John Wesley and Methodism

10 Dec, 2020 270 History of Christianity

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss John Wesley (1703 - 1791) and the movement he was to lead and inspire. As a student, he was mocked for approaching religion too methodically and this jibe gave a name to the movement: Methodism. Wesley took his ideas out across Britain wherever there was an appetite for Christian revival, preaching in the open, especially the new industrial areas. Others spread Methodism too, such as George Whitefield, and the sheer energy of the movement led to splits within it, but it soon became a major force.

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Guests

  • Stephen Plant 4 episodes
    Dean and Runcie Fellow at Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge
  • Eryn White No other episodes
    Reader in Early Modern History at Aberystwyth University
  • William Gibson 2 episodes
    Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford Brookes University and Director of the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History

Reading list

  • The Evangelist of Desire, John Wesley and the Methodists
    H. Abelove (Stanford University Press, 1990) Google Books →
  • Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s
    David Bebbington (Routledge, 1989) Google Books →
  • Image, Identity and John Wesley, A Study in Portraiture
    P. S. Forsaith (Routledge, 2017) Google Books →
  • The Young Mr Wesley
    V. H. H. Green (Longman, 1961) Google Books →
  • John Wesley in America: Restoring Primitive Christianity
    G. Hammond (Oxford University Press, 2014) Google Books →
  • Wesley and the People Called Methodists
    Richard P. Heitzenrater (Abingdon Press, 2013) Google Books →
  • Methodism: Empire of The Spirit
    D. Hempton (Yale University Press, 2005) Google Books →
  • The Elect Methodists: Calvinistic Methodism in England and Wales 1735-1811
    D. C. Jones, Boyd S. Schlenther and E. M. White (University of Wales Press, 2012) Google Books →
  • John Wesley's Preachers, A Social and Statistical Analysis of the British and Irish Preachers Who Entered the Methodist Itinerancy before 1791
    J. Lenton (Epworth Press, 2009) Google Books →
  • Responsible Grace: John Wesley's Practical Theology
    Randy L. Maddox (Abingdon Press, 1994) Google Books →
  • The Cambridge Companion to John Wesley
    R. L. Maddox & J. E. Vickers (eds) (Cambridge University Press, 2010) Google Books →
  • The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys
    Mark A. Noll (InterVarsity Press, 2003) Google Books →
  • The Moravian Church in England 1728-1760
    Colin Podmore (Clarendon Press, 1998) Google Books →
  • Reasonable Enthusiast: John Wesley and the Rise of Methodism
    Henry D. Rack (Epworth Press, 1992) Google Books →
  • The Methodist Experience in America: A History Vol. 1
    R. E. Richey, K. E. Rowe & J. Miller-Schmidt (eds.) (Abingdon Press, 2010)
  • The Methodist Experience in America: A Sourcebook Vol. 2
    R. E. Richey, K. E. Rowe & J. Miller-Schmidt (eds.) (Abingdon Press, 2000)
  • Forty Four Sermons
    John Wesley (first published 1787; many editions today including Arkose Press, 2015 ) Google Books →

Related episodes

Programme ID: m000q3m2

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000q3m2

Auto-category: 270 (Christian church history)

Hello (First sentence from this episode) Hello. As a student, John Wesley, 1703 to 1791, was mocked for approaching religion too methodically.