. Such a discussion would involve an approach either through the question
Notes to Pages 140-58 2.
See also the introductory article "Wesley and the Theologies of Liberation" by Theodore Runyon in his-Sanctification and Liberation, esp. pp. 32ff.
But this change does not derive from Aldersgate, as some (for example, Hynson, To Reform the Nation, pp. 33-38) maintain, but rather it comes about as a result of a long process in the readjustment of Wesley's views, beginning some years before Aldersgate and continuing for about a decade following.
3; . One of the strengths of Semmel's discussion of Methodism is the way in which it connects the social impact of Wesley's views with the Arminian theology of Wesley.
. Although Wesley is in many ways the patron of an evangelical approach to theology, he was also quite critical of the so-called "Gospel preachers" of his own day for preaching a gospel without radical transformation. See, for example, Letter to Miss Bishop, Oct.
18, 1778, XIII:36; Letter on Preaching Christ, Dec. 20, 1751, X1:486-92; and Thoughts Concerning Gospel
Ministers, X:455-57.
. See Wesley's correlation of "roots" and "fruit" in "Upon Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, Discourse IV," V:305ff.
. This is the characteristic misinterpretation of E. P. Thompson; see his The Making of the English Working Class (New York: Random House, 1963.)
. So, for example, the early sermons "Scriptural Christianity," V:37-52; or "The Witness of Our Own Spirit," V:134-43.
. See "On Sin in Believers," V:144-55.
10. See his letter to his father of Dec. 10, 1734, cited in Journal, Mar. 28, 1739,
1:177-85.
To be sure, the early Wesley did emphasize personal transformation. It is one of the characteristics of Wesley's later sermons (those not in the "Standard Sermons") that there is much greater emphasis on the transformation of society. See, for example, the sermons on "The Foundation of City Road Chapel," "The General Spread of the Gospel," and "The Signs of the Times."
The development of an evangelical economics for our own time or an economics of the gospel is the subject of an important new work by M.
Douglas Meeks, God the Economist: The Doctrine of God and Political Economy (Minneapolis: Augsburg/Fortress, 1989).
1s 2; 8. Why Did Wesley Fail?
. Such a discussion would involve an approach either through the question of the general adequacy of Wesley's own method of biblical interpretation, a much discussed issue, or would involve a direct approach to the Bible, and in particular the NT, in order to inquire into the economic views either explicit or implicit in the texts. This last is, I think, the more fruitful approach, since Wesley wished to be held accountable to the Bible as the norm of his teaching.
. While it is the case that Wesley tended to think in terms of persons rather than in terms of social structures, this was true for his age in general. A reconsideration of evangelical economics for our time will have to take fresh insights concerning the character of human existence into account, just as Wesley was prepared to take into account the insights of the sciences of his own day in the development of his anthropological and cosmological categories.
Notes to Pages 187-211 IN OCS 0 te ee ee For Wesley's critique of these "gospel preachers" see "Thoughts _ Concerning Gospel Ministers," X:455-56, and "Letter on Preaching
Christ," XI:486-92.
; 3; . However, the ferment in lands where Marxism is the reigning ideology holds some promise of reversing these distortions. Unfortunately, in the West this ferment is usually evaluated in terms of greater reliance on private property and market forces rather than in terms of human dignity and care for the poor.
. See The Book of Discipline, 1988, paragraph 73.
. Itis true that Wesley launched a building campaign. He attempted, as we DM Or do not, to reduce the impact of this expense by insisting that churches be built as cheaply as possible. Still one of the reasons for the failure of Wesley to persuade Methodists of the main tenets of evangelical economics was the economic pressure of this acquisition of chapels.
. The sermon "The Almost Christian" (V:17-25) is an illustration of the worst of the tendency to use a couple of words from the NT to develop a theme that has nothing whatever to do with the text.
. One of the issues that is thought to be critical for our time is the alternative between State and private ownership of property, especially of the means of production. But as normally posed this is a false issue, since socialism no longer defines itself in terms of the state ownership of the means of production (see Cort, Christian Socialism), nor is capitalism typically defined as the untrammeled rights of private property. The question really becomes that of the appropriate mix, given existing conditions, of state ownership (as in the Post Office), public ownership by the society as a whole
(as in some utilities), regulated monopolies (as in communications), worker ownership, public corporations, and individual and family ownership, to mention only some of the possible elements. But appropriate to what?
Whatare the ends to be accomplished by this mix of elements? It is with this latter question that an evangelical economics is mainly concerned. While most ethical systems take the question of justice seriously, a Wesleyan social ethic will be found in the company of those who take solidarity with the poor and commitment to the welfare of the most vulnerable members of society as the most important test of social (and personal) justice in the economic sphere.
. See, for example, the sermon "On the General Spread of the Gospel."
. Especially in his We Drink from Our Own Wells. Indeed, it is also recognized by Tomas Borgé; see Christianity and Revolution: Tomas Borgé's Theology of Life, ed. Andrew Reding (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1987).
Appendix: Wesley on Politics . That Methodism after the death of Wesley emphasized loyalty to the Crown in a way that distorted Wesley's own political views is a point ably made by Warner, who speaks of the Methodists as priding themselves on their political "docility" (The Wesleyan Movement in the Industrial Revolution, pp. 130-31).
. Certaine Sermons and Homilies. All page numbers refer to the above cited edition.
. For Wesley's remarks both on this and on the new government of the former colonies, see the sermon "Of Former Times," VII:165.
. Semmel (The Methodist Revolution, pp. 56-81) provides a good background
Notes to Pages 214-22 discussion of the ferment in England, though his account is somewhat marred by a one-sided presentation of Wesley's response. The discussion of that response is more balanced in Warner (The Wesleyan Movement in the Industrial Revolution, pp. 73-135).
One of the deficiencies of Semmel's discussion of Wesley's attitudes toward the prospect of rebellion is that he seems to be unaware of Wesley's sympathy with a protest against manifest injustice and fails to understand that Wesley's fear of mob rule was based not on antipathy to popular movements but on painful experience with mobs aroused by the wealthy and powerful to further their own ends against the Methodists.
Charles A. Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United
States (1913; reprinted New York: Free Press, 1986).
. Wesley's reference to civil liberty with respect to property is not to be understood as denying the view of stewardship and community of goods, which he was defending in other contexts at the same time. He is accepting the frame of reference of his opponents, which emphasizes human liberty in these ways, but in order to show that they have all they can ask for already. This does not mean that Wesley thought nothing of the security of life and home, which was at the heart of civil liberty. One should not be deprived of these things without due process of law. But this was, for Wesley, adequately guaranteed by the existing constitution. Interestingly, he refuses to answer the hypothetical question: But what if things change?
What if the constitution proves to be an inadequate safeguard? For Wesley, it was enough that for now there was no ground for complaint. He was, in this as in other matters, not a theoretician but a thoroughly practical thinker, with all the limits—and strengths that implies.
. In many respects my conclusions are in material agreement with those of Hynson with respect to Wesley's support for human rights. There are, however, differences, not only in the way of arriving at these conclusions, but also with respect to significant nuances in evaluating Wesley's position.
Although Hynson does emphasize the support given by Wesley to the idea of liberty, he does not adequately distinguish between what for Wesley is fundamental (freedom of conscience) and the less well developed view of civil liberty. Even more important, he does not seem to realize the place that the criterion of the poor plays in Wesley's thought generally, including
Wesley's political thought.
Another of the defects of Hynson's view of Wesley on human rights is that he seems to be unaware of the way in which talk of liberty and rights does regularly mask these interests. In this, Wesley is more "contemporary" than many of his interpreters.
It is noteworthy that Methodist theologians have played a significant role in the development of such a theology of liberation. The development of libertation theology owes much to José Miguez Bonino, especially Doing
Theology in a Revolutionary Situation and Toward a Christian Political Ethic (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983). Among the younger theologians, we should mention Elsa Tamez, Bible of the Oppressed (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis
Books, 1982); the collection of essays edited by Tamez and Saul Trinidad, Capitalismo: Violencia y anti-vida: La opresién de las mayorias la domesticacién do los dioses (San José, Costa Rica: CSUSA, 1978); and Victorio Araya, God of 10. the Poor (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1987). Essays by these and other
Methodist theologians of liberation, like Emilio Castro and Mortimer Arias, are found in La tradici6n protestante en la teologia latinoameriwcana:
Note to Page 222 Primer intento: La lectura de la tradicién metodista, ed. José Duqué (San José,
Costa Rica: DEI, 1983). Many of these essays are available in translation in Faith Born in the Struggle for Life, ed. Dow Kirkpatrick (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1988).
These contributions are based on a long, though often obscured, tradition of Latin American Methodism. Methodist participation in the revolution of Mexico has been demonstrated by Jean-Pierre Bastien in Protestantismo sociedad en México (México City: CUPSA, 1983); and in Los
Disidentes: sociedadoes protestantes y revoluci6n en México 1872-1911 (México City: El Colegio de México, 1989). And the role of the Methodist preacher and revolutionary Rubén Jaramillo in the middle decades of this century are well known to all but Methodists in Mexico; see Rubén Jaramillo,
Autobiografia y asesinato (México City: Nuestro Tiempo, 1967).
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Good News to the Poor This provocative volume illuminates a dimension of John Wesley's theology that has received insufficient attention: His deep and abiding commitment to the poor. By focusing on the radical nature of Wesley's "evangelical economics,"
Theodore W.
Jennings, Jr., provides an important corrective to the view that Wesley was concerned with the salvation of souls only, and not also with the social conditions of human beings.
"This book enabled me to see Wesley ina new light .
. [it] opened up a side of Wesley that I have read about but have not appreciat- . [and] enabled me to .
. appreciate his significance for the Third World situation."
—United Methodist Bishop Emerito P. Nacpil Philippines Central Conference Manila Episcopal Area "Through careful analysis and abundant quotation, Jennings's Wesley raises the question whether present-day Methodism can rightfully claim the name of Wesley—or, perhaps, even the name of Jesus Christ. The radical economic claims of the gospel that Wesley preached and practiced come alive in these pages. Absolutely tequired reading for all Methodists!"
—Justo L. Gonzalez, Visiting Professor of Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary and the author of Mafana: Theology from a :
Hispanic Perspective (Abingdon Press) THEODORE W. JENNINGS, JR., author of The Liturgy of |
Liberation published by Abingdon Press, recently taught at the Evangelical Methodist Rebbe: in Mexico City.
Abingdon Press ae er Y 9 178068711155286