ABSTRACT
Broadly conceived, the field of Wesley Studies goes all the way back to the early nineteenth century. Today many scholars regard most of the early works about John and Charles Wesley and about the rise and spread of Methodism in eighteenth century England as a mixture of history and hagiography.1 This way of characterizing early Wesley Studies is understandable insofar as Methodist clergy were responsible for much of this work.2 On the one hand, Methodist clergy were sincere in their desire to provide an accurate account of their own history. They took care to provide as much factual information as was readily available to them. On the other hand, they readily and unapologetically focused on and even embellished the most inspiring and theologically potent aspects of the story that they were attempting to tell. For example, they routinely played up things like the providential rescuing of John Wesley during his childhood from the Epworth Rectory fire; Wesley’s doubting whether he really had faith in God in the face of a violent storm on the high seas during his missionary journey to Georgia; Wesley’s heart-warming conversion experience on Aldersgate Street;and Wesley’s calm assurance and peacefulness in his last days on earth. Written through and for the eyes of faith, these stories and others like them became familiar among Methodists, providing them with a deep sense that Methodism was a matter of special divine providence and that Wesley’s spiritual pilgrimage was something of a blueprint for the Christian life. Thus not a few Methodists across the centuries, having internalized these stories, have undertaken similar journeys from the spiritual
darkness of doubt and uncertainty to the warm light of assurance and of grace and peace in the face of death.3
