Wesley, John Books

Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living

Reuben P. Job

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Three Simple Rules 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This is a wonderful little hardcover volume which, if implemented, will revolutionize your life. John Wesley espoused three simple rules: Do No Harm, Do Good, and Stay in Love with God. Though these rules sound amazingly simple - and they are - yet to actually practice them may indeed be the hardest thing you've ever done. This small book shows how difficult the instructions of Jesus (and Wesley) can be in real life, and yet how rewarding they can also be both in this life and in the life to come, if we simply take them to heart.

The main point is to stay in love with God. If we do this, the rest will follow. As Bishop Job says, "Holy living will not be discovered, achieved, continued, and sustained without staying in love with God. And while staying in love with God involves prayer worship, study, and the Lord's Supper, it also involves feeding the lambs, tending the sheep, and providing for the needs of others (John 21:15-16). Feeding the lambs and tending the sheep are the signs of love that we exchange with God. And they are signs of the love that the world can understand. Spiritual disciplines not only include practices that bind us to God every day but they also include actions that heal the pain, injustice, and inequality of our world. It is impossible to stay in love with God and not desire to see God's goodness and grace shared with the entire world." (p. 58).

This inexpensive little volume, taken seriously by the Church of Jesus, could well ignite a holy reality that burns hot with the fire of God in our day.

The New Creation: John Wesley's Theology Today

Theodore Runyon

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Wonderful! 5 out of 5 stars.
21 of 24 people found this review helpful.

This is an invaluable book for anyone who is serious about learning Methodist doctrine. Dr. Runyon provides a clear exposition of John Wesley's and the Church's understanding of critical theological views such as justification, salvation and sanctification. For those who question the once-saved-always-saved theology and are searching for assurance, this book is a must read. It also provides a true picture of what the Church of Jesus Christ should look like.

Definative! 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the definative study of the theology of John Wesley currently in print. Runyon's treatment of Wesley's soteriology is thorough and balanced, but offers wise reflections on the meaning of Wesley's thought for Methodists and Wesleyans of today. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the theological foundations of the people called Methodists.

21st Century Emergent Wesley 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Systematic Theology Professor Theodore Runyon offers a final 20th century look while proposing an initial 21st century glance at John Wesley with his 1998 book "The New Creation". In 270 pages, with six instructive chapters, he reviews Wesley's theologies of God's creation, renewal of the Image of God, transforming grace, the means of grace, the religious experience, and John Wesley's emerging 21st century use.

Runyon begins his discussion with a re-statement of the via salutis (the way of salvation). He properly understands that holiness is the final "trusting...mark [which] is created in our hearts by... action of God" (page 55). The following chapters then discuss each aspect of the via with regards to God's saving activity through grace (regeneration, transformation, sanctification, perfection, etc.). The author identifies Wesley's most popular ("Means of Grace", chapter 4) and most controversial ("Entire Sanctification", pages 91-101) doctrines and analyses each with precision.

Professor Runyon helpfully reviews Wesley's objections to the ancient mystics, his quarrel with the "antinomians" (the save by grace alone crowd), his confrontation with "quietism" ("holiness is not an avoidance of the world but a challenge to it", page 113), and his life-long argument with predestinarianism. Readers learn that Wesley "affirmed infant baptism and even baptismal regeneration" (page 140). He understands that Christian experience is "the medium through which reality is transmitted" which is founded in orthodoxy (right belief), orthopraxy (right practice) and orthopathy (right feeling). Runyon correctly suggests that for Mr. Wesley "Scripture remains the standard by which feelings are to judged" (page 154).

Runyon's text is 21st century emergent Wesleyan theology. His scholarship is unmistakable (with 24 pages of authoritative endnotes and eight pages of selected bibliography). This text is recommended to all members of the Wesleyan family (Methodists, Pentecostals, Nazarenes, Free Will Baptists, etc.).

John Wesley's Sermons: An Anthology

John Wesley, Albert Cook Outler

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Look into the Mind and Theology of John Wesley 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

The book contains 50 of John Wesley's sermons, all reflecting a door into the mind and theology of John Wesley. The book is edited by one of the late great minds of Wesleyanism, Albert Outler. I found the book to be very rewarding, allowing me to experience and have a deeper appreciation for John Wesley's theology, which to a large degree has been debated because of Wesley's different stands on certain issue's through out his life.
The sermons that Outler & Heitzenrater have selected for this book, allow the reader to know the heart of John Wesley, which Wesley expressed through out his life, and it allows the reader to have a grasp on John Wesley's theology as it grew through out his life time. The way that Outler and Heitzenrater do this, is by compiling the sermons of John Wesley in a chronological order allowing the reader to flow through one sermon to the next, and see John Wesley's theology unfold from a young man to a old man, kind of like unfolding a neatly rapped package with ribbon and bow. Finally near the end, in one of John Wesley's sermons entitled "On the Wedding Garment," we see Wesley restating his beliefs that he has held firm to since a young man, and this sermon is written a year before his death. I gave this book five stars, because of how the book of sermons was compiled and laid out, causing any Wesley reader or fan to desire the next sermon in order to see the evolution of Wesley's theology and his firm beliefs.

The Theology of John Wesley: Holy Love and the Shape of Grace

Kenneth J. Collins

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An important achievement 5 out of 5 stars.
17 of 17 people found this review helpful.

The problem and importance of creating a Theology of John Wesley is that Wesley left us no Systematic Theology to study. His theology is found in his sermons, letters, notes and various treatises'. The present work succeeds is organizing Wesley's views on various topics in a useful manner. In such an endeavor, the bias of the writer must be viewed and weighed against the source material from which the writer draws his material. Fortunately, Wesley's writings are all readily available and delightful to read such that students will enjoy studying the source material along with this important book.

It is important, in my opinion that any student wishing to understand Wesley should not rely on a book such as this regardless of its qualities. Rather, "The Theology of John Wesley" should serve as a guide to Wesley's writings and be read alongside of them rather than in their stead. Wesley's concepts are quite fluid at times and evolved over time and a full understanding of Wesley can only come from reading the material first hand as it developed and evolved and in its historic context.

Unlike a systematic theology that seeks to define and answer all if not most theological issues, this is a book about John Wesley's theology which was more focussed and certainly not systematic or comprehensive. It is not, therefore, a substitute for the study of classic systematic theology. Wesley's goal in life was not to produce a systematic theology but to come to a personal understanding of God and our relationship to Him and as important, to save souls through preaching and creating a vehicle for evangelism called Methodism. Therefore, Wesley's theology was living, breathing, theoretical and applied whose singular thrust was for salvation of all.

Dr. Collins writes lucidly and I believe he fairly interprets Wesley's viewpoints on the issues raised in the book. There are some areas that are not as clearly presented as we would expect in a systematic theology. An example is God's relationship to man and the Moral Law. The apparent lack of clarity may reflect Wesley more than Dr. Collins. Furthermore, the text does not always bring into discussion other theological views which may be in contrast or augment that of Wesley unless vital to Wesley's argument. An example is the discussion of how sin entered the world. The Augustine view of evil being the privation of good is an example. Wesley's assertion that Satan introduced sin into the world must be read in context of Augustine lest we fall into the trap of making God the author of Sin. The author's conclusion may better be stated: "that Satan and unregenerate man are depraved and the vehicles through which sin is worked out in creation." Satan, as a created being, is part of creation and therefore could not have created sin de novo. Regardless, the reader must remember that these are Wesley's views and should familiarize him/herself with the full repertoire of historical and current lines of thought.

I believe that the student wishing to understand Wesley will find this book an excellent teacher and guide, a resource to be read and reread as Wesley's original material is primarily studied.

I am glad that a solitary text cannot substitute for reading Wesley. It would be tragic and a great loss for students to miss the joy and blessing of reading Wesley.

Finally, Dr. Collins draws much from Wesley's great sermon "The Image of God" which is not available in all collections of Wesley's sermons and, to the best of my knowledge, not available on line. This one sermon, this gem, contains much Wesley was to offer. It is published in the "John Wesley's Sermons: An Anthology" edited by Outler.

Editorial Review:

This work carefully displays John Wesley's eighteenth century theology in its own distinct historical and social location, and then transitions to the twenty-first century through the introduction of contemporary issues.

Wesley and the People Called Methodists

Richard P. Heitzenrater

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The best single-volume biography of Welsey 5 out of 5 stars.
21 of 22 people found this review helpful.

Heitzenrater's book is the best single-volume work on Wesley. He has, in an accessible prose, documented Wesley's life and the foundations of the Methodist Movement better than anyone before him. It utilizes the sources that are the foundation of the older biographies, such as Wesley's journal. More importantly, however, it effectively utilizes nontraditional sources for understanding his life. He creatively and effectively uses Wesley's theological writings, the writings of contemporaries, and conference minutes to more fully tell Wesley's story.

Heitzenrater is the Albert C. Outler Chair of Wesleyan Studies at Duke Divinity School. He is widely recognized as the foremost expert on Wesley's life. He is also the current editor of the Works of Wesley; he has taken that role since Outler's death.

The Historical Roots of the Methodist People 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This book has to be on the list of the top twenty-five books on early Methodism and the lives of early Methodist's. However, the book has a particular dryness, and if one get past the dryness of the writing, this book is a must get for anyone wanting to explore the history of early Methodist's. Heitzenrater begins with John Wesley's impact on early Methodist's to the different rises of Methodism, the impact of Calvinism on early 18th century Methodist's, and how Methodism evolved through the development of different societies, classes, camp ground meetings and conferences which helped to secure Methodism into the social and religous fabric of British life. This book is great for anyone wishing to discover the roots of Methodism, becuase of it's rich historical details. Another great addition to the book, which helped to clear up the dryness of the reading, was the authors use of visual aids (great examples), and sidenotes of John Wesley's work. This book is a great historical door to the past, and a must read for anyone wishing to discover more about, "The people called Methodist."

John Wesley (Library of Protestant Thought)

John Wesley

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Immpeccable scholarly material 5 out of 5 stars.
17 of 17 people found this review helpful.

Outler has a thorough knowledge of Wesley's life, teachings, and impact. He does more than present a summary of that, but he gives insight as well. One of the greatest is of Wesley's grasp of both Protestant and Catholic theologies, that creates something new (or old, i.e. in the 'primitive' church).

A Must Have For Studying Wesleyan Theology 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

For those of us who follow in the footsteps of John Wesley in our theological heritage (mine being Arminian), I have grown to love the works of John Wesley. Sadly, much of what comes from the United Methodist Church here in the United States is liberal and very bias against John Wesley. Too often liberal Methodist try to either misrepresent the teachings of Wesley or they deny what he taught such as inerrancy.

That is why you need this book. While this book is a collection of the writings and teachings of Wesley, the book itself is a very indepth analysis of Wesley's teachings. In the book you will not only see his evangelical teachings such as justification by faith but also his Arminian teachings as well against the Calvinist of his day. Wesley's arguments can still be used today against Calvinism.

My only reason for not giving this a five star rating was that a short work such as this can-not cover John Wesley or his teachings. While this work tries to do so, it simply is not a full view of what Arminians, Wesleyans, or John Wesley himself truly believe. However, this is still a must read for every serious theological student.

Editorial Review:

A major figure in eighteenth-century Christianity, John Wesley sought to combine the essential elements of the Catholic and Evangelical traditions and to restore to the laity a vital role in church life. He began one of the most dynamic movements in the history of modern Protestantism, a movement which eventually produced the Methodist churches. This volume offers a representative selection of theological writings by Wesley and includes historically oriented introductions and footnotes which indicate Wesley's Anglican, patristic, and biblical sources.

Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit

Lovett H. Weems

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

an author ahead of his time 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I found Dr. Weems explanation of Wesleyan leadership incredibly on target for the needs this century is bringing us.

I was inspired and given a huge helping of food for thought. Ideas that I have never encountered in any other leadership or Wesleyan books. Plus its a fantastic source of interesting and powerful stories and illustrations.

Dr. Weems might be a leadership genius for our generation. One dissappointment I had was that he did get bogged down in an academic catch 22. But that was only once.

I strongly recommend this book for all leaders, secular and nonprofit organizations.

uncommonly good 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Lovett Weems has written a helpful book for leaders who have become frustrated with the authoritarian models of some traditional religious/business writers and/orthose who have become frustrated with the mantra of "if we just go back to...then it will be all right." One might suspect the later from the title of this book, but that is far from his approach. Weems shows that leadership in the Wesleyan spirit is not rote aplication of Wesleys writings and work to conemporary situations. He posits a hermeneutic move whereby we apply the broad general principles of the Wesleyan movement in the context of contemporary society. Generally useful to students of both leadership and Wesley studies. Highly reccomend

A Real Christian: The Life of John Wesley

Kenneth, J. Collins

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A book to make you think 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

I read with great interest this biography, hoping to get an overview of a famous man I knew little about. Kenneth Collins has worked hard to present not just the man with all his flaws and brilliance, but also his thinking and the impact it had on our world. In addition to triumphantly succeeding in these goals, Mr. Collins is an excellent writer and keeps the reader's interest. Days later I am still thinking over some of the points he made and evaluating my own life in light of John Wesley's. I highly recommend this book.

A Real Christian = A Real Biography 4 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Collins provides the reader with a wonderfully concise and through biography of John Wesley. Though Collins places significantly less attention on some of the prominent emphases of Wesley's theology, mainly the perfecting of holiness in the believer, and choosing instead to shift attention to Wesley's lesser (and more ambiguous) emphasis on being a "real Christian" in substitute, the author still maintains a historically intact overview of Wesley's theological journey. The reader should certainly approach this book as a biography as opposed to an exaustive treatment of Wesleyan theology. A rewarding read, I found Collins' style both engaging and informative.

The Works Of John Wesley (7 Vol Set)

John Wesley

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Great Investment of Your Time and Money 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great Value! These seven volumes are actually fourteen volumes, re-issued as seven, with two "volumes" in each book. These are nicely bound
If you contrast the content in these volumes with Christian books which are enjoying popularity today, you might wonder why you wasted your time on the popular stuff. Wesley changed the English-speaking world, especially the working class. His sermons are awesome. When you read his sermon "Against Evil Speaking," you may find yourself carefully guarding your tongue, and thoughts. Wesley's sermon against bigotry may help you become more tolerant of others -- this from the most prominent teacher and preacher of holiness in modern times.
You'll have to work at some of the reading, but it is well worth the effort. This set of books lends itself well to browsing. You don't have to read huge chunks at a sitting. There is a wide variety of writings in these volumes. You'll get more than your money's worth in pleasure and intellectual/spiritual profit
If you enjoy these books, you would probably enjoy William Wilberforce's "A Practical View of Christianity." Wesley's fans credit him and the Methodist movement (not today's United Methodist Church) with averting the kind of bloody revolution experienced by France. Wilberforce is rightly credited with bringing down slavery in Great Britain. Together, these English giants revived Christianity in the English-speaking world: relying upon the Bible, they showed Christians what God expects of us. If you compare them to the prophets of the Old Testament, you may be amazed at the success of these two Englishmen.

Editorial Review:

Wesley's journals, sermons, essays, interesting correspondence, linguistic works and other writings are compiled into these seven volumes.

John Wesley: Holiness of Heart & Life

Charles, Jr. Yrigoyen, Ruth A. Daugherty

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Rolling Over... 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is excellent for people like me...life-long methodists that need to learn how and why it all started. I would think John Wesley is rolling over in his grave at the current state of the methodist church.

A great Book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Was very useful for what I was doing, and I enjoyed the reading.

Good Reference 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Yrigoyen book provides a very personal touch to the huge figure which is Wesley. Great for beginners in Methodism and long-timers alike.

Virile Christianity 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

While the book lays out John Wesley's church structure that brought revival to England and North America in the 1700's. And it still works if you work it!

The book includes questions at the end of each chapter for discussion. It also includes a large study guide at the end which is more appropriate for high schoolers.

While it refers to the Methodist denomination many times, that denomination is in decline because they have abandoned the principles laid out in this book.