Preface to the Second Edition
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
S INCE this study of Susanna Wesley was first published in 1968, there have been considerable changes in the life of the Methodist Church, and marked advances in Wesley
Studies. Not least among these changes has been the enhanced role of women in the ministry of the Church. At the 1974 British Methodist Conference, the first women presbyters were ordained, and they and their successors have since made a notable contribution to the life of the Church.
_ Again, the last thirty-four years have seen a great increase in women's scholarly writings—in theology, biblical studies, ethics, philosophy of religion, church history, and spirituality.
We may be confident that Susanna Wesley would have rejoiced to see both these developments. She herself was unusually wellread in theology, and had gifts as pastor, educator, and spiritual guide which were to have a formative influence on all her children, and notably on her two distinguished sons, John and Charles. In many ways, she is an icon of women's ministry.
The revised and expanded bibliography in the present work attests the growth in the amount of published work—both popular and scholarly—that has recently been devoted to Susanna. Students of her life and work are particularly indebted to an American scholar, Professor Charles Wallace Jr., who in 1997 published Susanna Wesley: The Complete Writings
(Oxford University Press). This invaluable volume makes available much material previously accessible only in manuscript
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
form, and brings together for the first time all Susanna's letters, journals, educational, catechetical and controversial writings.
Professor Wallace rightly observes, in his Preface, that, 'Given the keen interest in recovering women's voices in the history of both church and society, the time is ripe for a careful presentation of the work of Susanna Wesley'. I would also strongly endorse his contention that Susanna "deserves to be regarded not just as the mother of the founders of Methodism but also as a fascinating figure in her own right, a woman enmeshed in and yet pushing against many of the patriarchal constraints of early eighteenth-century church and society'.
My hope is that the republication of this biography of Susanna may serve to encourage the growing interest in an outstanding Christian woman, who began life as a Puritan
Nonconformist, became an Anglican, and finally joined "The People called Methodists'.
JOHN A. NEWTON
Bristol, November 2001 :