The Wesleyan Studies doctoral program at Northwind digs deep into the historical and theological foundations of the founder of the Methodist Movement and then expands the Wesleyan tradition in light of the lived experience of the people of God in multiple contexts.

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Northwind's focus on metamodernity explores the intersection of 18th-century Methodist theological frameworks—specifically the Wesleyan Quadrilateral (scripture, tradition, reason, experience)—with the 21st-century cultural, philosophical, and theological shift beyond postmodernism. This field seeks to apply Wesleyan practical theology to metamodernity characterized by an oscillation between hope and doubt and a renewed search for meaning. 

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Key aspects of this emerging field include:

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• Biblical Hermeneutics: utilizing a revised Wesleyan Quadrilateral to foster a hospitable homiletic culture that is both faithful to tradition and open to diverse, contemporary perspectives.
   

• Practical Theology: addressing the limitations of both modernity’s embrace and postmodernism’s rejection of meta-narratives and instead prioritizing the Wesleyan emphasis on uncontrolling love and radical grace to navigate the complexities of the current era.
   

• Critique of Postmodernism: Wesleyan-Holiness theology is moving beyond the family feud of 20th-century debates to confront the nihilism and collapse of scientific realism that followed the postmodern era.
   

• Oscillation: Wesley’s tendency toward a "conjunctive" theology—balancing opposing ideas—aligns with the metamodern tendency to oscillate between modern enthusiasm and postmodern irony. 
   

Our theological roots are in the Wesleyan Methodist tradition, but our branches and leaves serve many denominations and faith traditions. Having learned lessons from the modern “either/or” and postmodern “both/and” eras of Christian tradition, we now engage the metamodern "oscillation" era and ethos of the NextChurch in light of a new Re-formation and “New Thing” God is doing in the world.