ABSTRACT
On the surface, John Wesley’s account of his conversion in his journal appears straightforward. He had been a devoted Anglican priest and an ardent missionary to America, but realized he was not truly converted until his heart-warming experience at Aldersgate. However, over the next several months Wesley experienced doubts about his salvation and he seldom referred to Aldersgate in his writings thereafter. This has led scholars over the past two centuries to question its meaning.
Beginning with the first biographers in the 1790s, this chapter chronologically surveys the viewpoints of major interpreters up to the present. In total over forty scholars are surveyed, including Luke Tyerman, George Croft Cell, Albert Outler, Kenneth Collins, Richard Heitzenrater, Henry Rack, and Bruce Hindmarsh. While past studies have focused on resolving the discrepancies in Wesley’s account, there has not been a systematic analysis of the full textual record that would help clarify Wesley’s interpretation of his conversion. This study aims to not resolve the textual ambiguities, but to explore what each text can reveal of Wesley’s interpretation at different periods of his life.
