John Wesley's Preachers: A Social and Statistical Analysis of the British and Irish Preachers Who Entered the Methodist Itinerancy before 1791. Studies in Evangelical History and Thought (original) (raw)
Related papers
In this paper and in a number of earlier publications 1 , I have sought to answer a number of charges levelled at Wesley's discourse which represent it, if not as an instrument in the conversion of the factory proletariat to the industrial work ethic, at least as symptomatic of an emerging ideological paradigm heavily conditioned by the demands of increasing industrialisation. While the data adopted as evidence by the critics were authentic, it soon became apparent not only that the instances of Methodist discourse had been selected and combined to tie in with a particular reading of reality -religion as the opiate of the peoplebut also that the value judgment fostered by this partial representation was applied indiscriminately to Methodism as a whole, with blatant disregard for the positive transforming power it exerted both on individuals and on society. My aim in highlighting this bias is not to pose as a revisionist seeking to gloss over criticism with smug hagiography, but to seek to complete the data with insights gained from a corpus of primary and secondary documents which may still be far from exhaustive and limited in its temporal scope, but which covers an area large enough to redress the balance, i.e. to compensate for the inadequacies and inaccuracies of the critics' accounts, and to redeem the Wesleys and the other early Methodists from indictments of deliberate manoeuvering.
Wesley and Methodist Studies, volumes 1 to 15/2
Wesley and Methodist Studies
Wesley and Methodist Studies (WMS) publishes peer-reviewed essays that examine the life and work of John and Charles Wesley, their contemporaries (proponents or opponents) in the eighteenth-century Evangelical Revival, their historical and theological antecedents, their successors in the Wesleyan tradition, and studies of the Wesleyan and Evangelical traditions today. Its primary historical scope is the eighteenth century to the present; however, WMS will publish essays that explore the historical and theological antecedents of the Wesleys (including work on Samuel and Susanna Wesley), Methodism, and the Evangelical Revival. WMS has a dual and broad focus on both history and theology. Its aim is to present significant scholarly contributions that shed light on historical and theological understandings of Methodism broadly conceived. Essays within the thematic scope of WMS from the disciplinary perspectives of literature, philosophy, education and cognate disciplines are welcome. WMS is a collaborative project of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre and The Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History, Oxford Brookes University and is published biannually by Penn State University Press.
Revisiting Wesley's Ethics and His Ministry to the Poor: Social, Economical, and Medical Solutions
From the outset of the Evangelical Revival it was more than apparent that John Wesley “saw himself as having a particular mission to the poor people.” Wesley dedicated almost seventy years towards helping the poor. His ethics sought to impact and transform the underprivileged and deprived parts of society, and thus, “one would be hard put to find many examples of people who gave away more of their adult resources of time and money than Wesley did.” While his ethics cover a broad array of themes—including his views on slavery, war, education and community—it can be argued that Wesley’s ministry to the poor received a significant amount of attention. Although the poor faced numerous disadvantages during the eighteenth-century, there remained three prevalent disadvantages that Wesley specifically addressed. This article will suggest that these three were social, economical, and medical. With the social part, it will be important to explore contextual issues and Wesley’s own personal imitation of the poor. With economical, Wesley’s financial ethics will be examined, as well as how he attempted to assist the poor financially through various means. Finally, with health, the problem of disease within this era will be looked at too, as well as how Wesley’s Primitive Physic and his overall holistic soteriology attempted to restore health to the poor. Consequently, the following article will argue that John Wesley’s ethics helped to improve the lives of the poor on a substantial level. According to Richard Heitzenrater, the question of ‘who were the poor in eighteenth-century England?’ has been a question which Wesleyan scholarship has failed to answer, or alternatively, “avoided asking.” Poverty within an eighteenth-century context, therefore, needs to be addressed if Wesley’s ethics are to be understood. After all, “the concept of poverty and the nature of the problem in eighteenth-century England – is largely unknown to most Methodists today.”
The Financing of John Wesley's Methodism c.1740-1800
2017
Whatever they say, how someone spends their money reveals what their real priorities are, and this is as true for organisations as it is for individuals. This study of the financing of Wesley's Methodism reveals a constant tension between Wesley's ideal of relying solely on the provision of Providence and the reality of sustaining a burgeoning organisation on which many had become dependent for their sustenance. In this monograph version of his 2015 Oxford Brookes University PhD thesis, Clive Murray Norris uncovers trends from a thorough analysis of financial records. Chapter 1 summarises how Wesley supported itinerant preachers during the 1740s, the formative years of the Methodist movement. Norris characterises Methodism's financial system as 'haphazard' (p.34). Chapter 2 describes the emergence of a more sophisticated system, which paralleled the growth in the number of itinerant preachers from approximately 100 in 1760 to over 400 by 1800 (p.36). Inherent in any movement that succeeds over time is the need for pensions as early workers age and retire. Chapter 3 focuses on the establishment of a 'Preachers' Fund' and the subsequent difficulty of sustaining it. Chapters 4 and 5 examine the financing used for simple Methodist preaching houses and chapels, with consideration of the challenge presented by mortgage debt and the upkeep of buildings and land donated by wealthy benefactors. Chapter 6 includes valuable information on what Norris calls the 'regular cycle of society, circuit, district, and Conference meetings' (p.127) and the income and expenditures related to each. Chapters 7 and 8 focus on the Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, the publishing concern that for years remained a key source of income. The final two chapters comprise an examination of the educational, welfare and mission initiatives of the societies, followed by a summary of the book's findings. One theme that emerges in The Financing of John Wesley's Methodism is the growing tension between Wesley and others charged with the management of Methodist entities, especially as the century wore on and the movement became more institutionalised. An example is the stewardship of profits generated from the operation of the Book Room. Norris notes that Wesley considered the profits as 'his to spend' (p.183), and records substantiate Wesley's standard practice of siphoning off large sums of money. To his credit, Norris makes it clear that this practice was not for Wesley's personal enrichment. Rather, it was to meet the operational demands of sustaining the preachers and their activities. Nevertheless, John Atlay, one of the book stewards, was at times exasperated by the lack of money for printing or paper owing to Wesley's frequent withdrawals (p.184). Wesley appears to have come perilously close to killing the proverbial goose that laid the golden egg. A second area Norris examines is the question of the Preachers' Fund. Although known for his compassion for the poor, Wesley's attitude towards the pension scheme for retired preachers and their families was 'always ambivalent' (p.53), his wish being that his preachers should rely directly on God and consequentlyaccording to John Pawsonnever have much in hand (p.54). The rising acrimony over the fund's perceived mismanagement resulted in 1798several years after Wesley's deathin a split in the ranks, with Adam Clarke and Henry Moore creating an alternative ' Annuitant Society' which elicited the immediate enrolment of seventy-three preachers (p.63). Norris's detailed analysis of the accounting involved helps explain why even the most spiritual of men may divide over questions of money. Besides the Book Room and the pension scheme, a third interesting aspect of early Methodism addressed by Norris is involvement in missionary endeavours. Efforts in the North American colonies towards the end of Wesley's life are well known. Norris digs deeper, shining a light on the financial aspect of failed ventures in the 1790s among the Fula of West Africa and the British West Indies (p.212-13). The donations for missions in far-flung locations are eloquent testimony
"A Good and Sensible Man": John Wesley's Reading and Use of Jonathan Edwards
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.'
John Wesley and Religious Education in Eighteenth-Century England
This work explores the efficacy of John Wesley’s theories and praxes concerning religious education in eighteenth-century England. Wesley theorized that children should be taught early on to love God, live in His image, and strive for a life of holiness. His theories were not exclusive to children but applied to all people including the illiterate and unlearned working class of England. As the Methodist movement expanded, Wesley’s unique methodology evolved to facilitate a more effective educational process. This methodology was grounded in his upbringing, influenced by his life experiences, and refined by his educational experiments. The outflow of his methodology was his various practices, namely, class meetings and Sunday schools. Religious education became the catalyst for social, moral, and religious change in Britain’s working class of the eighteenth century.
Theology worked out from and for Life: Wesley’s “Practical Christianity”
2007
1. Why did Wesley not opt for a respectable and cal m cademic life? Although Wesley oscillated between a contemplative life and an acti ve life, the latter characterized his existence. He and his brother were threatened by an int ernal and individualistic mystic but, after being advised by “a serious man”, he chose fo r a “social religion”, “the only religion the Bible knows”. Since then they understood that f aith can be “a comprehensive practice” and theology is better as “practical Christia nity”. The Wesleyan spirituality is essentially modern, and “life” is active life ( vita activa). It was the existential uneasiness that led him to a situation that could not be purely sat isfied neither by the academic life nor the contemplative life. Faith becomes a vital strug gle. It was not a question of intellectual dissatisfaction for him. According to Wesley, the i ssue touches the practical life, the concrete life, the life that needs to be transformed. This was a concern that went ag...