Liberty and Loyalty: John Wesley's Political World (original) (raw)
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‘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.
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.
John Wesley on the State of the Nation and its People
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.
John Wesley's 'Calm Address' with Reference to the Classical Theism in Wesley's Political Tracts
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
Reviews in Religion & Theology, 2021
that gave rise to Modernity, the Christian can be pressed to answer the problem 'how do you know God is real' without a circular argument. Did we solve the original problem? Well, no. But we did see that the problem is worse than we thought. There is a lack of knowledge of God rooted in not seeking and not understanding what is available in general revelation. Times that we assumed were better than the present were just as fraught with this problem. The solution is not simply to turn to revealed religion but instead to show that revealed religion assumes general revelation. The solution is in sound arguments where they are in analytic form or narrative form.