Archive: Stalking the New Mister Wesley

THE WESLEY WORKS PROJECT edited by Frank Baker (Abingdon Press)

The Church today is only beginning to discover the amazing legacy that John Wesley left to Christianity. Simultaneous with this rediscovery, scholars of the past half-century have been busy correcting some inaccurate stereotypes of Methodism’s founder. The “new Wesley” is proving to be a significant mentor/guide for personal spiritual formation and for the corporate renewal of the Church. One of the most important aids in the renaissance of Wesley studies has been the Wesley’s Works Editorial Project.

In the past, understanding of Wesley has suffered because no definitive edition of his works has been available. For many years, the best edition of Wesley’s works was Thomas Jackson’s 14 volume set, prepared in the years 1829-1831 (and still available from the United Methodist Publishing House). But Jackson’s Works and even the so-called “Standard Editions” of Wesley’s Journal (ed. Curnock, 1909-16), Letters (ed. Telford, 1931), and Sermons (ed. Sugden, 1921) suffer from numerous textual and historical inaccuracies and frequent editorial intrusions. Moreover, in the years subsequent to the publication of these sets, a host of manuscripts and published materials has been discovered that sheds greater light on Wesley.

In 1960 an international team of scholars began an examination of over 450 items published by John and Charles Wesley. Oxford University Press agreed to undertake publication of the projected 33 volumes of the new Wesley’s Works. But economic restraints forced Oxford to abandon the project in 1982. Thanks to Abingdon Press, the expanded and definitive edition of Wesley’s Works is alive and well.

The five volumes published to date bear the unmistakable imprint of Dr. Frank Baker, editor-in-chief of the project. Not only has Baker been responsible for the preparation of an authentic text for each of Wesley’s publications, but his painstaking textual criticism has led to the identification of all variant readings for some 2,000 editions published in Wesley’s lifetime. The end product is a text that is easily read and easily understood. There is no question that this edition of Wesley’s works will find its place alongside the most noteworthy collections of Christian writers.

Here, then, is a brief appraisal of each volume, presented in the order of publication:

The first volume of the collected Works to appear, The Appeals to Men of Reason and Religion and Certain Related Open Letters, was published in February 1976 and edited by Gerald R. Cragg. This volume reveals Wesley as a Christian apologist, polemicist, and constructive theologian with few peers in his day. In response to the accusations of enthusiasm, fanaticism, and antinomianism, Wesley boldly demonstrates his grounding in the central Anglican tradition.

While the occasional reader of Wesley will find these polemical writings hard going at times, Cragg has made an invaluable contribution to our understanding of Wesley’s place in the Anglican tradition. This first published volume of the Works received the Library Association of Great Britain’s coveted award for the best index of 1976.

In 1980 the first of a planned seven volumes devoted to Wesley’s Letters was published. This initial volume, covering the formative years of 1721-1739, was quickly followed in 1982 by a volume of Letters from 1740-1755. These two installments, both edited brilliantly by Dr. Baker, represent the first new presentation of Wesley’s correspondence in 50 years.

By any standard this new collection supersedes all previous editions. For example, more than one-fifth of the 270 Wesley letters in the new 1740-1755 volume did not appear in the Standard Edition of Telford. In the same volume, the inclusion of 146 letters received by Wesley (and abstracts or quotations from 270 more)—many of them hither to unpublished or inaccessible—enables the reader to hear both sides of the epistolary conversation.

In both of these Letters volumes, the various dimensions of Wesley’s own personal life—his relationships with family and colleagues, his concerns for the expanding Methodist revival, his evolving life of faith—are revealed with meticulous care and sensitivity. Baker’s introduction to Wesley’s Works in the first volume of Letters leaves virtually no question unanswered. These two volumes of Letters are essential reading and afford one of the most accurate self-portraits of Wesley currently available.

A Collection of Hymns for the use of the People called Methodists, published in 1983, was edited by two widely recognized Methodist hymnologists, Franz Hildebrandt and Oliver A. Beckerlegge. While this is probably the least well-known of the five published volumes, it may have the greatest appeal to the lay audience.

One of the remarkable features of early Methodism was its birth in song. This collection of hymns, originally published in 1780, was a primer of theology for the Methodist people and a manual both for public worship and private devotion. A thorough study of this volume could prove to be one of the most important experiences in any person’s pilgrimage of faith.

Sermons, 1–33 was edited by Dr. Albert C. Outler, the world-renowned Wesleyan theologian. This first volume of the sermons helps us see Wesley as a prominent Anglican theologian dedicated to spiritual renewal and nurture and to rediscovery of a balanced view of the Christian life. In an introduction which sets forth the rich fabric of Wesley’s sources and thought, Outler provides the necessary background for the reader to grasp the content of Wesley’s Sermons.

The breadth of Outler’s documentation is sometimes staggering, ranging through the entangled mazes of classical and Christian thought. But in these sermons you will find the distillation of Wesley’s theology in the form he most preferred. Every Methodist pastor and lay leader would benefit from a careful study of this volume of Wesley’s Sermons.

Abingdon recently approved plans for at least six more volumes of Wesley’s Works in addition to the publisher’s initial five-volume commitment. Our Methodist leaders are now sensing the value of the project. Clergy and laypeople need to support this monumental endeavor which is certain to benefit the cause of Christ for years to come.

Reviewed by Dr. Paul Chilcote, UM minister and John Wesley fellow