Giving Charles Wesley his due

There's a nice overview on Chritsianity Today's Books & Culture site about scholarly works published during this tercentenary of the birth of Charles Wesley (1707-88).

These new books really help John's hymn writing brother stand out on his own, says Bruce Hindmarsh. That's particularly helpful, he writes, because to modern-day Methodists, the Wesley brothers often appear indistinguishable:

    "Founders of Methodism, and key figures in the 18th-century evangelical revival in Britain, they appear from a distance as a kind of hyphenated compound: John-and-Charles-Wesley. One mountain. If we distinguish the two at all, it is John Wesley plus a hymn-writing sidekick. Charles Wesley is just John Wesley in rhyme. Maybe we even unconsciously see the Wesleys as an 18th-century version of the later evangelistic teams in American revivalism: preacher plus songleader, sort of like Moody and Sankey, or Billy Graham and Cliff Barrows. But does it really matter where you put that tiny little apostrophe, anyhow? Wesley's theology, or the Wesleys' theology?"

Read the entire article.

Comments

[Will Deuel]

The above link is broken. Here is the correct address for the article: http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2009/mayjun/andcanitbe.html

[Robin Russell]

Thanks, Will. Made the change in our text link!