Wesley: A Guide for the Perplexed
Overview
As anyone familiar with both the stereotypes and the scholarship related to John Wesley knows, tricky interpretive questions abound: was Wesley a conservative, high church Tory or a revolutionary protodemocrat or proto-Marxist? Was he a modern rationalist obsessed with the epistemology of religious belief or a late medieval style thinker who believed in demonic possession and supernatural healing? Was Wesley primarily a pragmatic evangelist or a serious theologian committed to the long-haul work of catechesis, initiation, and formation?
Wesley: A Guide for the Perplexed sheds new light on Wesley’s life and teaching, and aims to help students understand this enigmatic figure.
Key Features
- Presents an overview of the life and legacy of John Wesley
- Adds helpful insights for people already familiar with Wesley
- Clarifies a commonly misunderstood figure
Top Highlights
“majority of Wesley’s writings are designed either to bolster faith or to answer objections to it” (Page 2)
Contents
- Introduction
- Spreading the Gospel: Methodism and the Evangelical Revival
- Keeping to the Church: The Stabilization of English Society
- Honoring the King: The Politics of Divine Right
- Loving God: A Theology of Joyful Obedience
Praise for the Print Edition
Vickers is to be commended for producing a synoptic vision of John Wesley’s thought that is not just a great introduction for beginners but offers important new insights for those who have been studying Wesley for some time. He grounds Wesley in the particularity of eighteenth-century establishment Anglicanism, and uses this grounding to sketch a broad coherence among Wesley's ecclesiastical, political, and theological commitments. His central thesis is a landmark for future studies of these issues.
—Randy L. Maddox, Professor of Theology and Wesleyan Studies, Duke Divinity School, USA
Vickers’s book is worthy of a positive reception by Wesley experts while also serving as excellent entrée into Wesley studies for introductory students.
—Wesley and Methodist Studies
Product Details
- Title: Wesley: A Guide for the Perplexed
- Author: Jason E. Vickers
- Series: Guides for the Perplexed
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Publication Date: 2009
- Pages: 144
- Resource Type: Biography
- Topic: John Wesley