A theological dictionary

the long version

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.