Wesley: A Guide for the Perplexed

Guides for the Perplexed

by Jason E. Vickers

Arguably the most significant religious figure in eighteenth century England, John Wesley presents a variety of challenges for students. As anyone familiar with both the stereotypes and the scholarship related to Wesley knows, tricky interpretive questions abound. Was Wesley a conservative, high church Tory or a revolutionary proto-democrat or even proto-Marxist politically? Was Wesley 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? Was Wesley most deeply formed by Eastern Orthodoxy, German Pietism, or his own native Anglicanism? Finally, was a particular conception of the relationship between faith and works or a robust Trinitarian view of the Christian life the orienting concern of Wesley's theological vision?
Despite more than two centuries of scholarly reflection on Wesley's life and work, leading historians still agree on one thing: John Wesley is an elusive, enigmatic figure. Fortunately, recent developments in the study of the long eighteenth century have shed new light on many aspects of Wesley's life and work.

Genres: Theology

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Caleb Jenkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provided a guide of Wesley which acknowledged and set forth the caricatures which have been made of him, while recognizing and arguing effectively for the necessary complexity yet unity of Wesley’s ecclesiological, political, and theological ideas and actions.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book, although I was looking for a more introductory book with a title in the "Guides for the Perplexed" series. It took me a while to get through this book although it is only about 100 pages; I move much slower through theology than I do through novels. This book has 4 chapters and I enjoyed the first, which was an introduction to John Wesley's life, and the final, more details about Wesley's theology. But the two middle chapters about Wesley's politics and the Church of England were answers to questions I didn't have in the first place.

[J. Ewbank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jason Vickers does a masterful job of working his way through the many differet and often quite opposte ways of understanding Wesley. In brief manner he presents the differing options that scholars have presented and most often finds another way that explains Wesley in a very understandable way and it seems to be a good way. This is a must read for those interested in John Wesley.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and he Isms" "Wesley's Wars" and "To Whom It May Concern"