faith.
