I was excited to see this post from Seedbed.com this morning announcing a new project called The John Wesley Collection. The plan is to take key works of Wesley (and others that Wesley curated and published) and republish them with modern typesetting and attractive cover art in order to make the writings of the Methodist founder more easily accessible to a new generation. Here’s a little more from the official announcement:
John Wesley’s profound legacy and impact on world Christianity during and since his lifetime can be viewed through a number of lenses. The revival that arose under his leadership changed the social and political structure of eighteenth-century England as the poor and lost found hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ rather than in revolution against the crown. The influence of Wesley’s Spirit-inspired teaching continued unabated as the Methodist movement spread scriptural holiness across the American continent and lands far beyond.
The writings represented in The John Wesley Collection resourced the early Methodists in their quest to spread the gospel by providing the intellectual and spiritual moorings for the messengers of the movement. Seedbed believes these writings are as relevant to our context today as they were in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Consequently, we consider it a sacred calling to join with those who are recapturing John Wesley’s publishing vision for the twenty-first century.
You can find out more by reading the rest of the post at Seedbed, and be sure to take a look at this video that introduces the project. Here’s a list of titles you can expect to see published, which is part of an entire website devoted to The John Wesley Collection. The first volume in the Collection is Wesley’s Thirteen Discourses on the Sermon on Mount, which has already been released and is available now. This and the other resources that are coming will be great for individual or group use.
Here’s why I find this project important for cultivating the renewal and spread of the Wesleyan message today. The rise of the “New Calvinism” (as it’s known) has been fueled by a revival of interest in primary source texts and key historical figures associated with the movement. College students are devouring the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, and others, not to mention Calvin himself. The works of Wesley that Seedbed is now making more easily available fueled the spread of early Methodism and fanned the flames of revival in England and North America in the 18th century. It may be that, as a new generation of readers discovers the primary works of Wesley, such revival will come again. Perhaps the Spirit that empowered Wesley and his bands will resurrect a “New Methodism” that embodies Wesley’s passion to offer Christ and spread scriptural holiness across the land.