John Wesley in America by Geordan Hammond

Why, after researching and thinking about the question, do you think that’s wrong? Some biographers have called it a “preface to victory” to highlight that it was chiefly important for leading Wesley to his evangelical conversion soon after returning to England from the colony.

In terms of overall judgement of Wesley’s ministry, the dominant view (at least until recent decades) has been that it was a failure. What has been the prevailing scholarly view of Wesley’s time in Georgia? Wesley was one of a number of Anglicans who believed that the early church provided a model for the revival of the church. “Restoring Primitive Christianity” is the subtitle because I argue that Wesley’s passion for restoring the doctrine, discipline and practice of the early church in the primitive Georgia wilderness was his primary reason for going to Georgia and for his ministerial practice in the colony. 'Primitive Christianity' was a term commonly used in Wesley’s day to refer to early Christianity. Your subtitle is 'Restoring Primitive Christianity.' What do you mean by that, and why did restoring primitive Christianity mean so much to Wesley? Studying John Wesley’s experience in Georgia provided a fascinating case study to combine my interests in history, theology and missionary work. Cross-cultural experiences have played an important role in the strengthening of my Christian faith. I developed an interest in both history and theology in my undergraduate and MA studies at Point Loma Nazarene University and Fuller Theological Seminary. Yours is the first book-length study of John Wesley’s time in the colony of Georgia.

He’s currently director of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre and senior lecturer in church history at Nazarene Theological College.įor this interview about his book on Methodism’s founder, Hammond answered questions from United Methodist News Service by email. He has stayed on in England, in part because his wife entered medical school there.

As a young Wesleyan studies scholar, he was attracted by the school’s John Rylands Library, specifically its Methodist Archives. Hammond, 36, grew up in Kansas, studied in California and moved to England in 2003 to do his doctorate at the University of Manchester. That’s the viewpoint Geordan Hammond presents in “John Wesley in America: Restoring Primitive Christianity,” published this month in the United States by Oxford University Press. John Wesley’s time in the colony of Georgia wasn’t quite the failure that some scholars of early Methodism believe.

John Wesley in America by Geordan Hammond