Spiritual Literacy in John Wesley's Methodism: Reading, Writing, and Speaking to Believe

by Vicki Tolar Burton

Overview

Vicki Tolar Burton argues that John Wesley wanted to make ordinary Methodist men and women readers, writers, and public speakers because he understood the powerful role of language for spiritual formation. His understanding came from his own family and education, from his personal spiritual practices and experiences, and from the evidence he saw in the lives of his followers. By examining the intersections of literacy, rhetoric, and spirituality as they occurred in early British Methodism—and by exploring the meaning of these practices for class and gender—the author provides a new understanding of the method of Methodism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481314183
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Series:	Studies in Rhetoric & Religion
Pages:	408
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Vicki Tolar Burton (Ph.D. Auburn University) is Professor of English Emerita at Oregon State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Abbreviations

1. Introduction: John Wesley and the Rhetorical and Literacy Practices of Early Methodism

2. John Wesley’s Literacy Genealogy: Parental Patterns and Practices

3. Writing to Believe: Diaries and Journals as Spiritual Literacy

4. Speaking to Believe: Literacy and Rhetorical Practices of Traveling Preachers

5. Walking in Light, Walking in Darkness: Methodist Women’s Changing Rhetorical Space

6. The Mystic and the Methodists: Account of the Experience of Hester Ann Rogers

7. Reading to Believe: John Wesley’s Book Inventory (1791)

8. Climbing Boys and Spinning Girls: School on Sunday for Laboring Children

Conclusion: The Witness of Their Own Spirits

Appendix A: Samuel Bradburn’s Rules for Preaching

Appendix B: John Wesley’s Book Inventory

Compiled at the Time of His Death (1791)

Notes

Bibliography

Index

What People are Saying About This

Barry W. Hamilton

Through close examination of primary sources, Tolar Burton offers a rich account of leading Methodist women such as Sarah Crosby, Mary Fletcher and Hester Ann Rogers.... Historians of early Methodism should regard her study as essential reading.

Randy L. Maddox

Spiritual Literacy illumines an underappreciated aspect of the Methodist movement—John Wesley's concern for the literary abilities of ordinary citizens.

Robert Stephen Reid

Here is the counter history to the elitist rhetoric of Hugh Blair and George Campbell. Vicki Tolar Burton’s close reading of the actual day-to-day texts of early Methodism’s founder and followers expands our knowledge of how a democratizing rhetoric gave cultural voice to women and to working class men in early Methodism.