Evaluate the Key Historical Events from the Middle Ages to Wesleys Conversion, and the Effect of Wesley Conversion on the Church and Society at That Time.
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Introduction
This paper will evaluate key events and issues leading up to John Wesleys conversion and then move on to explore the effects of his conversion on both the church and society prior to his death.
The Reformation.
Background to the Reformation.
The reaction to the “Bull Unam Sanctam 1302 ” which was drawn up to affirm the extravagant claims of Pope Boniface VIII lead to a warning for the papacy in Rome. King Phillip of France refused to yield his authority to the Roman Church and disagreed so fiercely he had Boniface taken prisoner and killed shortly after. Not all kings were prepared to hand over their kingdoms to Rome. Jones notes that “never again would popes or emperors rule entire civilizations”. As military tensions escalated between the Church of Rome and European kings over political domination, Romes domination was being fractured.
The Reformation.
During the sixteenth century Protestantism was born weakening the religious monopoly of the Roman Church further. A three way power struggle ensued between the Roman Church, Protestantism and secular politics. Such battles as the Spanish Amada in 1588 and the battle of the Boyne 1690 followed.
Martin Luther pointed out that the Roman Churchs grip of fear on people was that salvation from damnation or purgatory depended on observing rituals, viewing relics or buying indulgences. Salvation was unsure as believers were always questioning whether they had done enough to earn salvation. Luther claimed such practices presenting salvation by way of works are contrary to scripture. The Reformations key theme, “justification through faith alone” and “the priesthood of all believers” challenged the practices of the Roman Church, leading to a religious basis for leaving the Roman Churchs grasp.
Luthers doctrine changed some Christians perspective. They no longer viewed themselves as slaves living in the perpetual fear of Gods judgement but more as Gods children, the recipients of Gods love. Luthers theology moved beyond Wittenberg University at which he was a professor, into Germanys secular world, through France and England. Benefiting from the recent invention of the printing press, Luthers writings quickly travelled Europe and beyond. “Luther had caught the mood of the momenthe made ordinary people feel they mattered”.
Zwingli and Tyndale followed amongst others in the first wave of renewal pioneers taking on the Roman churchs practices. A second wave of reformers appeared of which Frances John Calvin was probably the foremost. Calvin started to systematically define his biblical stance. This resulted in his publication Institutes in the Christian Religion in 1536 and “became the single most influential text of the Protestant Reformation”.
Post Reformation Scholasticism.
Over the decades Luthers cry of, justification, became burdened with the scholastic positioning of theologians. “The gratuity of grace was at stake, the complete undeserving character of Gods work to and within man”. The problem of such arguments attempting to “portray the truth in such a way that it could be seen with the eyes and touched with the hands” served to divert Protestantism from a life experience into a lifeless academic exercise.
Pietism as a development of the Reformation.
Early Pietism.
“Piety finds its centre in the communion with Christ and finds shape in a life that wants to serve God and neighbour in word and deed. The piety of the Reformation is a triangle in which God, the neighbour and the self each find their own place”.
Mursell outlines that Philip Spener, who is considered to be the father of Pietism, started his collegia pietatis, bible study groups in 1670 for enthusiastic believers. The aim was to touch their hearts with Gods love and strengthen their faith, emphasizing that through personal prayer and bible study they could encounter the presence of God. This practice was later to be employed by Wesley and was referred to by his peers at university as “Methodism” although better known at that time as the “Holy Club”.
Moravians and Zinzendorf.
The Thirty-Years War (1618-1648), devastated not only the Holy Roman Empire but the whole of Central Europe, the Moravians, under the jurisdiction of the Roman church were being killed, imprisoned, tortured or banished from their homeland. Eventually they fled to Saxony where a Christian aristocrat, Count Ludwig Nicholas von Zinzendorf offered them protection on his estate. The Moravians reputation revived after Zinzendorf died in 1760, and diminished Zinzendorf blood and wounds piety emphasis that offended many Protestants. Moravians re-established mission work, sending out one member in sixty as missionaries. The Moravians later influenced Wesley directly, leading to his conversion.
Wesleys Conversion Story.
Wesleys Pre-Ordination Years.
Wesleys protestant parents and ancestors were highly educated, conspicuous for their piety and attached to the “Sacred Scriptures”. Britain was nominally a protestant nation under the Church of England.
John Wesley was born to Samuel and Susannah in Epworth on June 17th, 1703. Samuel was the Rector of Epworth and Susannah the daughter of a nonconformist minister, Dr. Samuel Annesley. Susannah was determined to establish her beliefs firmly by her own research. Before thirteen she had mastered the controversy between the dissenters and the established church. She was a very able person and all the Wesleys children were homeschooled by her, John receiving additional attention.
In 1714 at the age of eleven Wesley commenced Charterhouse school and at twenty three was accepted as a fellow in Lincoln College at Oxford. He was ordained two years later in 1728. In 1729 the Wesley brothers and two others started meeting together to read the Greek Testament together. Being methodical in manner they were initially called “Methodists” by peers; this was soon renamed the “Holy Club”. This small bible study group engaged in fasting and more determined prayer under the guidance of Wesleys father, Samuel. (This was a copy of the small groups utilised by early pietism.) George