ABSTRACT
Practical divinity has been well explored as a theological principle at the core of Wesleyan theology. Practical divinity was the fundamental building block of Methodist literary culture. It both describes the kinds of books produced and consumed by Methodists, and also helps us to explain the role that literature played in their religion. The analysis of Methodist literary culture shines a spotlight on the agency of that same Methodist readership, by discovering evidence of the level of independence which they were either granted by John Wesley or which they assumed despite Wesley. The connection between grace and literature looms large in any discussion of Wesley's work. Theology for Baker was wholly practical not because of its relationship to devotional praxis but because it was wholly concerned with personal grace. The Puritan model of practical divinity encouraged self-examination and laid out strategies to diagnose spiritual affliction and to reassure oneself of God's grace.
