Wesleyan advocacy-- a recent example

Here I Am, Purposefully Blogging

I am supposed to be writing a post for another blog, but as I worked on it, it turned into a post about the purpose of my blog.

"that vehicle of ethereal fire"

I came across the essay below while searching Wesley's works for examples of his advocacy literature.  The essay is on another one of my research interests, Wesley's theory of the soul.  In this brief commentary on 1 Thes. 5:23, Wesley used the image of clothing to explain the relationship between the body, soul, and spirit.  The spirit puts on soul-clothing, and the soul puts on body-clothing.  The body-clothing is made out of matter.  The soul-clothing is made out of electricity, which is the purest form of matter (or so the theory went in Wesley's time).  The spirit is immaterial.  These remarks illustrate Wesley's use of the science of his day to explain a theological concept.  What analogy do you use, and is it a theory of the soul or a theory of the mind?

Advocacy-- one (and only one) doctrinal example

John Wesley's advocacy publications

I thought this would be a straight-forward list to compile, but as I worked I found that I had to decide what I meant by "advocacy publication."  I settled on the following definition-- a pamphlet (rather than a collection of sermons, hymns, or letters) on a political or social issue other than the mistreatment of Methodists.

This left me with a list of fifteen publications.  Twelve of the pamphlets defend the British position in the Revolutionary War, one supports the British government, one advocates for the abolishment of slavery, and one analyzes economic policies that oppress the poor.

The list is in chronological order; the first pamphlet on the list was produced in 1770, the last in 1781.  The list does not include the dates of reprints.

Advocacy-- the excluded means of grace

Ready or not, here I come

"O Victory in" the Wesley brothers