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The Wesleyan Enlightenment View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by K-State Research Exchange The Wesleyan Enlightenment: Closing the gap between heart religion and reason in Eighteenth Century England by Timothy Wayne Holgerson B.M.E., Oral Roberts University, 1984 M.M.E., Wichita State University, 1986 M.A., Asbury Theological Seminary, 1999 M.A., Kansas State University, 2011 AN ABSTRACT OF A DISSERTATION submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2017 Abstract John Wesley (1703-1791) was an Anglican priest who became the leader of Wesleyan Methodism, a renewal movement within the Church of England that began in the late 1730s. Although Wesley was not isolated from his enlightened age, historians of the Enlightenment and theologians of John Wesley have only recently begun to consider Wesley in the historical context of the Enlightenment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between a man, John Wesley, and an intellectual movement, the Enlightenment. As a comparative history, this study will analyze the juxtaposition of two historiographies, Wesley studies and Enlightenment studies. Surprisingly, Wesley scholars did not study John Wesley as an important theologian until the mid-1960s. Moreover, because social historians in the 1970s began to explore the unique ways people experienced the Enlightenment in different local, regional and national contexts, the plausibility of an English Enlightenment emerged for the first time in the early 1980s. As a result, in the late 1980s, scholars began to integrate the study of John Wesley and the Enlightenment. In other words, historians and theologians began to consider Wesley as a serious thinker in the context of an English Enlightenment that was not hostile to Christianity. From a review of the historical literature, this dissertation details six links that scholars have introduced in their study of Wesley’s relation to the Enlightenment. However, the review also reveals two problems, one obstacle and one omission, that hinder new innovation and further study. Therefore, as a solution, this study introduces five lenses adapted from the recent scholarship of four historians and one historical theologian that provide new vantage points for considering the enlightenment of Wesley and Wesleyan Methodists, which together form the Wesleyan Enlightenment. Finally, based on the evidence gathered by using these new lenses, this study argues that because Wesley not only engaged the Enlightenment, but also addressed the spiritual needs and practical concerns of Wesleyan Methodists for more than fifty years in what he referred to as an enlightened age, John Wesley was a central figure in the eighteenth- century English Enlightenment. The Wesleyan Enlightenment: Closing the gap between heart religion and reason in Eighteenth Century England by Timothy Wayne Holgerson B.M.E., Oral Roberts University, 1984 M.M.E., Wichita State University, 1986 M.A., Asbury Theological Seminary, 1999 M.A., Kansas State University, 2011 A DISSERTATION submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2017 Approved by: Major Professor Robert D. Linder Copyright © Timothy Holgerson 2017. Abstract John Wesley (1703-1791) was an Anglican priest who became the leader of Wesleyan Methodism, a renewal movement within the Church of England that began in the late 1730s. Although Wesley was not isolated from his enlightened age, historians of the Enlightenment and theologians of John Wesley have only recently begun to consider Wesley in the historical context of the Enlightenment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between a man, John Wesley, and an intellectual movement, the Enlightenment. As a comparative history, this study will analyze the juxtaposition of two historiographies, Wesley studies and Enlightenment studies. Surprisingly, Wesley scholars did not study John Wesley as an important theologian until the mid-1960s. Moreover, because social historians in the 1970s began to explore the unique ways people experienced the Enlightenment in different local, regional and national contexts, the plausibility of an English Enlightenment emerged for the first time in the early 1980s. As a result, in the late 1980s, scholars began to integrate the study of John Wesley and the Enlightenment. In other words, historians and theologians began to consider Wesley as a serious thinker in the context of an English Enlightenment that was not hostile to Christianity. From a review of the historical literature, this dissertation details six links that scholars have introduced in their study of Wesley’s relation to the Enlightenment. However, the review also reveals two problems, one obstacle and one omission, that hinder new innovation and further study. Therefore, as a solution, this study introduces five lenses adapted from the recent scholarship of four historians and one historical theologian that provide new vantage points for considering the enlightenment of Wesley and Wesleyan Methodists, which together form the Wesleyan Enlightenment. Finally, based on the evidence gathered by using these new lenses, this study argues that because Wesley not only engaged the Enlightenment, but also addressed the spiritual needs and practical concerns of Wesleyan Methodists for more than fifty years in what he referred to as an enlightened age, John Wesley was a central figure in the eighteenth- century English Enlightenment. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ xi Dedication .................................................................................................................................... xiii Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1 Introduction: John Wesley and the Enlightenment ........................................................ 1 Chapter 2 The Historiographies of John Wesley and the Enlightenment: A Literature Review .. 15 The Historiography of Wesley Studies ..................................................................................... 15 Wesley Studies: Before the 1960s ....................................................................................... 15 Wesley Studies: Beyond the Turning Point ......................................................................... 24 The Historiography of Enlightenment Studies ......................................................................... 42 Enlightenment Studies: Before the 1980s ............................................................................ 42 Enlightenment Studies: Beyond the Turning Point ............................................................. 59 Enlightenment and Christianity: A Conflict of Interests ................................................. 64 Christian Enlightenment ................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 3 The Integration of Wesley and Enlightenment Studies ................................................ 78 Wesley on the Periphery of Enlightenment Studies ................................................................. 79 Wesley in the Enlightenment ................................................................................................ 79 Wesley in Christianity and the Enlightenment ..................................................................... 86 Wesley in the English Enlightenment ................................................................................... 93 Wesley in the British Enlightenment .................................................................................... 95 The Enlightenment on the Periphery of Wesley Studies ........................................................ 103 Socio-Political Affinities .................................................................................................... 103 Epistemology ...................................................................................................................... 110 Pietism ................................................................................................................................. 117 The Reconciliation of Enlightenment and Enthusiasm ....................................................... 125 The Amalgamation of Reason and Religion ....................................................................... 133 Thought Forms of the Enlightenment ................................................................................. 138 Obstacle and Omission ........................................................................................................... 146 Chapter 4 The English Enlightenment ........................................................................................ 149 Contextualizing the English Enlightenment ........................................................................... 151 viii New Lenses for Defining the English Enlightenment ............................................................ 153 Social History of Ideas at the
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