Wesley and the Wesleyans
Religion in Eighteenth-Century Britain

A revisionary assessment of the Wesleyans and the Church of England in the eighteenth century.

John Kent (Author)

9780521455558, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 11 July 2002

236 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.4 cm, 0.31 kg

'For anyone interested in the role of religion in public life, Wesley and the Wesleyans provokes timely thought.' Scottish Journal of Theology

Wesley and the Wesleyans challenges the cherished myth that at the moment when the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution were threatening the soul of eighteenth-century England, an evangelical revival - led by the Wesleys - saved it. It will interest anyone concerned with the history of Methodism and the Church of England, the Evangelical tradition, and eighteenth-century religious thought and experience. The book starts from the assumption that there was no large-scale religious revival during the eighteenth century. Instead, the role of what is called 'primary religion' - the normal human search for ways of drawing supernatural power into the private life of the individual - is analysed in terms of the emergence of the Wesleyan societies from the Church of England. The Wesleys' achievements are reassessed; there is fresh, unsentimental description of the role of women in the movement, and an unexpectedly sympathetic picture emerges of Hanoverian Anglicanism.

1. The Protestant recovery
2. Early Wesleyanism, 1740–70
3. Later Wesleyanism, 1770–1800
4. Women in Wesleyanism
5. Anglican responses
6. Conclusions.

Subject Areas: History of religion [HRAX], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], British & Irish history [HBJD1]