Glen O'Brien | University of Divinity (original) (raw)
Books by Glen O'Brien
dylans-gospel-and-the-excavation-of-american-music/ A 79-year-old Bob Dylan released his latest a... more dylans-gospel-and-the-excavation-of-american-music/ A 79-year-old Bob Dylan released his latest album Rough and Rowdy Ways on 19 June, 2020 and it's been widely hailed as a late-career masterpiece. The title is drawn from the 1929 Jimmie Rodgers song 'My Rough and Rowdy Ways,' and this is only one of the numerous cultural byways that the album takes us down. Indiana Jones and Edgar Allen Poe sit comfortably alongside each other as Dylan says hello to Mary Lou, and goodbye to Jimmy Reed. In the remarkable slice of American gothic that is 'My Own Version of You,' he plays the role of Dr Frankenstein, stitching 'the Scarface Pacino' and 'the Godfather Brando' into a 'robot commando' of his own making, 'at the Black Horse Tavern on Armageddon Street.' All while 'Mr. Freud with his dreams' and 'Mr. Marx with his axe' are having the flesh torn off their backs by 'a rawhide lash' in a burning hell. In its own way, it's all as stunning as the literary masterpieces that appeared on his mid-60s albums. It's also profoundly Christian in the worldliest and most humanly grounded kind of way. After first gaining inspiration from the elder statesmen and stateswomen of the blues, he has become one of them himself, with the same mix of worldly impulses and spiritual longing that characterised their art.
John Wesley's Political World, 2023
This book employs a global history approach to John Wesley’s (1703–1791) political and social tra... more This book employs a global history approach to John Wesley’s (1703–1791) political and social tracts. It stresses the personal element in Wesley’s political thought, focusing on the twin themes of ‘liberty and loyalty’. Wesley’s political writings reflect on the impact of global conflicts on Britain and provide insight into the political responses of the broader religious world of the eighteenth century.
They cover such topics as the nature and origin of political power, economy, taxes, trade, opposition to slavery and to smuggling, British rule in Ireland, relaxation of anti-Catholic Acts, and the American Revolution. Glen O’Brien argues that Wesley’s political foundations were less theological than they were social and personal. Political engagement was exercised as part of a social contract held together by a compact of trust.
The book contributes to eighteenth-century religious history, and to Wesley Studies in particular, through a fresh engagement with primary sources and recent secondary literature in order to place Wesley’s writings in their global political context.
Most Wesleyan-Holiness churches started in the US, developing out of the Methodist roots of the n... more Most Wesleyan-Holiness churches started in the US, developing out of the Methodist roots of the nineteenth-century Holiness Movement. The American origins of the Holiness movement have been charted in some depth, but there is currently little detail on how it developed outside of the US. This book seeks to redress this imbalance by giving a history of North American Wesleyan-Holiness churches in Australia, from their establishment in the years following the Second World War, as well as of The Salvation Army, which has nineteenth-century British origins. It traces the way some of these churches moved from marginalised sects to established denominations, while others remained small and isolated.
Looking at The Church of God (Anderson), The Church of God (Cleveland), The Church of the Nazarene, The Salvation Army, and The Wesleyan Methodist Church in Australia, the book argues two main points. Firstly, it shows that rather than being American imperialism at work, these religious expressions were a creative partnership between like-minded evangelical Christians from two modern nations sharing a general cultural similarity and set of religious convictions. Secondly, it demonstrates that it was those churches that showed the most willingness to be theologically flexible, even dialling down some of their Wesleyan distinctiveness, that had the most success.
This is the first book to chart the fascinating development of Holiness churches in Australia. As such, it will be of keen interest to scholars of Wesleyans and Methodists, as well as religious history and the sociology of religion more generally.
Methodism has played a major role in all areas of public life in Australia but has been particula... more Methodism has played a major role in all areas of public life in Australia but has been particularly significant for its influence on education, social welfare, missions to Aboriginal people and the Pacific Islands and the role of women. Drawing together a team of historical experts, Methodism in Australia presents a critical introduction to one of the most important religious movements in Australia's settlement history and beyond. Offering ground-breaking regional studies of the development of Methodism, this book considers a broad range of issues including Australian Methodist religious experience, worship and music, Methodist intellectuals, and missions to Australia and the Pacific.Contents: Foreword, Russell E. Richey; Preface; Introduction: Methodism and the southern world, Hilary M. Carey and Glen O’Brien. Part I Histories, 1811-1977: Methodism in the Australian colonies, 1811-1855, Glen O’Brien; Methodism in New South Wales, 1855-1902, Malcolm Prentis; Methodism in Victoria and Tasmania, 1855-1902, Renate Howe; Methodism in South Australia, 1855-1902, David Hilliard; Queensland Methodism until 1902, John Harrison; Methodism in Western Australia, 1829-1977, Alison Longworth; Methodists and Empire, Troy Duncan; Methodist reunion in Australasia, Ian Breward; Methodism and the crises of nationhood, 1903-1955, Samantha Frappell; Methodism and the challenge of ‘the sixties’, Jennifer Clark. Part II Themes: Australian Methodist religious experience, Glen O’Brien; Worship and music in Australian Methodism, D’Arcy Wood; Wesleyan Methodist missions to Australia and the Pacific, David Andrew Roberts and Margaret Reeson; Australian Methodist women, Anne O’Brien; Australian Methodist scholars, Garry W. Trompf; Australian Methodist historiography, Hilary M. Carey; The continuing Methodist legacy, 1977-2014, William Emilsen and Glen O’Brien. Conclusion, Glen O’Brien; Select bibliography; Indexes.
I was very pleased to hear that a second edition of this life of Kingsley Ridgway was to be produ... more I was very pleased to hear that a second edition of this life of Kingsley Ridgway was to be produced and to be invited by the Rev. Lindsay Cameron to write a brief preface. The book began as the equivalent of an Honours thesis undertaken at Kingsley College in 1993 and was published in 1996 as part of the Wesleyan Methodist Church’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations.
In more recent years my work has become increasingly more focused on historical study so that I now find myself looking back at this early attempt at biography with new eyes. Would I write this book in the same way if I were to write it today? Probably not. It’s perhaps a little triumphalist here and there. It doesn’t work very hard at placing the life of its subject into a broader historical context. As for historical methodology, at the time of writing, I had no idea what the term even meant. There was a story to tell and I tried to tell it in an interesting way, and to document the facts as accurately as I could. If I failed to maintain the kind of objectivity I insisted on in the introduction it was probably out of youthful admiration and zeal, qualities I’m sure the reader will forgive. I thought it best under the circumstances not to attempt a major revision of the book. It was necessary however to correct some obvious errors here and there and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have done so.
Since writing this book I have published articles on similar themes and readers who wish to pursue the story of Wesleyan Methodism and other Australian Holiness churches may wish to consult my PhD thesis on Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia (La Trobe University, 2006) or track down the following of my articles: “A Brief Introduction to the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia,” Uniting Church Studies 17:2 (December 2012); “Anti-Americanism and Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 61:2 (April 2010): 314-43; “Joining the Evangelical Club: The Movement of the Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia along the Church-Sect Continuum,” The Journal of Religious History 32:3 (Sept 2008): 320-344; “A Beautiful Virgin Country Ready for a Revival of Bible Holiness: Early Holiness Evangelists in Australia,” Wesleyan Theological Journal 42:2 (Fall, 2007): 155-81.
Wesleyan Methodists should be acquainted with the life of their founder and with the circumstances that gave rise to the establishment of their church. I hope this new edition of Pioneer with a Passion will contribute to that end as did its previous incarnation. Other readers may also find this book of interest as it narrates the beginnings and development of a Wesleyan-Holiness church that has matured from a small movement of concerned Australian evangelicals to an established denomination in its own right. It is significant that there is an entry on both the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Church of the Nazarene in the recently published Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia, ed. James Jupp (Cambridge University Press, 2009), which is perhaps a sign that the contribution of Wesleyan-Holiness churches to Australia’s religious life is finally being given the attention it deserves.
Book Chapters by Glen O'Brien
Sanctifying Theology At the Intersections of Wesleyan Theology, Dogmatics, and Practice—A Festschrift in Honour of Thomas A. Noble, 2023
Wesleyan theology (like most theology) is an attempt to give a systematic exposition to a prior e... more Wesleyan theology (like most theology) is an attempt to give a systematic exposition to a prior experience of grace received as transformative love. It is an affectional theology of experience grounded in the divine actions of preparing, pardoning, and perfecting. On the human level, this arises out of an encounter with divine presence that issues in both reflection
upon and yielding of the heart to the reality of Jesus Christ, leading to reconciliation and transformation. In this chapter, I propose a modest reframing of three key terms in Wesleyan systematics, substituting prevenient, justifying and sanctifying grace with the alternative
terms, ‘gestating, birthing, and nurturing grace.’ Such terms draw upon a set of feminine and maternal imagery that is appropriate for a tradition such as Methodism, grounded as it is in women’s and men’s experiences of divine love and nurture. I do not propose that these newer terms should entirely replace the older terms. The long and rich history of discourse around
these concepts is too important to be set aside. However, new terms can further the discussion and open new possibilities and new ways of thinking about older ideas. The ideas offered here are offered only as a beginning set of reflections and are not intended to constitute a definitive or programmatic work.Wesleyan theology (like most theology) is an attempt to give a systematic exposition to a prior experience of grace received as transformative love. It is an affectional theology of experience grounded in the divine actions of preparing, pardoning, and perfecting. On the
human level, this arises out of an encounter with divine presence that issues in both reflection upon and yielding of the heart to the reality of Jesus Christ, leading to reconciliation and transformation. In this chapter, I propose a modest reframing of three key terms in Wesleyan systematics, substituting prevenient, justifying and sanctifying grace with the alternative
terms, ‘gestating, birthing, and nurturing grace.’ Such terms draw upon a set of feminine and maternal imagery that is appropriate for a tradition such as Methodism, grounded as it is in women’s and men’s experiences of divine love and nurture. I do not propose that these newer terms should entirely replace the older terms. The long and rich history of discourse around
these concepts is too important to be set aside. However, new terms can further the discussion and open new possibilities and new ways of thinking about older ideas. The ideas offered here are offered only as a beginning set of reflections and are not intended to constitute a definitive or programmatic work.
This is a prepublication draft. For the definitive version, please see chapter 38 in Clive Murray... more This is a prepublication draft. For the definitive version, please see chapter 38 in Clive Murray Norris and Joseph W. Cunningham. The Routledge Companion to John Wesley, edited by Clive Murray Norris and Joseph W. Cunningham (London: Routledge, 2023).
Lay preaching had been part of the originating genius of Methodism from its eighteenth-century or... more Lay preaching had been part of the originating genius of Methodism from its eighteenth-century origins and was still one of its most distinctive features at the beginning of the twentieth century. This chapter will show that the piety of most local preachers was largely evangelical during this period, and that the preachers, though loyal to Methodism, were also comfortable working in interdenominational settings. Some representative description of the activity of local preachers will be given as well as a description of their training and of their close relationship to the circuit ministers who supervised their work. It will be shown that while the number of local preachers declined across the century, the Methodist local preaching tradition survived intact into the Uniting Church. Note: This is a pre-publication draft only. For the definitive version, see Called to Preach: A History of Lay Preaching in the Uniting Churches in Tasmania and Victoria, eds. Robert Renton and Alastair Davison (Melbourne: The Lay Preachers’ Association of Victoria and Tasmania, 2021), 87-110.
In this chapter I will consider John Wesley’s response to the adverse conditions experienced by t... more In this chapter I will consider John Wesley’s response to the adverse conditions experienced by the poor, arising from the economic conditions of the country, in his Word to a Smuggler (1767), Thoughts on the Present Scarcity of Provisions (1773) and Serious Address to the People of England (1778). These tracts demonstrate Wesley’s concern for the well-being of the British population as a matter that called for government intervention and policy-making, designed to contribute to greater human flourishing.
In this essay I provide a brief overview of the shape of Wesley’s teaching about sanctification, ... more In this essay I provide a brief overview of the shape of Wesley’s teaching about sanctification, before building upon a major theme in David McEwan's second book, The Life of God in the Soul (namely, the theme of holiness as happiness) to argue that, while Wesley is not to be slavishly followed in all respects, his eudaimonian concept of holiness continues to provide a valuable model for inviting people into the fullness of sanctifying grace. Note: This is a pre-publication draft version. The definitive and final version is to be found in A Plain Account of Christian Faithfulness: Essays in Honor of David B. McEwan. eds. Rob A. Fringer and Dean G. Smith (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2020), forthcoming.
John Wesley revised the Book of Common Prayer for the use of Methodists in America in four editio... more John Wesley revised the Book of Common Prayer for the use of Methodists in America in four editions beginning in 1784. One frontier preacher's response may stand as typical of the neglect the book experienced -'Our preachers prefer to pray with their eyes closed.' Remaining little more than a historical curiosity until the mid-twentieth century, the Sunday Service underwent a renewal of interest as American Methodists participated in the liturgical renewal movement. Wesley's abridgment had a more significant role in British Methodism where it formed the basis of Methodist worship, along with the Book of Common Prayer itself (at least in the mainstream Wesleyan tradition.) This chapter traces the fortunes of this particular liturgical resource and consider its value for Methodism's (and the Uniting Church's) present sense of liturgical continuity with Anglican worship.
John Wesley revised the Book of Common Prayer for the use of Methodists in America in four editio... more John Wesley revised the Book of Common Prayer for the use of Methodists in America in four editions beginning in 1784. One frontier preacher's response may stand as typical of the neglect the book experienced-'Our preachers prefer to pray with their eyes closed.' Remaining little more than a historical curiosity until the mid-twentieth century, the Sunday Service underwent a renewal of interest as American Methodists participated in the liturgical renewal movement. Wesley's abridgment had a more significant role in British Methodism where it formed the basis of Methodist worship, along with the Book of Common Prayer itself (at least in the mainstream Wesleyan tradition.) This chapter traces the fortunes of this particular liturgical resource and consider its value for Methodism's (and the Uniting Church's) present sense of liturgical continuity with Anglican worship.
Rhys Bezzant, ed. The Global Edwards: Papers from the Jonathan Edwards Congress held in Melbourne, 2015 (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stovck, 2017), 247-60. , 2017
This paper examines John Wesley's reading of Jonathan Edwards and the manner in which he mediated... more This paper examines John Wesley's reading of Jonathan Edwards and the manner in which he mediated Edwards to 'the people called Methodist' through the editing, publishing, and dissemination of Edwards' works. It includes a consideration of the 1778 sermon, 'Some Account of the Late Work of God in America' in which Wesley co-opts Edwards for use in a historical narrative designed to legitimate Methodism as a genuine work of God as well as to extend Wesley's opposition to the democratic spirit that had led to the American Revolution. Wesley describes his own work in Georgia and the awakening in Northampton reported in Edwards' Faithful Narrative of a Surprising Work of God (1736), as though they were two parts of a continuous and converging stream. In so doing he smooths over the historical complexities and continuities, rewriting history to serve his own purposes. Though Wesley's admiration for Edwards is clear his selective use of the latter's writings was guided by the conviction that they contained 'wholesome food...mixed with much deadly poison.'
William Emilsen and Patricia Curthoys, eds. Out of the Ordinary: Twelve Australian Methodist Biographies (Adelaide: Mediacom, 2015), 2015
A tall man with a commanding, even austere, presence, Rev Sir Irving Benson was something of a po... more A tall man with a commanding, even austere, presence, Rev Sir Irving Benson was something of a polarising figure within Australian Methodism but undoubtedly one of its most significant leaders in the first half of the twentieth-century. Benson belonged to an earlier imperial age more oriented toward Great Britain than the Asian and Pacific world that would dominate the second half of the century. He was perhaps the last of his type—the pulpit prince with a broad public audience and a media presence that would be the envy of most ministers in today’s post-Christendom Australia. Yet in pointing the city to Christ he seemed not to discern clearly the direction that Christ would take the Church in the challenging period ahead.
John Wesley’s views on Christian perfection remained an important part of Australian Methodist di... more John Wesley’s views on Christian perfection remained an important part of Australian Methodist discourse from the Church’s struggling colonial beginnings through to its growth and consolidation in the late nineteenth century. Though certain features of Wesley’s teaching on entire sanctification were left behind in a process of over-simplification, key insights were retained such as the theme of empowering grace and of holiness as perfect love. This interest in Christian perfection was an expression of Methodist confidence in grace-enabled relationships of Christlike love both within and beyond the Church. Even such a ‘Methodist moderniser’ as Edward Sugden was a keen exponent of entire sanctification as a central doctrine of Methodism, though he, like others in the early twentieth century, attempted a reformulation of the doctrine on the basis of newer insights. By the 1940s an emphasis on entire sanctification had all but disappeared from Australian Methodism except for a very small number of notable enthusiasts such as Walter Betts. Many of those nurtured by the holiness tradition in Methodism became part of the newly emerging Pentecostal movement, and a number of Wesleyan-Holiness churches with North American origins entered Australia in the post-war period. Though mid-century British Methodists such as William Sangster and R. Newton Flew made significant contributions to the doctrine of Christian perfection which were valued by Australian Methodists, the expectation of an ‘immense, unfathomed, unconfined’ degree of sanctifying grace had by then all but disappeared from the Australian Methodist landscape.
![Research paper thumbnail of “Why Brengle? Why Coutts? Why Not?” in Mal Davies, ed. Love Divine – Excelling in Love: The Salvation Army’s Place in the Wesleyan Holiness Tradition. Windows of Opportunity vol. 5 (The Salvation Army Tri-Territorial Theological Forum, n.d. [2011]), 51-66.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/11660043/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Jonathan Raymond has said that modern-day Salvationists fall into three camps. “First - the Breng... more Jonathan Raymond has said that modern-day Salvationists fall into three camps. “First - the Brengle camp of holiness as crisis and second work of grace; second - the Coutts camp of holiness as growth in grace; and third – the largest camp of apathy where holiness is not an issue at all.” Alongside these twin themes of crisis and process, one must also set the twin themes of pneumatology and Christology, for in Brengle and Coutts and in the wider holiness movement, entire sanctification has been understood both as a “baptism of the Holy Spirit” and as “crucifixion with Christ,” as an enduement of power from on high and as a dying to sin and self with a subsequent rising to a Christlike life. In each case the result is understood to be the same, though the metaphor may differ – a heart purified from all sin and filled with love for God and neighbour. It would be a tragedy indeed if confusion over differences of emphasis should lead to a loss of any distinctive holiness message being proclaimed. This is, I fear, what we have come to, not only in the Salvation Army, but in other Wesleyan-Holiness churches such as the Church of the Nazarene, and the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
In this paper I would like to set the discussion of the different emphases of Brengle and Coutts against the backdrop of the much broader and long standing discussion of which it is a part. I would also like to set out a possible way forward so that these two important and influential holiness teachers might no longer be seen as at odds with one another but as offering complementary views that when taken together in a conjunctive fashion bring a balance to Wesleyan-Holiness teaching.
The Master: The life and work of Edward H. Sugden is a collection of 12 essays that explore diffe... more The Master: The life and work of Edward H. Sugden is a collection of 12 essays that explore different facets of Sugden’s 40 years at Queen’s College after he was appointed Master in 1887 at the age of 33.
Following the sesqui-centenary of Dr Sugden’s birth in 2004, an unsuccessful search was conducted by Queen’s College to find an author to write the biography of its first and longest serving Master, explains Queen’s College archivist Dr Jennifer Bars.
“It was decided instead to hold a symposium and publish the resultant papers as a kind of ‘collective biography’,” she says.
“The papers reflect the extraordinary range of Dr Sugden’s interests and involvements over his long life, and illuminate a fascinating period in the early history of Melbourne.”
During his time as Master, Dr Sudgen guided the development of Queen’s College as both a residential College and as Australia’s most influential Theological College for the Methodist Church.
Sugden was an outstanding scholar, preacher and teacher and during his time at the University was also lecturer, a member of the University Council and first chairman of Melbourne University Press.
Contributors to the book drew on Dr Sugden’s many published materials – his writing ranged widely, from books, pamphlets, articles and letters to translations and music – and also on the valuable collections of manuscript materials held at the Queen’s College Archives, the University of Melbourne Archives, the National Gallery of Australia’s research collection, and the State Library of Victoria’s manuscript collection.
The Sugden Papers, held in the Archives of Queen’s College, were a particularly valuable resource as they contain a large collection of Dr Sugden’s travel diaries, scrapbooks, correspondence photos and other materials.
Edited by former member of the Queen’s College Council Renate Howe, the book features work by senior academics at the University of Melbourne and at Queen’s College, and includes an essay about Dr Sugden’s private life and his family, written by his great-grandson Ken Foster.
“Reverend Foster’s chapter on his great-grandfather rounds out the story of Dr Sugden’s life, providing an insight into the private life of a man who, whilst actively involved in the public life of the University and the Church, was a loving father to his six daughters,” says Dr Bars.
“His memory is still cherished by his many descendants who have preserved the records of his private and public life.”
Dr Bars says Dr Sugden’s work has left a lasting impact on Queen’s College, both in the physical legacy of the College environment which Dr Sugden, in his 40 years as Master had a key role in shaping and in the development of ‘the Sugden tradition’, described by the current Master of Queen’s Professor David Runia in his chapter Master of Queen’s: the lasting legacy.
The phrase refers to the freedom granted by Dr Sugden to students to regulate their own affairs as much as possible. Dr Sugden believed strongly in the capacity of young people for “self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control”, and from the beginning, Queen’s lacked the rules and regulations of the other Colleges. This long-standing tradition fosters the autonomy of the student body, and reflects the expectation that the students of the College will bear responsibility for their own actions.
http://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/musse/?p=4393
Papers by Glen O'Brien
This short discussion paper provides a diagnosis of the problem of lack of interest in evangelism... more This short discussion paper provides a diagnosis of the problem of lack of interest in evangelism in the Uniting Church in Australia and proposes a Uniting Church Order of Christian Initiation based on the Catholic Church's OCIA.
dylans-gospel-and-the-excavation-of-american-music/ A 79-year-old Bob Dylan released his latest a... more dylans-gospel-and-the-excavation-of-american-music/ A 79-year-old Bob Dylan released his latest album Rough and Rowdy Ways on 19 June, 2020 and it's been widely hailed as a late-career masterpiece. The title is drawn from the 1929 Jimmie Rodgers song 'My Rough and Rowdy Ways,' and this is only one of the numerous cultural byways that the album takes us down. Indiana Jones and Edgar Allen Poe sit comfortably alongside each other as Dylan says hello to Mary Lou, and goodbye to Jimmy Reed. In the remarkable slice of American gothic that is 'My Own Version of You,' he plays the role of Dr Frankenstein, stitching 'the Scarface Pacino' and 'the Godfather Brando' into a 'robot commando' of his own making, 'at the Black Horse Tavern on Armageddon Street.' All while 'Mr. Freud with his dreams' and 'Mr. Marx with his axe' are having the flesh torn off their backs by 'a rawhide lash' in a burning hell. In its own way, it's all as stunning as the literary masterpieces that appeared on his mid-60s albums. It's also profoundly Christian in the worldliest and most humanly grounded kind of way. After first gaining inspiration from the elder statesmen and stateswomen of the blues, he has become one of them himself, with the same mix of worldly impulses and spiritual longing that characterised their art.
John Wesley's Political World, 2023
This book employs a global history approach to John Wesley’s (1703–1791) political and social tra... more This book employs a global history approach to John Wesley’s (1703–1791) political and social tracts. It stresses the personal element in Wesley’s political thought, focusing on the twin themes of ‘liberty and loyalty’. Wesley’s political writings reflect on the impact of global conflicts on Britain and provide insight into the political responses of the broader religious world of the eighteenth century.
They cover such topics as the nature and origin of political power, economy, taxes, trade, opposition to slavery and to smuggling, British rule in Ireland, relaxation of anti-Catholic Acts, and the American Revolution. Glen O’Brien argues that Wesley’s political foundations were less theological than they were social and personal. Political engagement was exercised as part of a social contract held together by a compact of trust.
The book contributes to eighteenth-century religious history, and to Wesley Studies in particular, through a fresh engagement with primary sources and recent secondary literature in order to place Wesley’s writings in their global political context.
Most Wesleyan-Holiness churches started in the US, developing out of the Methodist roots of the n... more Most Wesleyan-Holiness churches started in the US, developing out of the Methodist roots of the nineteenth-century Holiness Movement. The American origins of the Holiness movement have been charted in some depth, but there is currently little detail on how it developed outside of the US. This book seeks to redress this imbalance by giving a history of North American Wesleyan-Holiness churches in Australia, from their establishment in the years following the Second World War, as well as of The Salvation Army, which has nineteenth-century British origins. It traces the way some of these churches moved from marginalised sects to established denominations, while others remained small and isolated.
Looking at The Church of God (Anderson), The Church of God (Cleveland), The Church of the Nazarene, The Salvation Army, and The Wesleyan Methodist Church in Australia, the book argues two main points. Firstly, it shows that rather than being American imperialism at work, these religious expressions were a creative partnership between like-minded evangelical Christians from two modern nations sharing a general cultural similarity and set of religious convictions. Secondly, it demonstrates that it was those churches that showed the most willingness to be theologically flexible, even dialling down some of their Wesleyan distinctiveness, that had the most success.
This is the first book to chart the fascinating development of Holiness churches in Australia. As such, it will be of keen interest to scholars of Wesleyans and Methodists, as well as religious history and the sociology of religion more generally.
Methodism has played a major role in all areas of public life in Australia but has been particula... more Methodism has played a major role in all areas of public life in Australia but has been particularly significant for its influence on education, social welfare, missions to Aboriginal people and the Pacific Islands and the role of women. Drawing together a team of historical experts, Methodism in Australia presents a critical introduction to one of the most important religious movements in Australia's settlement history and beyond. Offering ground-breaking regional studies of the development of Methodism, this book considers a broad range of issues including Australian Methodist religious experience, worship and music, Methodist intellectuals, and missions to Australia and the Pacific.Contents: Foreword, Russell E. Richey; Preface; Introduction: Methodism and the southern world, Hilary M. Carey and Glen O’Brien. Part I Histories, 1811-1977: Methodism in the Australian colonies, 1811-1855, Glen O’Brien; Methodism in New South Wales, 1855-1902, Malcolm Prentis; Methodism in Victoria and Tasmania, 1855-1902, Renate Howe; Methodism in South Australia, 1855-1902, David Hilliard; Queensland Methodism until 1902, John Harrison; Methodism in Western Australia, 1829-1977, Alison Longworth; Methodists and Empire, Troy Duncan; Methodist reunion in Australasia, Ian Breward; Methodism and the crises of nationhood, 1903-1955, Samantha Frappell; Methodism and the challenge of ‘the sixties’, Jennifer Clark. Part II Themes: Australian Methodist religious experience, Glen O’Brien; Worship and music in Australian Methodism, D’Arcy Wood; Wesleyan Methodist missions to Australia and the Pacific, David Andrew Roberts and Margaret Reeson; Australian Methodist women, Anne O’Brien; Australian Methodist scholars, Garry W. Trompf; Australian Methodist historiography, Hilary M. Carey; The continuing Methodist legacy, 1977-2014, William Emilsen and Glen O’Brien. Conclusion, Glen O’Brien; Select bibliography; Indexes.
I was very pleased to hear that a second edition of this life of Kingsley Ridgway was to be produ... more I was very pleased to hear that a second edition of this life of Kingsley Ridgway was to be produced and to be invited by the Rev. Lindsay Cameron to write a brief preface. The book began as the equivalent of an Honours thesis undertaken at Kingsley College in 1993 and was published in 1996 as part of the Wesleyan Methodist Church’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations.
In more recent years my work has become increasingly more focused on historical study so that I now find myself looking back at this early attempt at biography with new eyes. Would I write this book in the same way if I were to write it today? Probably not. It’s perhaps a little triumphalist here and there. It doesn’t work very hard at placing the life of its subject into a broader historical context. As for historical methodology, at the time of writing, I had no idea what the term even meant. There was a story to tell and I tried to tell it in an interesting way, and to document the facts as accurately as I could. If I failed to maintain the kind of objectivity I insisted on in the introduction it was probably out of youthful admiration and zeal, qualities I’m sure the reader will forgive. I thought it best under the circumstances not to attempt a major revision of the book. It was necessary however to correct some obvious errors here and there and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have done so.
Since writing this book I have published articles on similar themes and readers who wish to pursue the story of Wesleyan Methodism and other Australian Holiness churches may wish to consult my PhD thesis on Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia (La Trobe University, 2006) or track down the following of my articles: “A Brief Introduction to the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia,” Uniting Church Studies 17:2 (December 2012); “Anti-Americanism and Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 61:2 (April 2010): 314-43; “Joining the Evangelical Club: The Movement of the Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia along the Church-Sect Continuum,” The Journal of Religious History 32:3 (Sept 2008): 320-344; “A Beautiful Virgin Country Ready for a Revival of Bible Holiness: Early Holiness Evangelists in Australia,” Wesleyan Theological Journal 42:2 (Fall, 2007): 155-81.
Wesleyan Methodists should be acquainted with the life of their founder and with the circumstances that gave rise to the establishment of their church. I hope this new edition of Pioneer with a Passion will contribute to that end as did its previous incarnation. Other readers may also find this book of interest as it narrates the beginnings and development of a Wesleyan-Holiness church that has matured from a small movement of concerned Australian evangelicals to an established denomination in its own right. It is significant that there is an entry on both the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Church of the Nazarene in the recently published Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia, ed. James Jupp (Cambridge University Press, 2009), which is perhaps a sign that the contribution of Wesleyan-Holiness churches to Australia’s religious life is finally being given the attention it deserves.
Sanctifying Theology At the Intersections of Wesleyan Theology, Dogmatics, and Practice—A Festschrift in Honour of Thomas A. Noble, 2023
Wesleyan theology (like most theology) is an attempt to give a systematic exposition to a prior e... more Wesleyan theology (like most theology) is an attempt to give a systematic exposition to a prior experience of grace received as transformative love. It is an affectional theology of experience grounded in the divine actions of preparing, pardoning, and perfecting. On the human level, this arises out of an encounter with divine presence that issues in both reflection
upon and yielding of the heart to the reality of Jesus Christ, leading to reconciliation and transformation. In this chapter, I propose a modest reframing of three key terms in Wesleyan systematics, substituting prevenient, justifying and sanctifying grace with the alternative
terms, ‘gestating, birthing, and nurturing grace.’ Such terms draw upon a set of feminine and maternal imagery that is appropriate for a tradition such as Methodism, grounded as it is in women’s and men’s experiences of divine love and nurture. I do not propose that these newer terms should entirely replace the older terms. The long and rich history of discourse around
these concepts is too important to be set aside. However, new terms can further the discussion and open new possibilities and new ways of thinking about older ideas. The ideas offered here are offered only as a beginning set of reflections and are not intended to constitute a definitive or programmatic work.Wesleyan theology (like most theology) is an attempt to give a systematic exposition to a prior experience of grace received as transformative love. It is an affectional theology of experience grounded in the divine actions of preparing, pardoning, and perfecting. On the
human level, this arises out of an encounter with divine presence that issues in both reflection upon and yielding of the heart to the reality of Jesus Christ, leading to reconciliation and transformation. In this chapter, I propose a modest reframing of three key terms in Wesleyan systematics, substituting prevenient, justifying and sanctifying grace with the alternative
terms, ‘gestating, birthing, and nurturing grace.’ Such terms draw upon a set of feminine and maternal imagery that is appropriate for a tradition such as Methodism, grounded as it is in women’s and men’s experiences of divine love and nurture. I do not propose that these newer terms should entirely replace the older terms. The long and rich history of discourse around
these concepts is too important to be set aside. However, new terms can further the discussion and open new possibilities and new ways of thinking about older ideas. The ideas offered here are offered only as a beginning set of reflections and are not intended to constitute a definitive or programmatic work.
This is a prepublication draft. For the definitive version, please see chapter 38 in Clive Murray... more This is a prepublication draft. For the definitive version, please see chapter 38 in Clive Murray Norris and Joseph W. Cunningham. The Routledge Companion to John Wesley, edited by Clive Murray Norris and Joseph W. Cunningham (London: Routledge, 2023).
Lay preaching had been part of the originating genius of Methodism from its eighteenth-century or... more Lay preaching had been part of the originating genius of Methodism from its eighteenth-century origins and was still one of its most distinctive features at the beginning of the twentieth century. This chapter will show that the piety of most local preachers was largely evangelical during this period, and that the preachers, though loyal to Methodism, were also comfortable working in interdenominational settings. Some representative description of the activity of local preachers will be given as well as a description of their training and of their close relationship to the circuit ministers who supervised their work. It will be shown that while the number of local preachers declined across the century, the Methodist local preaching tradition survived intact into the Uniting Church. Note: This is a pre-publication draft only. For the definitive version, see Called to Preach: A History of Lay Preaching in the Uniting Churches in Tasmania and Victoria, eds. Robert Renton and Alastair Davison (Melbourne: The Lay Preachers’ Association of Victoria and Tasmania, 2021), 87-110.
In this chapter I will consider John Wesley’s response to the adverse conditions experienced by t... more In this chapter I will consider John Wesley’s response to the adverse conditions experienced by the poor, arising from the economic conditions of the country, in his Word to a Smuggler (1767), Thoughts on the Present Scarcity of Provisions (1773) and Serious Address to the People of England (1778). These tracts demonstrate Wesley’s concern for the well-being of the British population as a matter that called for government intervention and policy-making, designed to contribute to greater human flourishing.
In this essay I provide a brief overview of the shape of Wesley’s teaching about sanctification, ... more In this essay I provide a brief overview of the shape of Wesley’s teaching about sanctification, before building upon a major theme in David McEwan's second book, The Life of God in the Soul (namely, the theme of holiness as happiness) to argue that, while Wesley is not to be slavishly followed in all respects, his eudaimonian concept of holiness continues to provide a valuable model for inviting people into the fullness of sanctifying grace. Note: This is a pre-publication draft version. The definitive and final version is to be found in A Plain Account of Christian Faithfulness: Essays in Honor of David B. McEwan. eds. Rob A. Fringer and Dean G. Smith (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2020), forthcoming.
John Wesley revised the Book of Common Prayer for the use of Methodists in America in four editio... more John Wesley revised the Book of Common Prayer for the use of Methodists in America in four editions beginning in 1784. One frontier preacher's response may stand as typical of the neglect the book experienced -'Our preachers prefer to pray with their eyes closed.' Remaining little more than a historical curiosity until the mid-twentieth century, the Sunday Service underwent a renewal of interest as American Methodists participated in the liturgical renewal movement. Wesley's abridgment had a more significant role in British Methodism where it formed the basis of Methodist worship, along with the Book of Common Prayer itself (at least in the mainstream Wesleyan tradition.) This chapter traces the fortunes of this particular liturgical resource and consider its value for Methodism's (and the Uniting Church's) present sense of liturgical continuity with Anglican worship.
John Wesley revised the Book of Common Prayer for the use of Methodists in America in four editio... more John Wesley revised the Book of Common Prayer for the use of Methodists in America in four editions beginning in 1784. One frontier preacher's response may stand as typical of the neglect the book experienced-'Our preachers prefer to pray with their eyes closed.' Remaining little more than a historical curiosity until the mid-twentieth century, the Sunday Service underwent a renewal of interest as American Methodists participated in the liturgical renewal movement. Wesley's abridgment had a more significant role in British Methodism where it formed the basis of Methodist worship, along with the Book of Common Prayer itself (at least in the mainstream Wesleyan tradition.) This chapter traces the fortunes of this particular liturgical resource and consider its value for Methodism's (and the Uniting Church's) present sense of liturgical continuity with Anglican worship.
Rhys Bezzant, ed. The Global Edwards: Papers from the Jonathan Edwards Congress held in Melbourne, 2015 (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stovck, 2017), 247-60. , 2017
This paper examines John Wesley's reading of Jonathan Edwards and the manner in which he mediated... more This paper examines John Wesley's reading of Jonathan Edwards and the manner in which he mediated Edwards to 'the people called Methodist' through the editing, publishing, and dissemination of Edwards' works. It includes a consideration of the 1778 sermon, 'Some Account of the Late Work of God in America' in which Wesley co-opts Edwards for use in a historical narrative designed to legitimate Methodism as a genuine work of God as well as to extend Wesley's opposition to the democratic spirit that had led to the American Revolution. Wesley describes his own work in Georgia and the awakening in Northampton reported in Edwards' Faithful Narrative of a Surprising Work of God (1736), as though they were two parts of a continuous and converging stream. In so doing he smooths over the historical complexities and continuities, rewriting history to serve his own purposes. Though Wesley's admiration for Edwards is clear his selective use of the latter's writings was guided by the conviction that they contained 'wholesome food...mixed with much deadly poison.'
William Emilsen and Patricia Curthoys, eds. Out of the Ordinary: Twelve Australian Methodist Biographies (Adelaide: Mediacom, 2015), 2015
A tall man with a commanding, even austere, presence, Rev Sir Irving Benson was something of a po... more A tall man with a commanding, even austere, presence, Rev Sir Irving Benson was something of a polarising figure within Australian Methodism but undoubtedly one of its most significant leaders in the first half of the twentieth-century. Benson belonged to an earlier imperial age more oriented toward Great Britain than the Asian and Pacific world that would dominate the second half of the century. He was perhaps the last of his type—the pulpit prince with a broad public audience and a media presence that would be the envy of most ministers in today’s post-Christendom Australia. Yet in pointing the city to Christ he seemed not to discern clearly the direction that Christ would take the Church in the challenging period ahead.
John Wesley’s views on Christian perfection remained an important part of Australian Methodist di... more John Wesley’s views on Christian perfection remained an important part of Australian Methodist discourse from the Church’s struggling colonial beginnings through to its growth and consolidation in the late nineteenth century. Though certain features of Wesley’s teaching on entire sanctification were left behind in a process of over-simplification, key insights were retained such as the theme of empowering grace and of holiness as perfect love. This interest in Christian perfection was an expression of Methodist confidence in grace-enabled relationships of Christlike love both within and beyond the Church. Even such a ‘Methodist moderniser’ as Edward Sugden was a keen exponent of entire sanctification as a central doctrine of Methodism, though he, like others in the early twentieth century, attempted a reformulation of the doctrine on the basis of newer insights. By the 1940s an emphasis on entire sanctification had all but disappeared from Australian Methodism except for a very small number of notable enthusiasts such as Walter Betts. Many of those nurtured by the holiness tradition in Methodism became part of the newly emerging Pentecostal movement, and a number of Wesleyan-Holiness churches with North American origins entered Australia in the post-war period. Though mid-century British Methodists such as William Sangster and R. Newton Flew made significant contributions to the doctrine of Christian perfection which were valued by Australian Methodists, the expectation of an ‘immense, unfathomed, unconfined’ degree of sanctifying grace had by then all but disappeared from the Australian Methodist landscape.
Jonathan Raymond has said that modern-day Salvationists fall into three camps. “First - the Breng... more Jonathan Raymond has said that modern-day Salvationists fall into three camps. “First - the Brengle camp of holiness as crisis and second work of grace; second - the Coutts camp of holiness as growth in grace; and third – the largest camp of apathy where holiness is not an issue at all.” Alongside these twin themes of crisis and process, one must also set the twin themes of pneumatology and Christology, for in Brengle and Coutts and in the wider holiness movement, entire sanctification has been understood both as a “baptism of the Holy Spirit” and as “crucifixion with Christ,” as an enduement of power from on high and as a dying to sin and self with a subsequent rising to a Christlike life. In each case the result is understood to be the same, though the metaphor may differ – a heart purified from all sin and filled with love for God and neighbour. It would be a tragedy indeed if confusion over differences of emphasis should lead to a loss of any distinctive holiness message being proclaimed. This is, I fear, what we have come to, not only in the Salvation Army, but in other Wesleyan-Holiness churches such as the Church of the Nazarene, and the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
In this paper I would like to set the discussion of the different emphases of Brengle and Coutts against the backdrop of the much broader and long standing discussion of which it is a part. I would also like to set out a possible way forward so that these two important and influential holiness teachers might no longer be seen as at odds with one another but as offering complementary views that when taken together in a conjunctive fashion bring a balance to Wesleyan-Holiness teaching.
The Master: The life and work of Edward H. Sugden is a collection of 12 essays that explore diffe... more The Master: The life and work of Edward H. Sugden is a collection of 12 essays that explore different facets of Sugden’s 40 years at Queen’s College after he was appointed Master in 1887 at the age of 33.
Following the sesqui-centenary of Dr Sugden’s birth in 2004, an unsuccessful search was conducted by Queen’s College to find an author to write the biography of its first and longest serving Master, explains Queen’s College archivist Dr Jennifer Bars.
“It was decided instead to hold a symposium and publish the resultant papers as a kind of ‘collective biography’,” she says.
“The papers reflect the extraordinary range of Dr Sugden’s interests and involvements over his long life, and illuminate a fascinating period in the early history of Melbourne.”
During his time as Master, Dr Sudgen guided the development of Queen’s College as both a residential College and as Australia’s most influential Theological College for the Methodist Church.
Sugden was an outstanding scholar, preacher and teacher and during his time at the University was also lecturer, a member of the University Council and first chairman of Melbourne University Press.
Contributors to the book drew on Dr Sugden’s many published materials – his writing ranged widely, from books, pamphlets, articles and letters to translations and music – and also on the valuable collections of manuscript materials held at the Queen’s College Archives, the University of Melbourne Archives, the National Gallery of Australia’s research collection, and the State Library of Victoria’s manuscript collection.
The Sugden Papers, held in the Archives of Queen’s College, were a particularly valuable resource as they contain a large collection of Dr Sugden’s travel diaries, scrapbooks, correspondence photos and other materials.
Edited by former member of the Queen’s College Council Renate Howe, the book features work by senior academics at the University of Melbourne and at Queen’s College, and includes an essay about Dr Sugden’s private life and his family, written by his great-grandson Ken Foster.
“Reverend Foster’s chapter on his great-grandfather rounds out the story of Dr Sugden’s life, providing an insight into the private life of a man who, whilst actively involved in the public life of the University and the Church, was a loving father to his six daughters,” says Dr Bars.
“His memory is still cherished by his many descendants who have preserved the records of his private and public life.”
Dr Bars says Dr Sugden’s work has left a lasting impact on Queen’s College, both in the physical legacy of the College environment which Dr Sugden, in his 40 years as Master had a key role in shaping and in the development of ‘the Sugden tradition’, described by the current Master of Queen’s Professor David Runia in his chapter Master of Queen’s: the lasting legacy.
The phrase refers to the freedom granted by Dr Sugden to students to regulate their own affairs as much as possible. Dr Sugden believed strongly in the capacity of young people for “self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control”, and from the beginning, Queen’s lacked the rules and regulations of the other Colleges. This long-standing tradition fosters the autonomy of the student body, and reflects the expectation that the students of the College will bear responsibility for their own actions.
http://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/musse/?p=4393
This short discussion paper provides a diagnosis of the problem of lack of interest in evangelism... more This short discussion paper provides a diagnosis of the problem of lack of interest in evangelism in the Uniting Church in Australia and proposes a Uniting Church Order of Christian Initiation based on the Catholic Church's OCIA.
It’s always a difficult thing to summon the dead out of their graves and ask for their opinion on... more It’s always a difficult thing to summon the dead out of their graves and ask for their opinion on present circumstances. Voltaire once said that, ‘History is just a pack of tricks we play on the dead.’ It’s all too easy to distort the ideas of the departed, who are not in a position to defend themselves, in order to serve some agenda of our own. But this is the topic that has been suggested to me and I’m going to take it on and see where it leads us. Keep in mind that all of this is my idea of what John Wesley might say to UCA ordinands. It is meant only to be suggestive not definitive. What he might say about the Uniting Church is a topic perhaps for another time. I am going to suggest here four words of advice from the founder of Methodism:
1. Plunder the Egyptians
2. Offer Christ
3. Have an Optimism of Grace
4. In Mission, Love the Church
10 August 2015 marks the bicentenary of the arrival to Australasia, at the age of twenty-nine, of... more 10 August 2015 marks the bicentenary of the arrival to Australasia, at the age of twenty-nine, of the first Wesleyan Methodist missionary, the Rev. Samuel Leigh (1785-1852). Australian and New Zealand Methodism are linked by Leigh as he was the first Wesleyan missionary to arrive in both places. He visited Samuel Marsden’s mission at the Bay of Islands in 1819 and then, in 1822 established the first Wesleyan mission, Wesleydale in Whangaroa, among the Maori accused of the Boyd massacre in December 1809. Leigh belonged to a period when Methodism had close ties to the Church of England, and the fact that he was ‘not radically a Dissenter’ was one cause of conflict with his fellow missionaries. The wave of the future for nineteenth-century Methodism would be as a strong, independent, body of Dissenters. This lecture will examine Leigh’s relationships with his co-workers and argue that, as a man who belonged more naturally to an earlier period of Methodist development, he may be remembered as a pioneer, but not as a builder, of Methodism in Australia and New Zealand.
Aldersgate Papers vol. 10 (Sept 2012): 50-70, Sep 2012
This paper examines the response of the Victoria and Tasmania Conference of the Methodist Church ... more This paper examines the response of the Victoria and Tasmania Conference of the Methodist Church to the First World War, with particular reference to the Rev. A. T. Holden, Methodist Chaplain-General to the Commonwealth Military Forces, and President of the Conference in 1915. It argues that the Church’s initial response to the War was restrained and cautious, resisting the demonisation of the enemy, and expressing disapproval of armed conflict between professedly Christian nations as incompatible with the teaching of the New Testament. As the conflict escalated, however, the Church’s discourse shifted toward one more supportive of the British imperial agenda and its ‘struggle against barbarism.’ A. T. Holden was a shaping influence on broader Methodist sentiment in this direction. Methodists made their contribution to the formation of the ANZAC myth with their published reports of the heroism of the Australian soldier and spent much effort ministering to the spiritual and physical needs of military camps. Australian Methodists shared the imperial sentiment common among Australians in the Edwardian period and became willing to make any sacrifices necessary to assist the Empire in its ‘titanic struggle’ against what it considered the forces of barbarism. Among these sacrifices were the more peaceful religious ideals exhibited during the earlier stages of the conflict.
Phronema 28:2, 2013
Other than John Wesley’s description of William Wilberforce in 1791 as Athanasius contra mundum a... more Other than John Wesley’s description of William Wilberforce in 1791 as Athanasius contra mundum and his use of the same Latin phrase in his 1775 sermon On the Trinity, there is little discussion of Athanasius on the part of the founder of Methodism. However, the Orthodox tradition to which Athanasius is so central a figure had an important shaping influence on Wesley’s theology and there are strong soteriological resonances between Athanasius and Wesley, some of which will be elucidated in this paper. This comparative study demonstrates that Athanasius and Wesley were both ‘practical’ theologians in that their theology focused on the living experience of God in Christ through the Spirit. The redemption and transformation of human existence through God’s saving and sanctifying grace lay at the heart of their concern. This shared conviction indicates a degree of closeness rather than distance between the Eastern and Western theological traditions.
Ethos (Centre for Christianity and Society) website , Feb 5, 2013
This short reflection examines responses to Ned Kelly by Bishop James Moorhouse and the Wesleyan ... more This short reflection examines responses to Ned Kelly by Bishop James Moorhouse and the Wesleyan preacher John Cowley Coles and suggests that their views provide a model of careful Christian reflection on Kelly that combines compassion with a concern for law and order.
This essay revisits John Wesley's A Calm Address to Our American Colonies in an attempt to contri... more This essay revisits John Wesley's A Calm Address to Our American Colonies in an attempt to contribute to the renewed interest in the global and transatlantic dimensions of the American Revolution, particularly its religious aspects. Mapping Methodist responses to the Revolution on both sides of the Atlantic may provide a helpful microcosm of responses in the broader religious world. It cautions against seeing Wesley's political views as extreme Toryism and draws on recent scholarship to demonstrate that Wesley supported a constitutional monarchy since its finely tuned balance of power between king, parliament and people needed only to be preserved in order for genuine liberty to prevail. The myth that Methodists destroyed copies of the Calm Address when they reached America in order to avoid being seen as Loyalists is disproved. Methodist responses to the Revolution were varied, ranging from strong opposition to active support, but Wesley's political views were not unusual in the hotly contested world of eighteenth-century rhetoric on liberty even if Methodists would distance themselves from them in the more politically reformist atmosphere of the nineteenth century.
2015 will see the bicentenary of the arrival to the colony of New South Wales, at the age of twen... more 2015 will see the bicentenary of the arrival to the colony of New South Wales, at the age of twenty-nine, of the first Wesleyan Methodist minister, the Rev. Samuel Leigh. Of course, Leigh was not the first Methodist to arrive, lay preachers and class leaders such as Edward Eagar and Thomas Bowden already being active in their own ministries. Nonetheless, in spite of its opportunities for lay ministry, early nineteenth century Wesleyan Methodism was a movement dominated by clerical authority, so it is appropriate that Leigh’s arrival be seen as the beginnings of formal British-Conference-approved Methodism in the colony. Methodist ministers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century were primarily missionaries, both at home and abroad. By almost every measure Leigh was a failure as a missionary. He made few converts, failed to establish thriving circuits, and his relationships with his fellow missionaries were strained all around. This paper will provide an introduction to Leigh and his work through discussing three sets of relationships - with Governor Lachlan Macquarie, with the clergy of the Established Church, and with his fellow workers.
During the World Methodist Conference of 1951, John Scott Lidgett, 97 year old patriarch of Briti... more During the World Methodist Conference of 1951, John Scott Lidgett, 97 year old patriarch of British Methodism, preached at the University Church, Oxford and passed out afterwards from sheer exhaustion. Adrian Hastings, a wry Catholic observer commented, ‘Methodism had arrived – was it also about to pass away?’ Many assume that Australian Methodism ‘passed away’ in 1977 with the formation of the Uniting Church. For some this is cause for regret, while others see the merging of the Methodist Church into the Uniting Church as a fruitful expression of its ‘catholic spirit.’ It is less known that a smaller Methodist body, which held its first official Conference in 1947, continues to exist in Australia, with eighty-two congregations in four Districts situated in five states. The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia, a member church of the World Methodist Council, is a small but vigorous denomination in the Evangelical and Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. In 2010 it reported a total membership of 2,075 and an average Sunday morning attendance of 3,418.
It is sometimes mistakenly assumed that Wesleyan Methodists are ‘continuing Methodists’ who chose to stay out of the union that formed the Uniting Church in 1977, just as there are ‘continuing’ Presbyterians and ‘continuing’ Congregationalists. This is not the case as the Wesleyan Methodists were not part of the discussions leading to union. Some former Methodists did transfer to the Wesleyan Methodist Church after 1977, but not in large numbers. Its origin lies in connections between RAAF chaplain the Rev. Kingsley Ridgway and the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America in the immediate post-Second World War period. The Church may be seen both as a new religious movement, emerging out of the post-war context of greater engagement between Australians and Americans and at the same time as a continuation of the long-standing holiness and revivalist strain within Australian evangelicalism.
This article provides an introduction to the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia, by providing a brief sketch of its history, and describing the changes it has experienced over time as well as some of its present characteristics. It utilises the ‘sect-church’ typology to trace the development of the Church over time and calls for greater engagement between the WMC and the Uniting Church on the basis of mutual membership in the World Methodist Council.
Wesleyan perfectionism was an important part of Australian Methodism from its early nineteenth-ce... more Wesleyan perfectionism was an important part of Australian Methodism from its early nineteenth-century beginnings, and it may be argued that it was from this matrix that Australian Pentecostalism was born. But Australian Methodism did not give rise to the kind of interdenominational holiness revival that emerged out of the Methodist Episcopal Church in mid-nineteenth century America. There were holiness conventions, holiness sermons, and holiness articles in the Spectator, but nothing like the National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Holiness to launch an American-style holiness movement. If the American Holiness Movement churches could have established a strong denominational presence in the 1920s, they may have been able to capitalize on what was left of the Methodist interest in holiness and of the Keswick Convention movement. The fact that they emerged in the 1940s, at a time when such interest had considerably waned, meant a lost opportunity.
Nonetheless, the American holiness churches believed themselves to be functioning in a strategic role. While modernists laughed at them, some evangelical Methodists saw them as recovering the original fire of “primitive” Methodism, even if they were not often ready to break ranks with the older church and join with the newcomers. Australian evangelicals after World War II looked back to the age of revivals as a kind of “golden age.” The doctrinal indifferentism that had emerged in mainstream Methodism left some evangelical Methodists looking for an alternative. It was hoped that the North American holiness churches might provide that alternative. Not yet ready to be ravished, “the beautiful virgin” was at least beginning to be wooed.
The Wesleyan-Holiness Churches that emerged in Australia after the Second Word War encountered co... more The Wesleyan-Holiness Churches that emerged in Australia after the Second Word War encountered considerable opposition from other Evangelicals who distrusted their brand of perfectionism. The explicitly American origin of these Churches was both the cause of their exclusion and at the same time a mechanism for their survival. The emergence of the Holiness denominations in Australia is not an example of American cultural and religious imperialism. Rather it has been a creative partnership between like-minded Evangelical Christians from two modern nations sharing a general cultural and social similarity and a common set of religious convictions.
Many historians who are also persons of faith have argued for an ‘alternation’ or ‘two spheres’ a... more Many historians who are also persons of faith have argued for an ‘alternation’ or ‘two spheres’ approach to history. In this approach the historian alternates between the realm of subjective faith and the realm of objective history. It has been argued that, while one may believe God is active in history and is permitted to say so, this admission should only be made in the introductions and conclusions of monographs and articles. If God is allowed into their work at all, God should only ‘peek in from the interpretive margins’. This paper alerts us to the need for a better model but does not offer, much less develop one; it is diagnostic rather than prescriptive. For historians who are persons of faith to attempt to offer historical accounts which must leave God as active agent out of the picture, is to attempt the impossible. The insights of an ‘observer-participant’ can bring to historical research an immediacy that might not otherwise be there. Yet the need for objective unbiased history which does not skew the evidence in a direction favoured by the historian because of his or her religious belief or theological convictions remains of great importance. An approach must therefore be found that lies somewhere between procedural atheism and history as ‘His-story’.
Jonathan Raymond has said that modern-day Salvationists fall into three camps. “First - the Breng... more Jonathan Raymond has said that modern-day Salvationists fall into three camps. “First - the Brengle camp of holiness as crisis and second work of grace; second - the Coutts camp of holiness as growth in grace; and third – the largest camp of apathy where holiness is not an issue at all.” Alongside these twin themes of crisis and process, one must also set the twin themes of pneumatology and Christology, for in Brengle and Coutts and in the wider holiness movement, entire sanctification has been understood both as a “baptism of the Holy Spirit” and as “crucifixion with Christ,” as an enduement of power from on high and as a dying to sin and self with a subsequent rising to a Christlike life. In each case the result is understood to be the same, though the metaphor may differ – a heart purified from all sin and filled with love for God and neighbour. It would be a tragedy indeed if confusion over differences of emphasis should lead to a loss of any distinctive holiness message being proclaimed. This is, I fear, what we have come to, not only in the Salvation Army, but in other Wesleyan-Holiness churches such as the Church of the Nazarene, and the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
In this paper I would like to set the discussion of the different emphases of Brengle and Coutts against the backdrop of the much broader and long standing discussion of which it is a part. I would also like to set out a possible way forward so that these two important and influential holiness teachers might no longer be seen as at odds with one another but as offering complementary views that when taken together in a conjunctive fashion bring a balance to Wesleyan-Holiness teaching.
The Church of God may have had its international headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee; but its em... more The Church of God may have had its international headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee; but its emergence in Australia in the 1970s would not be furthered by its American identity so much as by the diversity of its immigrant communities who came to Australia already identifying with the Church of God in their home country. With its origins among the mountain Holiness people of southern Appalachia, the form of red-hot Holiness religion it exhibited was radical enough, but as it moved out beyond the ‘hollers’ it encountered an even more radical strain of Christianity. The Pentecostal ‘blessing’ brought those who had already received the ‘second blessing’ of entire sanctification to an even greater intensity. The ‘baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire’ seemed to bring the conversion and sanctification experiences to their logical fulfillment. For a while, and in its formal doctrinal statements, the Church of God (Cleveland) sought to be both Holiness and Pentecostal. However, as time went on and the non-Wesleyan form of Pentecostalism dominated the religious landscape, it became more difficult for the Church of God to remember its Wesleyan roots. Not wanting to remain aloof from other Christians, but finding Wesleyan churches suspicious of their ‘tongues’ orientation, the Church of God (Cleveland) left its Wesleyan roots left behind, and a Pentecostal orientation was fully embraced.
This article gives a description of the religious experience of the ordinary Methodist soldier du... more This article gives a description of the religious experience of the ordinary Methodist soldier during the American Civil War of 1861-1865. The “holy war” rhetoric that issued from home pulpits, along with the model of the pious Christian warrior provided through Christian officers and generals, enabled him to retain a distinctively Christian character in the midst of the stresses and moral dilemmas of war. From his chaplains he heard preaching that was simple, direct, focused squarely on spiritual concerns, and called for urgent decision. His expression of religious devotion, even given the differences along this line which existed between Northern and Southern revivals, was of a less emotional type than that in evidence in earlier frontier revivals. His devotion was marked by prayerful dependence upon God and a reliance on the bonds of Christian fellowship, as brothers fought side by side against a common enemy. The battlefield tended to reduce the theological conflicts that arose out of the relative luxury of a peace-time situation. The survivors of the war would go on to face an increasingly more religiously and ethnically diverse America, in which the relative monopoly of Methodist revivalism would crumble in the religiously diverse world of the “gilded age.”
Journal of Religious History, Jan 1, 2008
A number of North American Wesleyan-Holiness denominations emerged in Australia, beginning in the... more A number of North American Wesleyan-Holiness denominations emerged in Australia, beginning in the years following the Second World War. Some of these churches moved from being despised and marginalized sects to established denominations while others remained small and isolated, experiencing little growth. Their story demonstrates that movement along the church-sect continuum is by no means a smooth and inevitable one. Random processes may lower or raise religious tension within the group thus affecting its movement along the continuum. The strict behavioural standards in Wesleyan-Holiness churches have gradually been lowered and the distinctive beliefs of these groups have been eroded. Wesleyan-Holiness churches in Australia have grown primarily through “switchers” from other denominations more than from new convert growth, so that they have become more generically “Evangelical” and less distinctively “Holiness” in their beliefs and practices.
This thesis examines the emergence of a number of North American Wesleyan-Holiness denominations ... more This thesis examines the emergence of a number of North American Wesleyan-Holiness denominations in Australia, beginning in the years following the Second World War. They are the Church of God (Anderson), the Church of God (Cleveland), the Church of the Nazarene, and the Wesleyan Methodist Church. It will trace the manner in which some of these churches moved from being despised and marginalised sects to established denominations while others remained small and isolated, experiencing little growth.
The thesis demonstrates that the movement along the church-sect continuum is by no means a smooth and inevitable one. Immigrant dislocation may lead to a slowing down of change to preserve a sense of identity. A particular group may be found to be positioned toward the church end of the continuum in its place of origin and be positioned toward the sect end in its mission areas, or the reverse may be true. A particular movement may be seen as a ‘sect’ when compared to one group and a ‘church’ when compared to another.
The theme of Americanisation and anti-Americanism is examined, as the explicitly American origins of these churches was both the cause of their exclusion and at the same time a mechanism for their survival. The emergence of the Wesleyan-Holiness denominations in Australia is not an example of American cultural and religious imperialism. Rather it has been a creative partnership between like-minded evangelical Christians from two modern nations sharing a general cultural and social similarity and a common set of religious convictions.
The Wesleyan-Holiness churches saw increased growth from the late 1970s by welcoming into their membership a new wave of refugees from more liberal Protestant denominations. They are shown to be both a new religious movement, emerging out of the post-war context of greater engagement between Australians and Americans and at the same time a continuation of the long-standing ‘holiness’ and ‘revivalist’ strain within Australian evangelicalism.
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Jan 1, 2010
When North American Wesleyan-Holiness churches began to arrive in Australia in the years immediat... more When North American Wesleyan-Holiness churches began to arrive in Australia in the years immediately following the Second World War, they faced considerable opposition from Australian Christians who, to some extent, resented American influence on the religious scene. Other evangelicals influenced by earlier forms of ‘Holiness’ teaching were drawn to the new Holiness groups because they recognized an echo of an older, but now almost forgotten tradition. These churches were not instances of American religious imperialism, but authentic movements of Australian Christians finding in their American cousins willing ‘sponsors’ who could provide legitimacy for their efforts by links with recognized and established denominations. The fact that these ‘sponsoring’ denominations were American, far from being seen as an advantage, was seen by Australian and American church leaders alike, as a liability. These groups continued to be marginalized because of their perceived American origins and control. Only as features of American evangelicalism began to be more widely accepted among Australian evangelicals and seen as authentically Australian and not an American import, did the holiness churches become less ‘queer’ and less sect-like.
Journal of religious history, Jan 1, 2003
The Church of the Nazarene began work in Australia in 1945 at the instigation of a handful of dis... more The Church of the Nazarene began work in Australia in 1945 at the instigation of a handful of disaffected Australian evangelicals, marginalized from more orthodox believers in their holiness radicalism. They were often looked upon as holy rollers and sinless perfectionists, purveyors of a brand of religion thought to be populist, coarse, and theologically suspect. In America in the 1940s, the holiness movement churches had moved much further toward the traditional mainstream than was the case in Australia. The early Australian Nazarenes saw a decline in the religious fervour of other evangelical bodies, and saw themselves as raised up to champion a return to the apostolic fire of early Methodism. They were, perhaps naively, unaware of the lowering of religious tension in their own mother church. Differences between the ecclesiastical culture of Australian and American Christianity were to prove internal challenges to be added to the challenge of external opposition.
Aldersgate Papers, Jan 1, 2001
It is the purpose of this paper to suggest a revision of the Wesleyan doctrine of sanctification ... more It is the purpose of this paper to suggest a revision of the Wesleyan doctrine of sanctification along trinitarian lines. Wesleyan thought has tended to polarize toward one or other of two positions - placing a stress either on the Christological or on the Pneumatological aspects of sanctifying grace. In part this has been a historical question. Attempts have been made to establish the position of John Wesley in regard to the use of "pentecostal" and "pneumatological" language in reference to entire sanctification. But it has also involved the very real task of keeping the doctrine alive among the Wesleyan people, saving it from the fate of becoming a mere historical curiosity. An attempt may be made to demonstrate the basic compatibility of these competing historical views when applied to the task of constructive theology, though this is not the task I wish to attempt here.
Whatever may turn out to be the case regarding the appropriateness or otherwise of pneumatological language in reference to sanctification when historically considered, the current resurgence of interest in trinitarian theology may provide us with a means of overcoming this polarisation, and also of advancing the tradition in a constructive manner. The basic thesis which this paper will test is that a trinitarian revisioning of the Wesleyan doctrine of entire sanctification can provide us with a future for this doctrine, and help us to overcome tritheistic tendencies in its current formulation.
Journal of Religious History, 37:2 (June 2013): 288-289.
Journal of Religious History 37: 155–157. doi: 10.1111/1467-9809.12020
Pride of Place is a richly detailed history, based solidly on primary sources. The minutes, corre... more Pride of Place is a richly detailed history, based solidly on primary sources. The minutes, correspondence, letters and other ephemera of the congregation, held in the Mitchell Library, have been plundered, as well as a broad range of other contemporary sources, to provide us with an engaging account of one of Sydney’s iconic churches. Though clearly a local church history, with a focus on successive leaders and their often adversarial relationships with lay leaders, it also provides insight into the place of Pitt Street in wider NSW Congregationalism. Pitt Street may indeed take pride in its place among the churches of Sydney and the authors of this volume may take a similar pride in providing us with this fine history.
Derived from a series of lectures delivered at Barker Road Methodist Church in Singapore, this is... more Derived from a series of lectures delivered at Barker Road Methodist Church in Singapore, this is essentially a study of John Wesley’s epistemology. The author is Albert Cook Outler Professor of Wesley Studies at the Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, and a leading international scholar in his field. It includes many interesting observations on current philosophers of religion, including the work of Paul K. Moser on the filial knowledge of God, which has much in common with Wesley's empiricist approach to religious knowledge.
"Aldersgate and Athens" requires some previous exposure to the philosophy of religion, and acquaintance with contemporary writers in the field of epistemology would be an asset. But it may be read by any serious reader with profit. Wesley proves to be a valuable mentor in reflecting on the vexed question of the connection between faith and reason and William Abraham guides us through the territory with skill.
History Australia, Jan 1, 2011
This work significantly updates Edith Rickards’ biography "Bishop Moorhouse of Melbourne and Manc... more This work significantly updates Edith Rickards’ biography "Bishop Moorhouse of Melbourne and Manchester" (1920) and gives a fascinating portrait of the second Anglican Bishop of ‘marvellous Melbourne’. Very well written in an engaging style, it is a delight to read. Sturrock shows a judicious use of her wide-ranging sources, and has a knack for just the right quotation or anecdote to illuminate her story. She situates her subject well in the Melbourne of the late 1800s and shows a good grasp of the nineteenth century Anglican world, not only of the principal figures and movements shaping the ‘home church’ but also those throughout the empire, including the ‘Colenso controversy’ in the diocese of Natal, Cape Colony, Africa. The intellectual landscape is also surveyed well, especially in Chapter 5 where Moorhouse is depicted as a liberal-minded clergyman defending the ongoing relevance of the faith in a post-Darwinian universe. The book is a valuable contribution to our understanding of a significant figure in the ecclesiastical and intellectual world of late nineteenth century Victoria.
History Australia, Jan 1, 2011
Greg Dening’s Church Alive! is a different kind of history indeed. It is history in the key of th... more Greg Dening’s Church Alive! is a different kind of history indeed. It is history in the key of theology, not historical theology, but history written theologically. Described on the book jacket as ‘an ethnographic history of the prophetic imagination among ordinary believers in times of great religious change’, it tells the story of three Jesuit parishes on Sydney’s North Shore (St.Mary’s, North Sydney; St. Francis Xavier’s, Lavender Bay; and Star of the Sea, Kirribilli) and largely focuses on how they dealt with the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council.
Prof. Denning has written an imaginative, poetic, and deeply religious ‘history from below’ that is a fitting testimony to the faith and witness of the Catholic Christians of Sydney’s North Shore, the place the Aborigines called Wallumetta (‘the Other Side’). He has written the kind of history that helps us see that that ‘there is no othersidedeness in the Spirit’ (27).
Aldersgate Papers is an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing articles and reviews in t... more Aldersgate Papers is an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing articles and reviews in theology and all related disciplines. It is a publication of the Australasian Centre for Wesleyan Research which promotes and supports research on the life, work and times of John and Charles Wesley, their historical and theological antecedents, their successors in the Wesleyan tradition, and contemporary scholarship in the Wesleyan tradition. This includes areas such as theology, biblical studies, history, education, ethics, literature, mission, cultural studies, philosophy, pastoral studies, worship, preaching, practical theology, and social theology.
CONTENTS
Denominational Identity in a World of Theological Indifferentism: Some Insights from John Wesley and ‘the People Called Methodists’
David McEwan…………………………………………………………….....9
More Inspirational than Penetrating: The Salvation Army’s Use of History
Jennifer Hein ……………………………………………………………………......27
The Trees in the Heart of the Garden
Joseph Coleson ………………………………………………………………………...47
A Man, a Woman, an Adam
Joseph Coleson ...........………………………………………….. 57
Sin and its Relationship to ‘True Godliness’ in John Calvin’s
Institutes
Adam Couchman ……………………………………………………………………......69
Book Reviews ……………………………………………………………………......83
Charles Wesley, the Men of Old Calabar, and the Abolition of Slavery Joanna Cruickshank……………... more Charles Wesley, the Men of Old Calabar, and the Abolition
of Slavery
Joanna Cruickshank………………………………........................8
Charles Wesley on Work and Divine Ubiquity
John Mark Capper…………………………………......................17
From Practical Divinity to Public Theology
Brian Edgar…………………………………………......................30
Beyond the Violent God? A Primer on Girard
Jonathan P. Case ……………………………….........................40
Jesus, the Incarnation, and Holy Living
Alan Harley………………………………………….....................60
Always Changing, Always the Same: Gregory of Nyssa on Holiness
Adam Couchman………………………………...........................74
Methodist Religion Among the Soldiers of the American
Civil War
Glen O’Brien……………………………………….......................90
CONTENTS Improvisatory Musical Practices in the Wesleyan Methodist Tradition Graeme Pender…... more CONTENTS
Improvisatory Musical Practices in the Wesleyan Methodist Tradition
Graeme Pender………………………………….......................... 8
Overtures of Grace: Prevenient Grace and the Sacramentality
of Music
Stephen Wright ……….……………………… ...........................34
Augustine’s Renunciation of Classical Literature
Maurice Nestor .………………………………............................56
The Role of the Elihu Section in the Book of Job
Moses Khor ……………………….…………….........................73
Self-Differentiation and the Christian Leader
Peter Dobson ……………………………………........................87
CONTENTS Covenant Atonement as a Wesleyan Integrating Motif R. Larry Shelton.................. more CONTENTS
Covenant Atonement as a Wesleyan Integrating Motif
R. Larry Shelton.....................................................................7
Conventional or Revisionary?: Situating the Doctrines of Sin
and the Works of Grace within Contemporary Theology
Paradigms
Jonathan P. Case.................................................................36
John Wesley's Understanding of the Christian Life
Tik-Wah Wong.....................................................................52
Karl Barth and Ben Witherington on Romans 7:1-14
Jenny Ong...........................................................................66
Art and the Church
Gary Baxter.........................................................................73
An Address to Art Students
Peter Breen.........................................................................83
The Ministry of the Lay Preacher: A Wesleyan Heritage Barry Brown………………………………………………..... 7 ... more The Ministry of the Lay Preacher: A Wesleyan
Heritage
Barry Brown………………………………………………..... 7
Digitalised Spirituality?
Jon Case……………………………………………………. 17
‘Just Another ‘Queer Sect’ from Over the Pacific’: Anti-Americanism and the Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in
Australia
Glen O’Brien ……………………………………………....29
The ‘Problem’ of the Holy Spirit in Trinitarian
Theology
David Sullivan …………………………………………...... 59
Review of Michael Parsons, Luther and Calvin on Old
Testament Narratives
Jon Case, Glen O’Brien, and Judy Rigby …………………………………………………................. 69
The Influence of Mysticism on the Spiritual Development of John Wesley Peter Dobson ……………………... more The Influence of Mysticism on the Spiritual
Development of John Wesley
Peter Dobson ………………………..................5
The Effects of the Arian Controversy on the
Liturgy of the Post-Nicene Church
Glen O'Brien ………………………................. 21
Passion and the Nature of God: Theology and
a Biblical Text
Michael Parsons …………………................. 27
God's Role in the World: The Informing but
Disturbing Depiction of Job
Carl Schultz …………………......... ...............50
CONTENTS Methodists in Military Garb Alan R. Harley ………………..........................5 A Tr... more CONTENTS
Methodists in Military Garb
Alan R. Harley ………………..........................5
A Trinitarian Revisioning of the Wesleyan
Doctrine of Christian Perfection
Glen O'Brien ………………………..................17
Asia-Pacific Regional Education Conference
David McEwan ………………….....................69
The Death of Jesus and the Truth of the Triune
God in Wolfhart Pannenberg
and Eberhard Jüngel
Jonathan P. Case…………………..................81
Theological Journal of Kingsley College
ACCatalyst 7:2 pp. 11-14, Apr 2013
15th Oxford Institute for Methodist Theological Studies, 2024
The role of women in the history of Christianity has usually been relegated to the footnotes or l... more The role of women in the history of Christianity has usually been relegated to the footnotes or largely in reference to male participants. This historiographical approach is becoming increasingly untenable in a world in which gender expectations are undergoing a shift and the future is understood to belong to women. Methodism has always been a movement in which women have been in the majority. Nineteenth-century male editors and biographers of eighteenth-century Methodist women curated their diaries and memoirs in a way that suited their own patriarchal perspectives. How might the historical understanding of Methodism be shifted if the agency of women was retrieved? This paper will contribute to this end by exploring the lives of the Wesley sisters, who have not so far been critically studied in light of the burgeoning field of gender studies. It will form the first foray into a scholarly monograph on the Wesley sisters, utilising gender theory as a methodology.
The onset of the digital era has been as significant to human societies as the technological brea... more The onset of the digital era has been as significant to human societies as the technological breakthroughs that have preceded it, including the invention of stone tools by early humans, the domestication of wildlife, the control of crop cycles, the invention of the printing press, and the industrial revolution. Each of these technological advancements had massive implications for the evolution of human society. Each raised new opportunities and new problems while leading to the creation of entire civilizations and empires. The technological revolution brought on by the invention of personal computers and the internet, is proving to be just as determinative as these earlier epochal shifts in the course of the human experience.
The rapid rate of technological change and the impact of increasingly sophisticated forms of Artificial intelligence (AI) on human society have forced philosophers, theologians and ethicists to explore their implications for human experience. Human enhancement, genetic modification, remotely controlled weapons, the replacement of human labour and skill by robots, the commodification of data, and the possibility of independent reasoning powers in artificial intelligence all carry both promise and risk. This paper will explore some of the more pressing areas of concern for those wanting to apply a ‘kingdom lens’ to rapidly developing AI technology including the social impact of robotics, autonomous weapons systems, the Internet, social media, and Big Data. Some theological affirmations will be made in the conclusion to which The Salvation Army might consider responding.
The first Primitive Methodist ministers came to Australia and New Zealand in the 1840s and the Ch... more The first Primitive Methodist ministers came to Australia and New Zealand in the 1840s and the Church saw its greatest success in the 1860s. Primitive Methodist members who migrated were mostly from English mining and agricultural communities in the Midlands and the North, with a few also from Wales and Scotland. Cornish miners were also highly represented. The place of origin was mapped onto the new country as those from mining communities in Britain usually settled in the coalfields north, west and south of Sydney, as well as in Victoria and South Australia. Those from the countryside found homes in rural areas. The early suggestion of ‘the Tunstall Non-Mission Law,’ confining Primitive Methodism to the single circuit of Tunstall while the rest of England was left to the Wesleyans, was well and truly transcended by its effective reach into the far flung Antipodes. This paper was given in an online seminar on 19th February 2022, as part of a series seminars run by Englesea Brook Museum of Primitive Methodism to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Hugh Bourne (1772-1852)
Dr Geoff Treloar, author of The Disruption of Evangelicalism. The Age of Torrey, Mott, McPherson ... more Dr Geoff Treloar, author of The Disruption of Evangelicalism. The Age of Torrey, Mott, McPherson and Hammond. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2016 gave this generous talk at the launch of Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia in Sydney on 21 June 2018.
This paper was presented at the Manchester Wesley Research Centre session on ‘New Research on Joh... more This paper was presented at the Manchester Wesley Research Centre session on ‘New Research on John Wesley and Methodism in the 18th and 19th Century,’ at the Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Denver, 19 November 2018. It is a broad overview of themes in a monograph I have recently completed with the provisional title of Liberty and Loyalty: John Wesley’s Political World presently under peer review. It draws on material in the introductory and concluding sections of the book in order to highlight a number of findings in the work and therefore does not deal closely with the close examination of texts as the larger work does and has a minimum of footnotes. It argues that liberty and loyalty are the twin themes that help crystalize John Wesley’s political outlook. Liberty was a divinely given capacity to which every person had as much right as breathing. While the origin of political power lay with God, human governments had the responsibility to provide both civil and religious liberty. The surest guarantee of such liberty was through the ‘ancient constitution’ given its purest embodiment in the constitutional arrangements of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. A devout Protestant king would rule over a grateful people, while being held accountable to God and to the Parliament for his actions as a check on tyranny. This was a form of social contract and loyalty to that contract would check seditious and rebellious grabs for power. Sentiments expressed by republican voices in America masked more sinister ambitions – an overthrow of the ancient constitution of Britain to be replaced by a democracy of ‘the people.’ In the end, however, the hand of an all-wise Providence guided historical forces and the best response to political fluctuations was a personal one – to make God one’s friend through repentance and faith. John Wesley was not a politician or an economist or a military strategist. He was a priest and an evangelist, so that his political world ultimately existed as a subset of a world bounded by the cosmic drama of salvation.
This paper considers the religious aspects of the life of Ned Kelly, in dialogue with Russel Ward... more This paper considers the religious aspects of the life of Ned Kelly, in dialogue with Russel Ward’s Australian Legend, in order to explore the relatively unexamined religious dimensions of the Australian national myth. Religious leaders could be surprisingly sympathetic toward Kelly, with the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, James Moorhouse, urging congregants to pray for the outlaws as they cowered in the bush on the run from the law. Kelly was an Irish Catholic, of course, but there are also interesting Methodist connections. His widowed mother Ellen married the Californian miner George King in the home of a Primitive Methodist minister, a perhaps surprising thing for an Irish Catholic to do in a sectarian age that frowned on such ‘mixed marriages’. The Wesleyan Methodist preacher John Cowley Coles visited Kelly in the Melbourne Gaol in September and October 1880 while Kelly awaited execution. Kelly the penitent Catholic Christian knelt beside Coles the forthright Wesleyan preacher, together calling upon God to grant mercy to a fallen sinner. An examination of the response of religious leaders to the Kelly Outbreak as well as Kelly’s own religious sentiments can inform and enlarge our understanding of one of Australia’s most enduring cultural icons.
‘Global history’ focuses on the cultural and social features of international relations. Themes c... more ‘Global history’ focuses on the cultural and social features of international relations. Themes covered by global history in its attempt to connect the ‘local’ with the ‘global’ have included race relations, colonisation, economic forces, migration, and human rights. Religion is an area of study that lends itself well to a global history approach because religious movements always depend upon transnational networks of piety for their spread and consolidation. W.R. Ward claimed that ‘the first great Protestant awakenings arose from an interweaving of pietism, revivalism, and politics.’ John Wesley’s political writings reflect on the impact of Britain’s global conflicts and provide insights into the political responses of the broader religious world of the eighteenth century. The notion of ‘liberty’ was a significant theme in the mentalities that dominated the Atlantic world of the long eighteenth century (1688-1815) and this paper will investigate the two overarching themes of ‘liberty’ and ‘loyalty’ that dominate Wesley’s political thought in order to provide insights into the political responses of the broader religious world of that period.
A paper presented at the Annual Research Seminar, Nazarene Theological College, Manchester.
This paper will examine John Wesley's reading of Jonathan Edwards and the manner in which he medi... more This paper will examine John Wesley's reading of Jonathan Edwards and the manner in which he mediated Edwards to 'the people called Methodist' through the editing, publishing, and dissemination of Edwards' works. It will include a consideration of the 1778 sermon, 'Some Account of the Late Work of God in America' in which Wesley co-opts Edwards for use in a historical narrative designed to legitimate Methodism as a genuine work of God as well as to extend Wesley's opposition to the democratic spirit that had led to the American Revolution. Wesley describes his own work in Georgia and the awakening in Northampton reported in Edwards' Faithful Narrative of a Suprising Work of God (1736), as though they were two parts of a continuous and converging stream. In so doing he smooths over the historical complexities and continuities, rewriting history to serve his own purposes. Though Wesley's admiration for Edwards is clear his selective use of the latter's writings was guided by the conviction that they contained 'wholesome food...mixed with much deadly poison.'
Methodist work began in ‘the Southern World’ in 1811 with the preaching ministry of Edward Eagar ... more Methodist work began in ‘the Southern World’ in 1811 with the preaching ministry of Edward Eagar in the colony of New South Wales and was reinforced in 1815 by the arrival of the first Wesleyan missionary Samuel Leigh. Early attempts to reach the Australian Aborigines by William Walker between 1821 and 1825 met with little success. The Maori people of New Zealand and the Pacific Islanders of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa proved much more open to Methodist missionary work so that a relatively strong Methodist work was established throughout many parts of the Pacific by the late nineteenth century. Wesleyans also established a successful mission to the Chinese people of the Victorian goldfields in the 1850s. This paper will explicitly address Methodist missionary responses to the religious beliefs encountered in ‘the Southern World’ of the nineteenth century. It will seek to discover to what extent these religious beliefs were dismissed as pagan and superstitious and to what extent there was any attempt to understand these beliefs on their own terms. It is hoped that this paper will contribute to the Wesley and Methodist Historical Studies Working Group in its attempt to understand how ‘Methodist missionary enterprises represented and communicated with persons from other religious traditions and other cultures.’ It will also assist the broader project in which I am engaged, along with Professor Hilary Carey of the University of Newcastle (NSW) of publishing a new scholarly history of Methodism in Australia.
Other than John Wesley’s description of William Wilberforce in 1791 as Athanasius contra mundum a... more Other than John Wesley’s description of William Wilberforce in 1791 as Athanasius contra mundum and his use of the same Latin phrase in his 1775 sermon On the Trinity, there is little discussion of Athanasius on the part of the founder of Methodism. However, the Orthodox tradition to which Athanasius is so central a figure had an important shaping influence on Wesley’s theology and there are strong soteriological resonances between Athanasius and Wesley, some of which will be elucidated in this paper. The Methodist ecumenist Albert C. Outler was one of the first, in the 1960s, to alert modern Wesleyans to the need to examine closely their founder’s heavy indebtedness to the Ante-Nicene and Nicene Fathers, especially in his doctrine of Christian perfection. More recently, Kenneth J. Collins has disputed the strong connection between Wesley’s theology and Orthodox theology and has argued that those who accept Outler’s argument have overlooked the significance for Wesley of his own Anglican tradition, in particular the ‘holy living’ tradition of William Law and Jeremy Taylor. This article will survey recent discussion of this issue among Wesley scholars, caution against too great a dogmatism on the question, and argue that Wesley’s practical theology was essentially eclectic.
Throughout the twentieth century, Methodist religious experience shifted from a focus on radical ... more Throughout the twentieth century, Methodist religious experience shifted from a focus on radical disjunctions such as conversion and entire sanctification to a focus on members being nurtured through the agencies of the Church and the application of the Gospel to society. Revivalism was a widely adopted means during the nineteenth century but became less popular from the early twentieth century when it was replaced by a focus on more tightly controlled denominational agencies. The older revivalism was increasingly seen as a relic of the past unsuited to the newer status that Methodism had achieved as a modern and progressive Church. Though some mid-century Methodists were drawn to the Charismatic movement, the average churchgoer settled for a life of moral and civic uprightness, and the more activist Methodist was drawn to social engagement rather than a focus on revivals or intense personal devotion. This shift led to a lack of certainty about the mission of Methodism. When it was thought there was a “heaven to gain and a hell to shun” the mission of Methodists was clear – to rescue as many from the latter as possible. When such certainties were questioned or rejected altogether the mission of the Methodist Church became less clear and competing ideas of mission began to emerge leading to a lack of clarity about Methodism’s mission. In light of declining membership in Methodist and Uniting Churches the recovery of missional clarity is crucial to the survival of this ecclesial tradition.
Opposition to the idea of armed rebellion against the British crown saw John Wesley issue in 1775... more Opposition to the idea of armed rebellion against the British crown saw John Wesley issue in 1775 a ‘Calm Address’ (calmly borrowed from Samuel Johnson) that rebuked the rebels for their disloyalty. The Address went through up to nine editions and 100,000 copies were circulated within a year. The Parliament ensured that a copy was delivered to every church door in the land. This paper will examine the origins and causes of Wesley’s opposition to the American Revolution, the effect of his opinions on the Methodist itinerants in America, and the response from both loyalists and republicans to his defence of the rights of the crown to tax its subjects. It will make reference to the classical theism contained in Wesley’s political tracts
Opposition to the idea of armed rebellion against the British crown saw John Wesley issue in 1775... more Opposition to the idea of armed rebellion against the British crown saw John Wesley issue in 1775 a ‘Calm Address’ (calmly borrowed from Samuel Johnson) that rebuked the rebels for their disloyalty. The Address went through up to nine editions and 100,000 copies were circulated within a year. The Parliament ensured that a copy was delivered to every church door in the land. This paper will examine the origins and causes of Wesley’s opposition to the American Revolution, the effect of his opinions on the Methodist itinerants in America, and the response from both loyalists and republicans to his defence of the rights of the crown to tax its subjects. It is intended to form part of a larger work on Methodist discourse on war.
This thesis examines the emergence of a number of North American Wesleyan-Holiness denominations ... more This thesis examines the emergence of a number of North American Wesleyan-Holiness denominations in Australia, beginning in the years following the Second World War. They are the Church of God (Anderson), the Church of God (Cleveland), the Church of the Nazarene, and the Wesleyan Methodist Church. It will trace the manner in which some of these churches moved from being despised and marginalised sects to established denominations while others remained small and isolated, experiencing little growth.
The thesis demonstrates that the movement along the church-sect continuum is by no means a smooth and inevitable one. Immigrant dislocation may lead to a slowing down of change to preserve a sense of identity. A particular group may be found to be positioned toward the church end of the continuum in its place of origin and be positioned toward the sect end in its mission areas, or the reverse may be true. A particular movement may be seen as a ‘sect’ when compared to one group and a ‘church’ when compared to another.
The theme of Americanisation and anti-Americanism will be examined, as the explicitly American origins of these churches was both the cause of their exclusion and at the same time a mechanism for their survival. The emergence of the Wesleyan-Holiness denominations in Australia is not an example of American cultural and religious imperialism. Rather it has been a creative partnership between like-minded evangelical Christians from two modern nations sharing a general cultural and social similarity and a common set of religious convictions.
The Wesleyan-Holiness churches saw increased growth from the late 1970s by welcoming into their membership a new wave of refugees from more liberal Protestant denominations. They are shown to be both a new religious movement, emerging out of the post-war context of greater engagement between Australians and Americans and at the same time a continuation of the long-standing ‘holiness’ and ‘revivalist’ strain within Australian evangelicalism.
A 79-year-old Bob Dylan released his latest album Rough and Rowdy Ways on 19 June 2020 and it's b... more A 79-year-old Bob Dylan released his latest album Rough and Rowdy Ways on 19 June 2020 and it's been widely hailed as a late-career masterpiece. In its own way, it's all as stunning as the literary masterpieces that appeared on his mid-60s albums. It's also profoundly Christian in the worldliest and most humanly grounded kind of way. After first gaining inspiration from the elder statesmen and stateswomen of the blues, he has become one of them himself, with the same mix of worldly impulses and spiritual longing that characterised their art.