From the Journal of John Wesley:
(more…)Tag: John Wesley
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What John Wesley Actually Said About the Bible
John Wesley saw the Methodist movement as a return to the original life & faith & experience of Christianity. He wanted to return to the faith of the apostles and the early church — to find that same dynamic quality of faith and life that the early Christians had. So, Scripture had a place of central importance in Wesley’s teaching and preaching.
In Wesley’s view, devotion to the teachings of the Scripture is absolutely essential for the task of keeping and renewing the Christian faith.
So, in light of this, I’ve gathered together on this page everything substantive that John Wesley said about the Bible. I have not attempted to “tone down” or alter any of his opinions — though I have updated the language in the first quote. My goal here has been completeness.Yes, there is some room for argument about what he may have meant by some of these remarks — of course. And, I certainly wouldn’t say the man was in any way infallible. A very valuable line of inquiry would be: how did this actually work out in practice, as he commented on Scripture in his Explanatory Notes.
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But, here is what he actually said. -
Praying the Psalms
An Introduction.
Many years ago, back in the days when I was in Seminary, I picked up an Interlinear Hebrew-English Psalter. It’s one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. It’s a small, slim volume, a 1974 Zondervan reprint of a much older edition published by Samuel Bagster & Sons Ltd. in London. The correct title is: The Interlineary Hebrew and English Psalter in which The Construction of Every Word is Indicated, and the Root of Each Distinguished by the Use of Hollow or Other Types.
I liked the little book immediately, because it is printed in a way that clearly indicated the Hebrew roots and constructions. I knew immediately that I’d made a good purchase. But, it was many years before I actually put it to any regular use. Somewhere, some time, I learned to use the Psalms as my Prayer Book.
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