Reading the Bible in Wesleyan Ways: Some Constructive Proposals by Barry L. Callen, Richard P. Thompson (Beacon Hill Press) Reading the Bible in Wesleyan Ways is comprised of significant essays by outstanding scholars. They represent and address the Wesleyan theological tradition and convey insights vital for today's Bible readers regardless of their denomination or tradition. The twelve essays of this collection are grouped under two categories, "Foundations for Interpretation" and "Frontiers for Interpretation."

The authors address Wesleyan ways of reading the Bible that:

• focus on the ministry of the Spirit of Christ to illuminate the present significance of the text

• recognize the role of the faith community as the crucial location of Scripture's meaning and present significance

• highlight the importance of spiritual maturity and unity with other believers in the pursuit of God's live

Reading the Bible in Wesleyan Ways intends to serve the Spirit-listening resolve and skill of pastors and of students and teachers in colleges and seminaries. This intention is much like John Wesley's prefatory comment to his Ex­planatory Notes upon the Old Testament: "But it is not part of my design, to save either learned or unlearned men from the trouble of thinking...  On the contrary, my intention is, to make them think, and assist them in thinking. This is the way to understand the things of God." To assist the present generation of Bible readers with the necessary thinking, the editors have assembled a group of significant essays by outstanding biblical scholars and theologians who both represent and address the Wesleyan theological tradition in particular and convey insights vital for today's Bible readers who are formed in any tradition of the faith.

The essays are grouped under two categories, Founda­tions for Interpretation and Frontiers for Interpretation. Within the first cat­egory, one encounters essays addressing issues such as the Scripture principle, a trinitarian perspective, a call to "retribalize," a con­cept of inspired imagination, and a suggested pattern of interpretative balance. Each of these essays supplements the others and helps to form broad perspective on Wesleyan ways of Bible reading.

Because of the relational character involved in the foundations of biblical interpretation, there are vital frontiers of such foundations that are still taking shape. With the "enlightenment experiment" in serious decay and a major struggle now going on in the evangelical community over issues of biblical interpretation, how can Scripture's central role among Wesleyan and other Bible readers be clarified and enhanced in a postmodern time?  The second part addresses an adequate reading strategies require that the church commit to serious conversation involving the biblical text. Gender exclusion from any dimensions of this process must cease. All voices are to be included in the conversation as both the past and future meanings of God's revelation as pursued in our time.

A Century of Holiness Theology: The Doctrine of Entire Sanctification in the Church of the Nazarene: 1905 to 2004 by Mark R. Quanstrom (Beacon Hill Press) charts the gradual change in the understanding of the doctrine of entire sanctification in the Church of the Nazarene in the 20th century. The Church of the Nazarene understood its reason for being was the proclamation of the possibility of life without sin as a consequence of a second work of grace that cleansed the called from all sin during this life. As the century began, the explication of the doctrine reflected the optimistic hopes of society at large and, therefore, described the change effected by entire sanctification in extravagantly prom­ising terms. The early explication reflected 19^th century holiness orthodoxy and emphasized entire sanctification as an instantaneous second work of grace that eradicated the sinful nature, conditioned only by faith and consecration which resulted in almost glorified human persons.

As the century wore on, the very optimistic expectations of entire sanctification became less and less credible in light of the apparently in-tractable nature of sin. By midcentury, the extravagant promises of the grace of entire sanctification began to be tempered. Theologians in the denomination began to define the sin that could be eradicated more narrow­ly and the infirmities that were an inescapable consequence of fallen hu­manity more expansively. This led to an increasing dissatisfaction with traditional formulations of the doctrine.

As a result, the doctrine as formulated by John Wesley in the 18th century has been reexamined. A study of his writings, which were divergent from the 19th-century formulations at important points, resulted in a radical reformulation of the doctrine. This reformulation has resulted in two contemporaneous and competing definitions of entire sanctification in the Church of the Nazarene. Needless to say, this poses a problem for a denomination that understands its primary reason for being as the preservation and proclamation of a doctrine of entire sanctification.

A Daily Calendar of John Wesley's Evangelical Travels in Georgia, the British Isles, Holland, and Germany: Book 1; A Daily Calendar of John Wesley's Evangelical Travels in Georgia, the British Isles, Holland, and Germany: Book 2; A Daily Calendar of John Wesley's Evangelical Travels in Georgia, the British Isles, Holland, and Germany: Book 3 by Samuel J. Rogal (Studies in the History of Missions: Edwin Mellen Press)

There are two dominant features within the personal evangelical mission of John Wesley: (1) the absolute necessity for travel and (2) the opportunities to expand the mind, through observation, during those periods of travel. Thus the Methodist itinerancy, with its cadre of itinerant lay preachers and evangelical-minded Church of England clergy—with John Wesley among them and ahead of them--organized itself into circuits and spread itself over villages and cities, town commons and open fields, of England, Wales, Ireland and, Scotland. With the precision of a skilled executive and administrator, Wesley consistently moved his preachers from kingdom to kingdom, from circuit to circuit, ordering and exhorting each and every one of then to move about from place to place, from chapel to chapel, from house to house. Most importantly, if those traveling preachers required a role model to demonstrate and to prove to them that the message of the evangelical revival of the eighteenth century needed to be carried directly to all people of all classes and in all places, they needed to look no farther than to their founder and patriarch, their leader and administrator, their father and their authority.

From the time of Wesley's death on 2 March 1791 and throughout the more than two centuries following, hardly a biographer, historian, or critical commentator of Wesley's life and work has failed to observe and to note, at least in general terms, the extent of the Methodist leader's own itinerancy. Of course, all of those writers have followed the trail hewn by Wesley, himself, in his early journal entries and correspondence. "I look upon all the world as my parish" he wrote (possibly in a letter to Rev. John Clayton) in late March 1739 ; "thus far I mean that whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounded duty to declare unto all that are willing to hear the glad tidings of salvation.

This is the work which I know God has called me to, and I am sure that his blessing attends it." Then, same four and one-half months later, on 16-18 August 1739, the thirty-six-year-old Wesley, in an interview before Joseph Butler (1692-1752), then Bishop of Bristol, affirmed the authority that prompted and guided his ecclesiastical activities: "As to me preaching here [Bristol], a dispensation of the gospel is committed to me, and woe is me if I preach not the gospel wheresoever I an in the habitable world. Your lordship knows, being ordained a priest, by the commission then received I an a priest of the Church Universal. And being ordained as Fellow of a College [Lincoln, Oxford], I was not limited to any particular cure, but have an indeterminate commission to preach the Word of God to any part of the Church of England." Thus, in reasonable and even legalistic terms, did Wesley provide, for followers and opponents alike, the legitimate source and authority behind his evangelical mission and his own itinerancy.

Subsequent historical, biographical, and critical commentary upon that itinerancy concisely (but often dramatically) echoes the declarations to Clayton and Butler. Robert Southey, always the poet and writer of fiction, and always the Romantic, labored hard to paint the physical hardships and the difficulties confronting and obstructing Wesley's itinerant paths. The fifteenth chapter of his Life of Wesley (1820), "Scenes of Itinerancy," opens with, "When Wesley began his course of itinerancy there were no turnpikes in England, and no stage-coach which went farther north than York. In mart' parts of the northern counties neither coach nor chaise had ever been seen. He travelled on horseback, always with one of his

preachers in company; and, that no time might be lost, he generally read as he rode. Same of his journeys were exceedingly dangerous,-­through the fens of his native country [Lincolnshire], when the waters were out, and over the falls of Northumberland, when they were covered with snow." To increase the dimensions of his stage scenery, Southey adds a footnote to the effect that "Wesley probably paid more for turnpikes than any other man in England, for no other person travelled so much; and it rarely happened him to go 5 twice through the same gate in one day." Southey's comments so impressed the Rev. Luke Tyerman that he repeated them in his own 1870-1871 biography of Wesley. Tyerman, also energized more from imagination than from fact, later noted that, by 1763, the sixty­year-old Methodist leader, made "miserable" by his wife and without "children to demand his time," found himself in an "unfettered" state. "His health was as vigorous as ever, and his heart as warm; and hence, while all his old clerical friends either died, or were disabled, or otherwise were obliged to relinquish the itinerant ministry, he and he alone ended as he first began; and from 1735 to 1791, a period of five and fifty years, lived not the enviable life of a settled pastor, but the ham less life of a wandering evangelist, and devoted his health, energies, and talents to a work resembling his who said, 'I an a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians'; 'so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto  Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."

Tyerman, by the way, more than any one of Wesley's biographers, provided his readers with an extensive menu of specific places to which John Wesley traveled, simply because his three-volume biography emerges, principally, as an excessively dramatic and heavily biased version of his subject's journal. Finally, John Telford, writing in 1886, proves another borrower from Southey's romantic trough, but also adds the generalization that from 1773, "Wesley began regularly to use a carriage. He travelled between four and five thousand miles a year."

The reactions to Wesley and his activities arising from historians and critical commentators may prove more acceptable to readers because of their balance and objectivity--qualities not always present in the images cast by Wesley's biographers. Further, because the vast majority of historians and critics tend to place Wesley's significance into broad surveys, covering larger contexts that span an entire century or more of political, social, economic, religious, and cultural activities, they must, to meet the demands of space, rely on generalization. Thus, in 1876, Leslie Stephen, examining Wesley's strengths (prior to attacking his weaknesses), reported that "For more than fifty years Wesley was the autocratic chief of his society, and not content with administration from a distance, personally Inspected, at frequent intervals, every part 01 the machinery which he had organised. He travelled on his ceaseless round of duty some 4,500 miles annually; he preached two or alga sermons a day; and it Is calculated that in fifty-two years he travelled 225,000 miles, and preached over 45,000 sermons." 7 E"-six years later, J.H. Plumb cited essentially the same figures as Stephen, while R.W. Harris, writing within the same vi introduction: John Wesley's Calendar general time frame as Plumb, but preferring the power of the word over the effect of figures, stated only that "Wesley became an itinerant preacher [in 1739], travelling more than a quarter of a million miles in the course of his long life."        

Christopher Hibbert, having assigned to himself the task of surveying 880 years of English social history, repeated Harris's "quarter of a million miles" phrase, but found space to expand the image by speculating that "there is scarcely a large village in England in which tradition does not point to a green, lychgate [a roofed gateway to a churchyard] or a churchyard by which he [Wesley] is said to have 10 addressed a wondering multitude."          However, for a classic example of combining conciseness with accuracy, the award must be handed to the literary historian John Butt, or to his successor Geoffrey Carnall, one of whom identified Wesley's published Journal as "one long record of locomotion.” Following that, nothing more  need be added concerning the generalizations applied to John Wesley's itinerancy.

In the most obvious of terms, the purpose of this Wesley calendar project focuses upon transforming the biographical, critical, and scholarly generalizations about Wesley's travels into specifics. The compiler seeks to provide students and scholars of Wesleyan Methodism, of eighteenth-century English (and American) history and geography, and anyone else who might be interested, with a geographical record of John Wesley's itinerancy--to include, where possible, an account of his literary production. Or, from another vantage point, one aging Wesley scholar attempts to answer introduction : John Wesley's Calendar vii the question, "Where--in England, Wales, Georgia, South Carolina, Germany, Holland, Scotland, or Ireland--might one find the Methodist founder and leader on a particular day of a particular month in a particular year?" The verb "attempts" becomes important here, for although a significant stack of primary evidence exists In readily available published form, one cannot quickly sift through it and locate all that he or she wishes to uncover. For example, Wesley maintained both a dairy and a journal, the former (host of it in shorthand) beginning in the early 1720's with his residency at Oxford and extending to 23 February 1791--practically to the final day of his life (2 March 1791). In published and translated form, only fragmentary sections of that diary have become available: 17 October 1735-31 August 1737; 1-30 April 1738; 17 September 1738-8 August 1741; 1 December 1782-23 February 1791. Indeed, if one had access to the complete diaries, provided that the complete diaries remain in existence, this project would not need to go forward.

 

In compiling John Wesley's travel calendar, I have arbitrarily embraced a set of guidelines intent upon emphasizing Wesley as Methodist itinerant and as writer--believing that his literary production related and contributed to his evangelical mission to a degree equal with his role as itinerant preacher. Therefore, I offer the following points as explanation of the substance and organization of the entries in this Calendar:

1. obviously and naturally, each month of the year functions as a major chapter, but the date of the month emerges as the key Item (or sub-chapter).

2. Each date proceeds chronologically, year by year, beginning with the earliest literary product--in the majority of instances a letter. Thus, the number of years (and thus also the number of days) within a given date will vary from date to date. For obvious reasons, I have determined to ignore Wesley's childhood at Epworth, Lincolnshire (1703-1714), as well as the period of his schooling at the Charterhouse, London (1714-1720).

3. Because of omissions and gaps in the journal and diaries, I have been forced to form and then follow consistently two basic assumptions:

a. For example, Wesley writes, on 31 May 1742, that "We came In the evening to Boroughbridge"; he then begins the entry for 1 June with "As we were riding through Knaresborough. . . ." 1

assume that on 1 June he departed from Boroughbridge, and thus I begin the calendar entry for 1 June 1742 with that location and place him next at Knaresborough.

b. On 1 May 1776, Wesley notes in his journal that "I set out early [from Colne], and, the next afternoon, reached Whitehaven --and my chaise horses were no worse for traveling near a hundred and ten miles in two days." Rather than attempt to determine (or, more accurately, to guess) how often and where he might have paused between Come and Whitehaven, I rely on the term enroute and classify that as a separate location to be included among the specific places.

4. Primarily for the benefit of those readers unfamiliar with the geography of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, I have attempted to place each city, town, and village within its proper county--relying, as far as possible, upon eighteenth-century county names and`boundaries. In terms of such current urban sprawls as London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Dublin, one should be aware that during and even after Wesley's day, those entities carried specific county designations and could be easily located within those county boundaries on late eighteenth -century or early nineteenth-century maps.

5. When, in his journal or diary, Wesley identifies a building or an area within a given city, town, or village, I have placed that site in parentheses following the entry.

6. Concerning the publications, the placement of a title or a letter into a specific day/date/month/year entry has been

determined by identifying the time of writing, rather than that of publication. Actually, the letters pose few problems, as long as the editors and printers have labeled them correctly. I have been able to correct a number of errors in the Telford edition of Wesley's letters by comparing date with place and place with date. Those letters, both in the Baker and Telford editions, that have been labeled only with month and year, but not with date, I have ignored. I have applied the same principle to Wesley's sermons and prose tracts. Thus, this calendar falls short of including the complete range of Wesley's written and published work.

7. I have prepared four types of summaries--by date, for the month, four-month, and final--principally to keep the reader apprised as to the extent to which a city, town, or village received Wesley's attention (or at least his presence). How to quantify that attention proved a difficult decision. Essentially, I wanted to determine (as far as could be determined) the number of days that Wesley spent at each place (as well as the percentages in relation to the total number of days for a date, a month, a four-month period). If only Wesley had spent no more or no less than one day at each place, all of my summaries could have been noted totally in round numbers. However, the number of places that he visited within a single day ranges from one to seven. The extant

diaries, of course, note the times of arrival and departure, but, as has been stated, those diaries do not exist (published or Unpublished) in their entirety--which eliminated any thought to reporting summery data in the form of hours and minutes. Once again relying upon assumption in the face of a lack of concrete evidence, I determined, simply, to separate the day into parts that would yield a total of one (1): Thus-­ a. If Wesley visited two (2) places within a single day, I assigned one-half (.5) day to each. b. If he visited three (3) places in one day, I assigned one-third (.33) of a day each to the first two and .34 to the third and last mentioned in the diary or journal entry (particularly because of the overnight stay). c. On those days when he visited four (4) places, each received credit for one-fourth (.25) of a day. d. And so on.

8. In those instances where Wesley omits a significant number of days or even weeks (e.g. 13 June 1768-1 August 1768), I have attempted to fill those gaps by relying upon Wesley's extant letters, his clues and general references to his activities, and itineraries in the same geographic areas that precede and follow those gaps. I have enclosed my speculations in brackets.

Perhaps the most accurate note upon which to bring these introductory remarks on Wesley's itinerancy to a close comes from Wesley's own voice, sounded (in his journal) on Wednesday, 18 February 1747, prior to his departure from Casterton Brig, Rutland. "Our servant came up and said, 'Sir, there is no traveling today. Such a quantity of snow has fallen in the night that the roads are quite filled up.' I told him, 'At least we can walk twenty miles a day, with our horses in our hands.' So in the name of God, we set out."   if nothing else, the sheer number of names of cities, towns, villages, and settlements visited by John Wesley during the more than half-century of his itinerancy serves to underscore for every man, woman, and child--present and future--what one person actually can do, within the constraints of a human lifetime, "in the name of God." 

The Global Impact of the Wesleyan Traditions and Their Related Movements edited by Charles Yrigoyen, Sally Cox Mayberry (Pietist and Wesleyan Studies, 14: Scarecrow Press) This monograph series will publish volumes in two areas of scholarly research: Pietism and Methodism (broadly understood). The focus will be Pietism, its history and development, and the influence of this socioreligious tradition in modern culture, especially within the Wesleyan religious traditions.

Consideration will be given to scholarly works on classical and neoPietism, on English and American Methodism, as well as on the social and ecclesiastical institutions shaped by Pietism (e.g., Evangelicals. United Brethren, and the Pietist traditions among the Lutherans, Reformed, and Anabaptists). Works focusing on leaders within the Pietist and Wesleyan traditions will also be included in the series, as well as occasional translations and/or editions of Pietist texts. It is anticipated that the monographs will emphasize theological developments, but with close attention to the interaction of Pietism with other cultural forces and to the sociocultural identity of the Pietist and Wesleyan movements.

1. Gregory S. Clapper, John Wesley on Religious Affections. 1989.
2. Peter Erb, Gottfried Arnold. 1989.
3. Henry H. Knight III, The Presence of God in the Christian Life:  John Wesley and the Means of Grace. 1992.
4. Frank D. Macchia, Spirituality and Social Liberation: The Message of the Blumhardts in the Light of Wuerttemberg Pietism. 1993.
5. Richard B. Steele, "Gracious Affection" and "True Virtue" according to Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley. 1994.
6. Stephen L. Longenecker, Piety and Tolerance: Pennsylvania German Religion, 1700‑1850. 1994.
7. J. Steven O'Malley, Early German‑American Evangelicalism: Pietist Sources on Discipleship and Sanctification. 1995.
8. R. David Rightmire, Salvationist Samurai: Gunpei Yamamuro and the Rise of the Salvation Army in Japan. 1997.
9. Simon Ross Valentine, John Bennet and the Origins of Methodism  and the Evangelical Revival in England. 1997.
10. Tore Meistad, Martin Luther and John Wesley on the Sermon on  the Mount. 1999.
11. Robert C. Monk, John Wesley: His Puritan Heritage. 1999.
12. Richard B. Steele, "Heart Religion" in the Methodist Tradition and Related Movements, 2001.
13. Diane Leclerc, Singleness of Heart, 2001.
14. Charles Yrigoyen, Jr., The Global Impact of the Wesleyan Traditions and Their Related Movements. 2002. 

The Wesleyan traditions of the eighteenth century and their related movements have had a global impact that has often been understated and underestimated. Charles Yrigoyen, Jr., presents a diverse collecpion of essays that document the Wesleyan traditions from founder John Wesley's preachings across Great Britain to his followers' spread of Methodist views throughout Latin America, Asia, Africa, Australia, bind Europe.

The Global Impact of the Wesleyan Traditions and Their Related Movements documents the influence of Methodist missionaries on peoples and religions throughout the world. The text is divided into three parts: part I includes four essays about basic missiological and methodological issues; part II includes fifteen essays that illuminate the global impact of the Wesleyan traditions and related movements an topics such as independent churches in Africa and the Hwa Nan college in China; and part III describes the resources for researching and extending the global impact of traditions of Wesley's works, such a‑s the Obras de Wesley (the Spanish version of Wesley's works) and the  valuable collection of Wesleyana and Methodistica materials at the John Rylands University Library in`Manchester, Great Britain.

Charles Yrigoyen, Jr., is general secretary for the General

Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church. He has taught on the subject of religion at both Albright College and Union Theological Seminary and has authored and co‑authored several publications, including John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life (1996). He is on the board of directors of the Wesley Works Editorial Project.

In his journal entry for 11 June 1739 John Wesley (1703‑1791) quoted from a letter he had written earlier to a friend, "I look upon all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare unto all that are willing to hear the glad tidings of salvation. This is the work which I know God has called me to. And sure I am, that his blessing attends it."` Wesley's followers have been fond of quoting this passage to justify their commitment to mission work around the world even though their founder, who recognized the importance of missionary work, was somewhat reluctant to encourage his Methodist followers to engage far‑flung missionary endeavors.

Wesley was raised in a family which highly regarded missionary work. His grandfather, John Wesley (or Westley), planned to go to the Dutch East Indies as a missionary, but family circumstances did not permit it. Samuel Wesley (1666‑1735), John's father, offered to enter missionary service, but his desire, too, was thwarted. John's mother, Susanna, possessed an intense interest in missions and taught her children weekly about the importance of mission work for the spread of the faith. In the Epworth rectory Samuel and Susanna planted positive ideas in John Wesley and his siblings about the importance of spreading the Gospel to other nations and cultures.

It is not surprising that Wesley himself became a missionary when, as a young priest of the Church of England, he ventured to the colony of Georgia in America in 1736. His ministry there among the settlers and Native Americans, however, did not bear the fruit he expected. Furthermore, the collapse of his romance with Sophia Christiana Hopkey, a young parishioner, led to his return to England in 1738. It appeared that his missionary effort was a complete failure.

 

Upon his return to London, Wesley maintained close friendships among the Moravians which had begun in America and under their tutelage he had a transforming religious experience on 24 May 1738 in a meeting on Aldersgatc Street. The following year his friend George Whitefield (1714‑1770) persuaded Wesley to take the radical step of proclaiming the Gospel message in the outdoors. In the months and years that followed, his preaching in churches, fields, and wherever else hearers could be gathered, was received eagerly by many who were ready to respond to God's call. Sensing the necessity to provide for the nurture of these changed lives, Wesley organized them into Methodist societies, which later were composed of smaller groups called classes.

As Wesley preached across England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland his Methodist societies grew. In spite of opposition from ecclesiastical leaders who disliked his evangelical message and strategies, and others who despised his plain speaking about sin and his call for repentance, Methodism became a lively force in British and Irish life. By the time of his death, there were more than 72,000 members in Methodist societies in his British Methodist Conference. His preachers, mostly laypeople, were organized in a "connexion with Mr. Wesley" and met annually "in conference" to discuss doctrine, devise evangelical plans, and assign preachers to the various Methodist meeting places. They were not a church. Methodists were Anglicans who attended their parish churches for worship and to receive the sacraments, but who also attended the weekly gatherings of their societies and classes. They lived by "General Rules" which guided their daily living and which exhorted them to avoid evil of every kind and to do good to all they met.

By 1760 some of Wesley's followers had migrated to America. In 1766 Methodists began to organize in the New World. Among the early leaders were Robert Strawbridge (c.1732‑1781) in Maryland, and Philip Embury (1728­c.1773) and Barbara Heck (1734‑1804) in New York. As the Methodist movement grew in America, Wesley dispatched missionary lay preachers in 1769,1771, and 1773 to assist with its organization and nurture. One of these was Francis Asbury (1745‑1816), the premier leader of early American Methodism. By 1791, the year of Wesley's death, the American Methodists numbered more than 64,000 members.

Wesley allowed his American followers to form the first Methodist "church" in the world in December 1784 when their preachers met in Baltimore, Maryland. When his attempts failed to have his preachers for America ordained by an Anglican bishop, Wesley ordained two of them himself, Richard Whatcoat (1736‑1806) and Thomas Vasey (c.1746-1826) and dispatched them to America with Thomas Coke (1747‑1814) whom Wesley appointed Superintendent of the American work. Their orders were to form a Methodist church, ordain preachers in America for the new body, introduce a book of worship (supplied by Wesley), begin the administration of the sacraments, and make Francis Asbury coSuperintendent with Coke. After Wesley's death British Methodists also organized into a church.

Both American and British Methodism became convinced that their unique understanding and practice of the Christian faith must be shared with people in other lands and cultures. In the first half of the nineteenth century, inspired by the`leadership of many women and men who ventured off to other lands with the Gospel message, the Methodist churches formed effective missionary societies to spearhead their efforts. This history has been well studied and documented in a number of places. The essays in this volume provide further evidence.

It is clear from the essays that follow that there is not a single Wesleyan tradition in the world today, but a number of Wesleyan traditions which trace their origins to the movement begun by John Wesley and his brother Charles (1707­1788) in the eighteenth century. As Wesleyanism has developed in different eras, nations, and cultures, variations of it have appeared. Furthermore, there are some movements and churches which originated in and developed from other traditions in addition to that which is identified as "Methodist." For example, the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, founded by Philip William Otterbein (1726‑1813) and Martin Boehm (1725‑1812), was influenced by Reformed and Anabaptist theology as well as Wesleyanism. Also, the Evangelical Association, foundedby Jacob Albright (1759­1808), reflects aspects of Lutheran and radical Pietist influence, alongside Methodism. Recognizing these facts, we title this volume, The Global Impact of the Wesleyan Traditions and Their Related Movements.

This volume is divided into three sections. Part I includes four essays which deal with basic missiological and methodological issues. Part II contains fifteen essays which illuminate the impact of the Wesleyan traditions and their related movements on specific areas of the globe: Latin America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Part III describes resources for researching and extending the global impact of the traditions, namely, Las Obras de Wesley, the Spanish edition of Wesley's published works, and the valuable collection of Wesleyana and Methodistica at the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, England.

 

At the outset of Part I, Donald Dayton (chapter 1) writes about the important global influence of Wesleyan and Methodist ideas and practices. He reminds us of the variety and complexity of the forms and ecclesiastical institutions which trace their origins to the Wesleyan movement of the eighteenth century. These include not only the traditional Methodist "churches," but movements such as the Oneida community of John Humphrey Noyes and Charles G. Finney's "Oberlin perfectionism." There are also diverse manifestations of the Holiness Movement, Pentecostalism, and a number of indigenous churches which have Wesleyan/Methodist roots. Dayton urges us to consider the global nature of Wesleyanism and the complexity of the Wesleyan traditions in today's world.

David Bundy's essay (chapter 2) speaks of a "Pauline mission" philosophy. He illustrates this approach to the spread of Wesleyanism by describing the ministry of the American missionary William Taylor (1821‑1902) whose work was entrepreneurial, transcended national, racial, and gender barriers, and respected Christian converts as equal before God and each other. Taylor's plan aimed at mission work which wouldbecome self‑supporting, self‑governing, and self-­propagating. This mission strategy influenced Methodist, Holiness, and Pentecostal mission work.

Andrew Walls (chapter 3) identifies British Methodist Richard Watson (1781‑1833) as a key figure in the development of early Methodist, and even broader Protestant, mission philosophy. Watson's ideas about missions took place during the transitional period between Wesley and the earlier years of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society which was formed in 1818. His views were especially important in developing missionary engagement with Africa and were characterized by his hatred of African slavery. Watson advocated the Methodist proclamation of salvation through Christ which leads to practical holiness.

Robert Danielson (chapter 4) writes about the issue of enculturation in missiology with special attention to the role of the sacraments. He points to the highly symbolic nature of food to the world's peoples and raises the question of the relevance of the elements of bread and wine for Africans and Asians in the celebration of the Eucharist. While Danielson finds that bread and the fruit of the vine are critical as eucharistic elements for the universal church, he believes that the traditional Methodist love feast may effectively use indigenous food elements. He suggests that employing both the eucharist (with bread and fruit of the vine) and the love feast (employing indigenous food) in this way may provide a means for maintaining the church's universality and providing a viable means of bridging cultural gaps.

Part II opens with an essay (chapter 5) by Jose Miguez Bonino, the Latin American Methodist theologian, which begins with a brief exploration of John Wesley's ecclesiology. Bonino then turns to a consideration of the challenge faced by Methodists and other Protestants in Latin America in their relationships with the Roman Catholic Church and their possible cooperation with each other. He believes that Wesley's approach to evangelization, organization, community, discipline, and social concern may be creatively employed in the circumstances of Latin America as well as other parts of the world.

David K. Yemba (chapter 6) reminds us of the diversity of African life and speaks about external and internal challenges faced by the African peoples. In this context the Wesleyan/Methodist community in Africa has grown rapidly, especially in the last fifty years. The Wesleyan tradition has significantly contributed to the ecumenical movement, not only in Africa, but in the world. The connectional polity of some of the Wesleyan churches has inspired the process of church union.

The focus of Robert Kipkemoi Lang'at (chapter 7) is the Holiness Movement in Africa. He asserts that the Wesleyan doctrine of holiness was critical in the origins of evangelical Christianity in Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Wesleyan holiness also influenced mission work which would ordinarily be considered outside the normal Wesleyan fold. He concludes that much more research needs to be done to fully appreciate the impact of holiness teaching on the African peoples.

Joan A. Millard (chapter 8) examines a few African churches which had their origins in Methodism. Those which separated from Methodism did not usually do so for doctrinal reasons. Schisms were caused by authority, governance, and financial issues. Most of the independent churches which have historic Methodist roots would like to participate in a fellowship with other "Methodists," but do not want to surrender their independence. Millard suggests that such an organization might be profitably formed.

Consideration of the Asian context begins with the essay by J. Steven O'Malley (chapter 9). He shows that the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB), which united with The Methodist Church in 1968 to form The United Methodist Church, had important mission work in both China and Japan. Predecessor EUB bodies, the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical Church, as well as EUB itself, developed strategies which included the cultivation of indigenous leadership and ecumenical relationships. This plan has made a major contribution to the mission heritage of The United Methodist Church.

Hwa Nan College, a project of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church is the subject of the essay by Laura A. Bartels (chapter 10). She describes the origins and development of this Chinese women's school and its objective to evangelize and liberate women. Hwa Nan sought to give women knowledge and skills to improve traditional home life as well as fostering women's economic independence.

The Immanuel General Mission, a Japanese indigenous holiness church, is the focus of Kiyoshi Nathanael Kunishige's essay (chapter 11). Kunishige shows how this denomination, drawing upon Wesleyan and Holiness teaching, has paid significant attention to the theology of John Wesley, especially Christian perfection, though there is still a preference for understanding Wesley in a Pentecostal fashion. The author believes that an emphasis on sanctification will advance Japanese understanding of, and sentiment for, Christianity in their nation.

Chongnahm (John) Cho (chapter 12) turns our attention to Korea. He is convinced that John Wesley's approach to evangelism and social reform has much to teach the Korean Wesleyan/Methodist community. Cho expresses two major concerns. First, the Korean church has lost its evangelical zeal. Second, it needs to reconsider the Wesleyan emphasis on Christian nurture and social action, both essentials in Wesley's ministry.

Hyun Seok (Joseph) Kim (chapter 13) explores the common features of Christian holiness and ecology. He recognizes that the Christian must be concerned not only with a relationship with God and neighbor, but also with nature since God has created the natural world and has placed the human community in the natural world. Kim finds that John Wesley's theology may be helpful in formulating a "cosmic holiness," especially when we consider Wesley's vision of a "new creation."

The Great Revival of 1907 in Korea is the subject of Myung Soo Park (chapter 14). It was the result of other evangelical holiness revivals of the period. Both Wesleyan holiness and Keswick movements, in England and the United States, were influential in its origin and development. Presbyterians and Methodists were important personalities in its leadership. The Great Revival had an immediate and lasting impact on the history of Christianity in Korea.

Another view of Korean church history is offered by Hong‑ki Kim (chapter 15). He is concerned to identify the heart of John Wesley's theology as justification and sanctification, with special attention to the latter. Kim divides Korean Wesleyan/Methodist church history into five periods. In his judgment the healthiest eras are those which combine individual and social salvation, personal and social holiness. His essay closes with five concrete suggestions which would strengthen the theology, ministry, and mission of the Korean church.

How can the ministry of a person in one nation, who never left his homeland, influence for generations the lives of many others in another nation for generations? That is the question Daryl H. Lightfoot (chapter 16) seeks to answer. Thomas Collins, who never set foot on Australian soil, deeply touched the lives of many of his parishioners who migrated to New South Wales. Collins, a Methodist preacher who utilized "conversational evangelism," affected the course of Methodism to an extent that remains today in the Uniting Church in Australia.

Michel Weyer (chapter 17) offers an analysis of the early German assessments of Wesley and his Methodist movement. Weyer cites a number of German periodical and book‑length judgments on the nature and purpose of Methodism. Some writers were quite severe in their judgments, e.g., G. F. A. Wendeborn and A. H. Niemeyer. Others were sympathetic, such as J. G. Burckhardt's monograph, Complete History of Methodism in England (1795). Weyer observes that the impact of Wesleyanism among Germans has been limited, although some of its accents and methods have been adopted by Europe's established churches.

John William Fletcher, one of the outstanding leaders of the early Methodist movement in England, is the subject of the essay by Timothy M. Salo (chapter 18). Fletcher was especially distinguished for his theological writings, saintly life, and effective ministry. His two trips to Switzerland qualify him to be recognized as the first Methodist Missionary outside the English­speaking world, the first such missionary to Europe, and, therefore, the first to the "cradle of the Swiss Reformers." Salo contends that Fletcher offers us a paradigm for the global impact of Wesleyanism.

W. Harrison Daniel (chapter 19) writes about Wilhelm Nast, the founder of German‑speaking Methodism in North America and the architect of Methodist mission work in Germany. Nast translated into German important writings of John Wesley as well as other significant Methodist documents, edited the Methodist periodical Der Christiiche Apologete, and was the key figure in German Methodist mission work in the nineteenth century. Much of the Methodist work on the Continent subsequently bore the mark of Nast's German mission work.

Part III considers resources for the theme of this volume. Las Obras de Wesley (1996‑1998) is the publication project which makes available the major writings of John Wesley in Spanish. L. Elbert Wethington (chapter 20) describes the need for this edition, the challenge of completing it, and the grateful responses of those now using it. He judges that the edition is a valuable theological resource for those of the Wesleyan tradition in Latin America to understand their roots and those who share the tradition with them.

Among the richest repositories of Wesleyan and Methodist primary source materials is the Methodist Archives and Research Centre at the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, England. Gareth Lloyd (chapter 21) ofers a description of some of the documentary treasures in this archive and mentions how the collections may be accessed.

Reading the Bible in Wesleyan Ways: Some Constructive Proposals by Barry L. Callen, Richard P. Thompson (Beacon Hill Press) Reading the Bible in Wesleyan Ways is comprised of significant essays by outstanding scholars. They represent and address the Wesleyan theological tradition and convey insights vital for today's Bible readers regardless of their denomination or tradition. The twelve essays of this collection are grouped under two categories, "Foundations for Interpretation" and "Frontiers for Interpretation."

The authors address Wesleyan ways of reading the Bible that:

• focus on the ministry of the Spirit of Christ to illuminate the present significance of the text

• recognize the role of the faith community as the crucial location of Scripture's meaning and present significance

• highlight the importance of spiritual maturity and unity with other believers in the pursuit of God's live

Reading the Bible in Wesleyan Ways intends to serve the Spirit-listening resolve and skill of pastors and of students and teachers in colleges and seminaries. This intention is much like John Wesley's prefatory comment to his Ex­planatory Notes upon the Old Testament: "But it is not part of my design, to save either learned or unlearned men from the trouble of thinking...  On the contrary, my intention is, to make them think, and assist them in thinking. This is the way to understand the things of God." To assist the present generation of Bible readers with the necessary thinking, the editors have assembled a group of significant essays by outstanding biblical scholars and theologians who both represent and address the Wesleyan theological tradition in particular and convey insights vital for today's Bible readers who are formed in any tradition of the faith.

The essays are grouped under two categories, Founda­tions for Interpretation and Frontiers for Interpretation. Within the first cat­egory, one encounters essays addressing issues such as the Scripture principle, a trinitarian perspective, a call to "retribalize," a con­cept of inspired imagination, and a suggested pattern of interpretative balance. Each of these essays supplements the others and helps to form broad perspective on Wesleyan ways of Bible reading.

Because of the relational character involved in the foundations of biblical interpretation, there are vital frontiers of such foundations that are still taking shape. With the "enlightenment experiment" in serious decay and a major struggle now going on in the evangelical community over issues of biblical interpretation, how can Scripture's central role among Wesleyan and other Bible readers be clarified and enhanced in a postmodern time?  The second part addresses an adequate reading strategies require that the church commit to serious conversation involving the biblical text. Gender exclusion from any dimensions of this process must cease. All voices are to be included in the conversation as both the past and future meanings of God's revelation as pursued in our time.

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