The Life of John Wesley : A Brand from the Burning

Rating:
Summary: A Fair Treatment
Review: Hattersley takes a complex subject and, I believe, turns in a fair treatment. If he has a socialist perspective, as one reviewer remarks, then we understand it from that particular bent. Again, contrary to a reviewer, he does not spend too much time examining Wesley's relationship with women. Wesley did not handle women well...too shy to express his inner feelings to the women he loved, too Georgian to be a good husband to the wife he finally chooses (and chooses unwisely), and susceptible to flirtation. This is an important aspect of Wesley's life.

More important, though, and Hattersley does it justice, is the relationship he has with the men who mean the most to him. Hattersley spends a great deal of time helping the reader understand Wesley's relationship to his brother Charles (tempestous at times, but always instantly forgiving), his greatest rival and best friend, George Whitefied. One wishes there was more to developing his relationship with his father (love/hate, respect/fear) and the relationship he had with his heir apparent, John Fletcher, as well as Asbury.

Wesley was not an original theologian. He is obtuse. His arguments are difficult to understand, and he waffled continually. Yet, his strength is his ability to borrow concepts from other denominations, even from outside Christianity, and then meld them into a coherent set of beliefs. Methodist opened Christian doors to the unchurched of the times--the poor working class. Wesley would be proud to have been called a socialist.

Read Hattersley's book. It is an honest appraisal. And then read other biographies. And then, do yourself a favor, and start on Wesley's Journals. With all his too human foibles, Wesley is a great man.

Rating:
Summary: A Fair Treatment
Review: Hattersley takes a complex subject and, I believe, turns in a fair treatment. If he has a socialist perspective, as one reviewer remarks, then we understand it from that particular bent. Again, contrary to a reviewer, he does not spend too much time examining Wesley's relationship with women. Wesley did not handle women well...too shy to express his inner feelings to the women he loved, too Georgian to be a good husband to the wife he finally chooses (and chooses unwisely), and susceptible to flirtation. This is an important aspect of Wesley's life.

More important, though, and Hattersley does it justice, is the relationship he has with the men who mean the most to him. Hattersley spends a great deal of time helping the reader understand Wesley's relationship to his brother Charles (tempestous at times, but always instantly forgiving), his greatest rival and best friend, George Whitefied. One wishes there was more to developing his relationship with his father (love/hate, respect/fear) and the relationship he had with his heir apparent, John Fletcher, as well as Asbury.

Wesley was not an original theologian. He is obtuse. His arguments are difficult to understand, and he waffled continually. Yet, his strength is his ability to borrow concepts from other denominations, even from outside Christianity, and then meld them into a coherent set of beliefs. Methodist opened Christian doors to the unchurched of the times--the poor working class. Wesley would be proud to have been called a socialist.

Read Hattersley's book. It is an honest appraisal. And then read other biographies. And then, do yourself a favor, and start on Wesley's Journals. With all his too human foibles, Wesley is a great man.

Rating:
Summary: A socialist's view of a Victorian-era religious reformer
Review: Hattersley, author of "Choose freedom: the future for democratic socialism" smears this colossus of Victorian reform, John Wesley, from the standpoint of a 21st century secularist. This is just more sanctimonious blather disguised as impartial scholarship that belittles the great men of a much harder time than ours. Britain's best thinkers, like Wesley, used to help make the world a better place in which to live, whereas the present-day elites' shallow, smirking arrogance perpetrates only self-reinforcing misery for those who fall prey to their humbug. No surprise that other readers find the subject, as (mis-)represented here, difficult to like. By focusing on what is least meaningful about Wesley (his women), Hattersley trivializes a subject that deserved genuine sopistication, not cheap sophistry.

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Look at Wesley's Life
Review: I have to say I enjoyed this book. He does excellent justice to the significance and reasoning behind Wesley's actions and relationships with other people. I also liked Hattersley's tendency to bring in the story of the Methodist societies. Being an American, I liked the analysis of Wesley's attitude toward American Methodism. In fact, the analysis of Wesley's attitude toward many things seems to be good on the whole. What keeps this from being a 5 star book? Sometimes I felt as if this book drifted too much into the details of others' lives. While relationships were important for Wesley, necessary information can be given about those relationships without losing focus on Wesley. In terms of the author's attitude toward Wesley, I think the author had a fair attitude toward him. As a Wesleyan fanatic, I don't feel offended that the author ventured to show some of Wesley's faults and their consequences. Overall, highly recommended for someone who has any interest in great church leaders.

Rating:
Summary: The Belittling of John Wesley
Review: John Wesley, outside of biblical characters, is my hero of the faith. From page 1 Hattersley, sarcastically belittles this great man of faith. After having read many works by other authors about Wesley as well as Wesley's journals and sermons, it is impossible to imagine that this is the same Wesley I have grown to deeply admire. Hattersley writes with an attitude that will be obvious to readers familiar with Wesley's tremendous legacy. Reading Hattersley's work about Wesley's life is comparable to reading a book about the Bible written by one of the fallen angels. I cannot in good conscience recommend such a distorted view of this giant in the faith.

Rating:
Summary: The Belittling of John Wesley
Review: John Wesley, outside of biblical characters, is my hero of the faith. From page 1 Hattersley, sarcastically belittles this great man of faith. After having read many works by other authors about Wesley as well as Wesley's journals and sermons, it is impossible to imagine that this is the same Wesley I have grown to deeply admire. Hattersley writes with an attitude that will be obvious to readers familiar with Wesley's tremendous legacy. Reading Hattersley's work about Wesley's life is comparable to reading a book about the Bible written by one of the fallen angels. I cannot in good conscience recommend such a distorted view of this giant in the faith.

Rating:
Summary: A socialist's view of a Victorian-era religious reformer
Review: The dust jacket of this book says that John Wesley is not a very easy man to like and after reading this book I tend to agree. He is also not a very easy man to understand. Fortunately, Roy Hattersley has written a book that helps the reader to at least partially understand Wesley, but he is still hard to like.

The reader will be taken into Wesley's childhood, which is where the title of the book comes from since as a child he was plucked from his burning home at the very last minute. John Wesley's attachment to the Church of England seems to have come from his father, also an Anglican priest. Samuel Wesley was so attached to the state church and the monarch who sat at its head that he once left his wife because as a Jacobite she refused to say amen after a prayer in which he asked God's blessing on King William. Fortunately for all of those Methodists out there, John Wesley was far more influenced by his mother Susanna than by his father.

As Wesley becomes involved in the Holy Club that would become the foundation for Methodism we begin to see his overbearing personality in action. This club, derisively called Methodists was in existence before Wesley became a member but when he got there, he took the reigns and slowly builds what would become a major Protestant denomination. This overbearing personality is part of what makes Wesley so hard to like, but there is little doubt that the Methodist church would never have existed if he had been more docile. Wesley also tended to change his theological views over the years, sometimes quite abruptly. He would usually claim to have had a revelation from God when this happened and would sometimes even deny that he had made a change. When challenged he became very defensive and some of his tactics were less than noble. He was so autocratic that his enemies referred to him as Pope John. Still, one has to wonder if there would ever have been a Methodist Church if he had acted differently.

On the other hand, John Wesley seems to be sincerely interested in the plight of the poor, a segment of English society, which was sparsely served by the Established Church. His whole ministry in fact seems to have revolved around serving those who were overlooked by the Anglican Church. At the same time he lost many friends within the Methodist movement because of his fight to remove all vestiges of Calvinism from his movement. Without that fight, the Methodist Church could not be what it is today.

By nature this book is filled with sometimes deep theological issues which are sometimes hard for the lay person to follow. Hattersley has done a good job of trying to make the issues understandable but I must admit that the book is sometimes a little dry. Hattersley also uses several Latin phrases without a translation. This habit among some authors is a pet peeve of mine. My father graduated from high school in 1932 and at that time he was required to learn Latin. For most of us however, Latin was not even a real option in high school or college so we don't understand it and can't read it. I really wish this practice would cease; but it won't.

Overall, a very good, well-written, and informative book. Anyone with an interest in the Great Awakening or the Christian religion will find this book of much use. Methodists will find out many things about our founder and will be better able to understand their ritual and dogma after reading Hattersley's book. Reading this book will also allow the average Methodist to better connect with their ministers who seldom miss a chance to talk about John Wesley.

Rating:
Summary: Pope John?
Review: The dust jacket of this book says that John Wesley is not a very easy man to like and after reading this book I tend to agree. He is also not a very easy man to understand. Fortunately, Roy Hattersley has written a book that helps the reader to at least partially understand Wesley, but he is still hard to like.

The reader will be taken into Wesley's childhood, which is where the title of the book comes from since as a child he was plucked from his burning home at the very last minute. John Wesley's attachment to the Church of England seems to have come from his father, also an Anglican priest. Samuel Wesley was so attached to the state church and the monarch who sat at its head that he once left his wife because as a Jacobite she refused to say amen after a prayer in which he asked God's blessing on King William. Fortunately for all of us Methodists out there, John Wesley was far more influenced by his mother Susanna than by his father.

As Wesley becomes involved in the Holy Club that would become the foundation for Methodism we begin to see his overbearing personality in action. This club, derisively called Methodists was in existence before Wesley became a member but when he got there, he took the reigns and slowly builds what would become a major Protestant denomination. This overbearing personality is part of what makes Wesley so hard to like, but there is little doubt that the Methodist church would never have existed if he had been more docile. Wesley also tended to change his theological views over the years, sometimes quite abruptly. He would usually claim to have had a revelation from God when this happened and would sometimes even deny that he had made a change. When challenged he became very defensive and some of his tactics were less than noble. He was so autocratic that his enemies referred to him as Pope John. Still, one has to wonder if there would ever have been a Methodist Church if he had acted differently.

On the other hand, John Wesley seems to be sincerely interested in the plight of the poor, a segment of English society, which was sparsely served by the Established Church. His whole ministry in fact seems to have revolved around serving those who were overlooked by the Anglican Church. At the same time he lost many friends within the Methodist movement because of his fight to remove all vestiges of Calvinism from his movement. Without that fight, the Methodist Church could not be what it is today.

By nature this book is filled with sometimes deep theological issues which are sometimes hard for the lay person to follow. Hattersley has done a good job of trying to make the issues understandable but I must admit that the book is sometimes a little dry. Hattersley also uses several Latin phrases without a translation. This habit among some authors is a pet peeve of mine. My father graduated from high school in 1932 and at that time he was required to learn Latin. For most of us however, Latin was not even a real option in high school or college so we don't understand it and can't read it. I really wish this practice would cease; but it won't.

Overall, a very good, well-written, and informative book. Anyone with an interest in the Great Awakening or the Christian religion will find this book of much use. Methodists will find out many things about our founder and will be better able to understand our ritual and dogma after reading Hattersley's book. Reading this book will also allow the average Methodist to better connect with their ministers who seldom miss a chance to talk about John Wesley.

Rating:
Summary: A Brand from the Burning, indeed
Review: This book is a quick read with clever language, witty remarks and remarkably astute historical connections found only in classrooms! Structurally, the writer boldly sets aside certain conventions of writing, most notably chronology. This allows Hattersley to convey something other than a standard timeline-like biography. By exploring the nuances of certain formative events for Wesley, the author humanizes a most revered man, thereby finding a balance.

I recommend pp. 115ff: The story of John Wesley's desire to marry Sophy Hopkey. In the middle of the story, we find a confused Wesley casting lots. I suppose this is why some Wesleyan Holiness congregations dissuade its adherents from playing games of chance. In the same story, we find a jealous Wesley "fencing" Sophy and her new husband from the Holy Communion. Another implicit doctrinal connection is made: the Eucharist later becomes, for Wesley who is now older and wiser, a means of God's grace. These connections simply cannot be found in chronological biographies.

The narrative of the Epworth rectory fire (pp. 25-7) demonstrates beautifully the author's natural story-telling ability and sense of humor.

If you're in a rush to complete a research paper, you might look elsewhere. If you are looking to enrich your faith in humanity and in God (or to add tremendous depth to your class syllabus), then I highly recommend this book to you.