The Life and Work of Charles Wesley (0633)
Department of Theology
Tyndale Seminary
Fall 2003
Instructor: V. Shepherd
Office Hours: (to be announced)
Tel.: 416 226 6380 ext. 6726 (office)
905 821 0587 (home)
email: vshepherd@tyndale.ca or victor.shepherd@sympatico.ca 

This course examines the life, spiritual formation, poetic genius, and theological contribution of Charles Wesley through an investigation of his sermons, verse, journals and correspondence.

While completion of Introductory Systematic Theology is desirable, it is not essential as this course, unlike the instructor’s Theology of John Wesley, is more than a detailed examination of doctrine. Students with a background in or a concern for the following can profit from the course: history, church history, liturgics, English literature (especially poetry), psychology of religion, the Enlightenment.

The objectives of the course are
[1] to acquaint students with CW’s primary material;
[2] to have students appreciate the variegated context (social, political, economic, intellectual, literary and religious) in which CW wrote and ministered;
[3] to expose students to different kinds of sources (e.g., poetry, correspondence and journals), sources that are frequently overlooked and are no less fruitful than explicitly written theology;
[4] to have students locate CW in the church catholic;
[5] to acquaint students with the literary formation of CW; e.g., his nine years of training in classical poetry at Oxford University, as well as his appreciation of other poets, particularly Shakespeare, Milton, Herbert, Dryden, Pope and Prior;
[6] to acquaint students with the role of the hymn as a vehicle of public liturgy and private aspiration;
[7] to illustrate the manner in which CW advanced the English hymn in the wake of its “father”, Isaac Watts;
[8] to expose students to the compatibility and simultaneity of Anglican churchmanship and evangelical zeal;
[9] to introduce students to the theological breadth of CW’s hymns wherein, e.g., he does not hesitate to use “sacrifice” in speaking of the objectivity of the eucharist at the same time as he fosters the subjective heart-searching of, for instance, “I have long withstood his grace, long provoked him to his face”;
[10] to familiarize students with the exegetical Tendenz of CW’s handling of scripture;
[11] to acquaint students with the theological and ecclesiastical tensions that Methodism highlighted, even fostered, within 18^th century Protestantism and between the Wesley brothers themselves (e.g., the use of lay preachers and the scope of sanctification in this life);
[12] to have students appreciate the contributions, in the 18^th century Evangelical Revival, of expatriate pietists (Moravians), English Dissenters, Anglican Calvinists (both non-Methodist like John Newton and Methodist like George Whitefield), and those popularly recognized as “Methodists” (the Wesleys, John Fletcher).

 

Texts:

To be purchased: John R. Tyson (ed.), Charles Wesley: A Reader (Oxford U.P.; pp. vi+519) This book consists of excerpts from C. Wesley’s Sermons, Poetry, Journals and Correspondence.

To be consulted: Franz Hildebrandt and Oliver Beckerlegge (eds.), The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 7: A Collection of Hymns for the Use of The People Called Methodists (Abingdon Press; pp. xv+848) Tyndale Library has two copies of this book.

Suggested secondary source: ST Kimbrough, Jr., (ed.), Charles Wesley: Poet and Theologian (Abingdon Press; pp.250)

 

 

Schedule
One topic will be covered each week (3 classroom hours.)

Classes: 39 hours
Readings: 39 hours (this figure includes the 400-word weekly paper)
Essays: 49 hours
Total: 120 hours

 

Assignments

[1] Students will write a 300-word paper that reflects their reading of, engagement with, and critical assessment of the material assigned for each class.

[2] Students will write an essay approximately 3500 words long on any subject listed in the essay topics (the handout listing essay topics will be available in class) or any matter for which the instructor’s permission has been secured.

Evaluation

Weekly assignments: 50%
Major Essay: 50%

 

Essay Topics

1. Continental Pietism and its influence on the Wesleyan movement

2. The intellectual and religious background: any one of the Cambridge Platonists, the Latitudinarians, the religious significance of John Locke, the Deists, controversies with Calvinists

3. The social background

4. The Moravian Brethren (Continental and English)

5. CW’s understanding of holiness or Christian Perfection, and his disagreement with his brother

6. An examination of Luther’s Commentary on Romans or Galatians (these books were instrumental in the conversion of the Wesleys, even though they subsequently criticized them sharply)

7. Any one aspect of CW’s theology, with reference to his hymns; e.g., justification, grace, sin, atonement, church, eschatology, etc.

8. CW’s understanding of the eucharist

9. The classical and/or English sources of CW’s poetry

10. CW’s poetry and vocabulary

11. CW’s poetry in the context of 17^th or 18^th century poetry

12. The structure/technique of CW’s poetry

13. The history or development of the hymn in the church

14. The Puritan influence on the Wesleys

15. Wesley and William Law

16. A comparison of the sermons of John W., Charles W. and George Whitefield on any one topic

17. The tacit theological understanding of any one denomination as reflected in that denomination’s selection of CW’s hymns in its hymnbook

(If the denomination has only a few, this topic should not be attempted)

18. CW’s understanding of Scripture as reflected in his hymns

19. CW’s “inflexible” Anglicanism

20. (Any topic the instructor approves)

 

Charles Wesley Bibliography

BIOGRAPHIES

Dallimore, A.; A Heart Set Free: The Life of Charles Wesley
Gill, F.; Charles Wesley: The First Methodist
Telford, J.; The Life of the Rev. Charles Wesley: Sometime Student of Christ Church, Oxford

 

STUDIES

Baker, F.; Charles Wesley as Revealed by his Letters
Baker, F.; Charles Wesley’s Verse: An Introduction
Flew, R.; The Hymns of Charles Wesley: A Study of Their Structure
Gregory, T.; According to Your Faith
Jones, D.; Charles Wesley, A Study
Lawson, J.; The Wesley Hymns as a Guide to Scriptural Teaching
Manning, B.; The Hymns of Wesley and Watts
Kimbrough, ST; Lost in Wonder: Charles Wesley, the Meaning of his Hymns Today
Kimbrough, ST; Charles Wesley: Poet and Theologian
Rattenbury, J.; The Evangelical Doctrines of Charles Wesley’s Hymns
Rattenbury, J.; The Eucharistic Hymns of John and Charles Wesley
Routley, E.; The Musical Wesleys
Tyson, J.; Charles Wesley on Sanctification
Watson, P.; Anatomy of a Conversion: The Message and Mission of John and Charles Wesley
Watson, P.; The Message of the Wesleys
Wainwright, G. (ed); Hymns on the Lord’s Supper
Wiseman, F.; Charles Wesley, Evangelist and Poet

 

GENERAL WORKS PERTAINING TO CHARLES WESLEY AND THE METHODIST MOVEMENT

Davies, R.; Methodism
Gordon, J.; Evangelical Spirituality
Hildebrandt, F.; Christianity According to the Wesleys
Jeffrey, D.; English Spirituality in the Age of Wesley
Rack, H.; Reasonable Enthusiast: John Wesley and the Rise of Methodism