This volume offers new insights into the life and work of Charles Wesley (1707–88), one of the founders of Methodism. Celebrated as a hymnwriter, three of the volume’s essays discuss Wesley’s exploration of verse to encourage both individuals and the church to collectively seek ‘renewal’, analysing his use of symbolic language and the psychological responses that this engenders, and the complex history of the changing music to which his hymns are sung. With further focus on Wesley’s role as an evangelist and leader in the early years of the Evangelical Revival in Bristol, his role as a pastor is also discussed through his relationship with an eccentric contemporary, John Henderson (1757–88), who dabbled in the occult. The volume concludes with a detailed account of known portraits of Wesley, portraits that illustrated his status as one of history’s most consequential Methodists.
Зміст
Editorial
Clive Murray Norris
Charles Wesley’s Role in the Formative Early Years in Bristol, 1739-41
Gary Best
Songs of Renewal: The language of renewal in the hymns of Charles Wesley
Paul W. Chilcote
Charles Wesley and Archaic Symbolism
Pauline Watson
Music and Charles Wesley’s Legacy NB seven figures
Martin V. Clarke
Portraits of Charles Wesley (1707-88)
Peter S. Forsaith
‘From all the arts of hell secure’: Charles Wesley’s relationship to John Henderson (1757-88)
Jonathan Barry