ABSTRACT

The Routledge Companion to John Wesley provides an overview of the work and ideas of one of the principal founders of Methodism, John Wesley (1703-91). Wesley remains highly influential, especially within the worldwide Methodist movement of some eighty million people. As a preacher and religious reformer his efforts led to the rise of a global Protestant movement, but the wide-ranging topics addressed in his writings also suggest a mind steeped in the intellectual developments of the North Atlantic, early modern world. His numerous publications cover not only theology but ethics, history, aesthetics, politics, human rights, health and wellbeing, cosmology and ecology. This volume places Wesley within his eighteenth-century context, analyzes his contribution to thought across his multiple interests, and assesses his continuing relevance today. It contains essays by an international team of scholars, drawn from within the Methodist tradition and beyond. This is a valuable reference particularly for scholars of Methodist Studies, theology, church history and religious history.

chapter 1|11 pages

Introduction

part I|38 pages

Historical Context

chapter 2|11 pages

Eighteenth-Century Britain

Politics, Society, Religion and the Enlightenment

part II|124 pages

Wesley's Major Works

chapter 5|11 pages

Wesley's Publishing Strategy

chapter 6|12 pages

Journals

chapter 7|15 pages

Sermons

chapter 8|13 pages

A Christian Library

chapter 10|12 pages

1780 Collection of Hymns

chapter 11|11 pages

Primitive Physic

chapter 13|13 pages

1784 Sunday Service

chapter 14|14 pages

The Three Tune Collections

part III|223 pages

Wesley's Thinking

part IIIA|69 pages

Principles of Wesley's Thinking

chapter 15|10 pages

Theology

chapter 16|11 pages

Metaphysics

chapter 17|12 pages

Epistemology

chapter 19|10 pages

Ethics

chapter 20|11 pages

Social and Political Thought

part IIIB|101 pages

Humankind and Society

chapter 21|13 pages

Race, Enslavement and Othering

chapter 23|11 pages

Education and Children

chapter 24|12 pages

Money and Business

chapter 25|12 pages

War

chapter 26|11 pages

Poetry and Aesthetics

chapter 27|15 pages

Food, Drink and Dress

part IIIC|49 pages

Humankind and the World

chapter 29|13 pages

Providence and History

chapter 31|11 pages

Science and Technology

chapter 32|11 pages

Animal Welfare

part IV|41 pages

Wesley's Reception

chapter 33|14 pages

Britain and Ireland, to c.1820

chapter 34|12 pages

America, to c.1820

chapter 35|13 pages

Commemorating John Wesley

Forming the Creation Myth of Methodism

part V|84 pages

Wesley's Longer-Term Legacy