John Wesley's Life & Ethics

by Stone, Ronald H.

• ISBN13: 9780687056323
• ISBN10: 0687056322
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: Abingdon Pr

Summary

John Wesley's Life & Ethics offers a comprehensive analysis of John Wesley's personal and social ethical thought. Ronald Stone places Wesley in a social location and examines his ethical thought biographically. He argues that in the case of John Wesley, the Christian traditions provide a biblically informed deontological ethic of love. This ethic is grounded in the Christian community to form the individual and in social reform to transform the nation within the limits of Christian realism concerning human nature and social order.The volume covers Wesley's complete ethical reflection and teaching and, at appropriate points, places them in comparative perspective to other 18th century ethics and social thought contributors. Ethical topics addressed include abortion, vocation, family, money, social nature of humanity, politics, economics, imperial relations, and war and peace.This book will be a supplementary text in Ethics classes, primarily in United Methodist schools. It will also be a useful text in Methodist history classes. Methodist scholars and pastors interested in a social biography of Wesley will want to own this book.

Author Biography

Ronald H. Stone is John Witherspoon Professor of Christian Ethics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

Table of Contents

Preface	11	(4)
Chronology	15	(4)
Introduction	19	(10)
Origins (1703--1714)	29	(13)
Samuel	31	(2)
Susanna as Puritan	33	(2)
Home Schooling	35	(4)
Daughters	39	(3)
Oxford (1720--1735)	42	(23)
Christ Church College	48	(3)
Love in the Cotswolds	51	(3)
Lincoln College (1729--1735)	54	(1)
The Holy Club	55	(3)
The Morgan Case	58	(2)
Oxford Departure	60	(5)
Georgia (1735--1737)	65	(11)
Mission to Native Americans	66	(3)
Politics	69	(1)
Slaves	70	(1)
Sexuality	70	(6)
Moravians (1738--1739)	76	(14)
Evangelical Ministry	78	(2)
Germany	80	(3)
Uncertainty and Revival	83	(3)
The Methodist Societies	86	(2)
Poetry and Social Holiness	88	(2)
Reform (1740s)	90	(20)
Separation from Moravians	90	(3)
Controversy	93	(5)
An Earnest Appeal	98	(2)
Letter to the King	100	(1)
Social Action	101	(3)
The School in Kingswood	104	(2)
An Amour	106	(4)
Sermon on the Mount (1748--1750)	110	(17)
Wedding Garment	111	(1)
Sermon on the Mount	112	(15)
Marriage and War (1750s)	127	(17)
Marriage	127	(4)
Marriage Deteriorates	131	(2)
New Testament Notes	133	(3)
Genuine Christianity	136	(1)
War	137	(4)
Ten Commandments	141	(1)
Conclusion to Decade	142	(2)
Maturation (1760s--1770s)	144	(28)
Theological-Ethical Writings	145	(11)
Scholarly Research	156	(5)
Women Preaching	161	(2)
Economic Ethics	163	(9)
Liberty	172	(15)
On Power	173	(2)
On Liberty	175	(3)
The American Colonies	178	(9)
Slavery	187	(11)
Slave Trade	187	(4)
The Ethics of ``Thoughts upon Slavery''	191	(7)
``God is with Us'' (1780--1791)	198	(10)
The Elderly Wesley	198	(1)
Poverty and Wealth	198	(3)
Establishing a Church	201	(2)
Last Years	203	(5)
Ethics	208	(21)
Love and Law	211	(4)
Type of Ethics	215	(2)
Character	217	(2)
Reform and Revolution	219	(2)
The Harmonious Society of Adam Smith	221	(2)
Evangelical Economics	223	(3)
Reform Self, Church, and Society	226	(3)
Notes	229	(14)
Index	243