Spiritual and Theological Traditions That Shaped Methodism
SHORT THOUGHTS ON THE SPIRITUAL CONTEXT OF WESLEY’S ENGLAND
I was fascinated to see the impact that the patristic and matristic authors of the early church had on Wesley. The Baptist tradition in which I was raised, and the Methodist tradition in which I live, have a proclivity to jump from the close of the Apostolic Age to the start of the Reformation, as if 1500 years of church life never occurred. Moreover, while we acknowledge the impact of Roman Catholic teachings and practices, we ignore the contributions of Eastern Orthodox traditions. To learn that the writings of Macarius of Egypt and Ephraem Syrus nudged Wesley towards an understanding that sanctification is a process rather than a destination blew my mind. This is profound since, as Brian Germano asserts, “…this view became a defining characteristic of Wesleyan/Methodist Christianity.”[1]
SHORT THOUGHTS ON THE CULTURAL CONTEXT OF WESLEY’S ENGLAND
I must confess in advance that my wife is a university history professor whom I have heard lecture about the radical cultural, familial, social, legal, and healthcare upheaval created by the Industrial Revolution. What I find fascinating is that the Industrial Revolution catalyzed radical upheaval in doctrine. Now that I have typed that, it seems obvious; but, I wonder if they, Christians living between 1760 and 1830, recognized in the moment how fast change was happening and how little control they actually had. Germano speaks into this, “Thus we find an eighteenth-century England that is at once both publicly smug and secure concerning their current situation, yet privately apprehensive and anxious about the future.”[2] Can we and do we see ourselves in the same dilemma today? While the Industrial Revolution brought many modern conveniences and economic growth through capitalism, it also ushered in a new world of hurt, pain, sickness, loneliness, and environmental harm. Nonetheless, Wesley did not wring his hands and pen editorial jeremiads; rather, he gathered the people of God and showed them the transformational grace of God within acts of social holiness. I am left wondering: Would Wesley have been Wesley the Methodist Reformer and Evangelist without the Industrial Revolution?
SHORT THOUGHTS ON ENGLISH AND CONTINENTAL REFORMATION
Well, I never thought a geography lesson would be instrumental in understanding the impact of the English and Continental Reformation on Wesley, but, historian Richard Heitzenrater declares, “We must remember also that the British themselves, if nothing else, have always been shaped in part by their geography: They are an insular people—they live on islands, such that no matter where they are, no one is father than 75 miles from the sea.”[3] By the very nature of their geography, the English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh people groups developed insular identities, xenophobic sentiments, notions of linguistic superiority, and nationalistic ambitions. This geography, especially as it frustrated foreign invasion and continental papal meddling, facilitated the eventual schism and establishment of the Church of England by King Henry VIII. After a century of bloodshed and division, a deeply felt anti-Roman Catholic sentiment became indelible and was used by reformers and dissidents to justify their actions, doctrines, and polities. While not to trivialize the important doctrinal and practical considerations of Wesley and the Methodists, the location of the British Isles on the Eurasian tectonic plate may have literally and metaphorically carried them to their distinctive doctrinal destination.
[1] Brian E. Germano,
Christianity the Wesleyan Way: Principles and Practices for Life and Ministry (Nashville: Wesley’s Foundery Books, 2020), 18.
[2] Ibid, 276.
[3] Referenced within The Wesleyan Studies Project, Series I: Methodist History, “English and Continental Reformation,” lecture by Richard Heitzenrater (Washington, DC: Wesley Ministry Network, 2010), DVD Lesson 1.
