The Historical Backgrounds of Early Methodist Enthusiasm
The Historical Backgrounds of Early Methodist Enthusiasm

Author: Umphrey Lee

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2009-01-06

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1725224410

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Does God really communicate his will to individuals, so that they receive infallible guidance in that sense which the ancient Greeks called "enthusiasm"? Both the Old Testament and the New maintain that the true prophets received direct advices from God, which, regardless of consequences, they were morally bound to communicate even to the skeptical among their contemporaries. The recent canonization of Joan of Arc is a fresh proof that the Catholics believe in the possibility of private revelations. Luther, Calvin and the English Reformers were hostile to those Anabaptists and others who alleged they were actually receiving new revelations; and early Massachusetts felt that the most dangerous of Anne Hutchinson's heresies was her claim to immediate inspiration; for the "motions" she followed might not be those of God but the Devil. Dr. Lee sketches the belief in direct inspiration from its Hebraic and Greek roots down to the time of the French Prophets who amazed London. Early Methodism arose in such an atmosphere. He has, therefore, examined the early records of the Methodist movement and gathered evidence from its friends and from its enemies to answer the question: How far did some of the early Methodists believe that they were directly moved by God?

Autobiography and the Psychological Study of Religious Lives
Autobiography and the Psychological Study of Religious Lives

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9042029129

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This volume positions itself on the cutting edge of two fields in psychology that enjoy rapidly increasing attention: both the study of human lives and some core domains of such lives as religion and spirituality are high on the agenda of current research and teaching. Biographies and autobiographies are being approached in new ways and have become central to the study of human lives as an object of research and a preferred method for obtaining unique data about subjective human experiences. Ever since the beginning of the psychology of religion, autobiographies have also been pointed out as an important source of information about psychic processes involved in religiosity. In this volume, a number of leading theoreticians and researchers from Europe and the USA try to bring them back to this field by drawing on new insights and latest developments in psychological theory.

Transforming Words
Transforming Words

Author: Jean-Pierre Noppen

Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13:

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Hitherto, the of the Methodist revival has received only moderate, and mainly descriptive, attention. This study moves beyond description and approaches the phenomenon from a "discourse" angle. A corpus-based investigation of the workings of Methodism in its many different discourse aspects highlights how and why Methodism in its early Wesleyan stage was remarkably efficient in providing a multi-modal message which answered the needs and aspirations of the underprivileged. A critical assessment shows that there is little reason to indict the Wesleyans with any manipulative intent. Wesley's discourse did, however, contain some elements which were misunderstood and misapplied when later Methodism lost its Wesleyan touch; but the Methodist revival as a whole cannot be indicted with deliberate manipulation of the working masses.