Posts Tagged Methodism
In the Mail: The Sound of (Methodist) Music….
Posted by Joel in Book Review on November 17, 2010
Thanks to Michael at the University of Illinois press,
Click to Order
From the product description:
Providing new insight into the Wesley family, the fundamental importance of music in the development of Methodism, and the history of art music in Britain, Music and the Wesleys examines more than 150 years of a rich music-making tradition in England. John Wesley and his brother Charles, founders of the Methodist movement, considered music to be a vital part of religion, while Charles’s sons Charles and Samuel and grandson Samuel Sebastian were among the most important English composers of their time. Exploring British concert life, sacred music forms, and hymnology, the contributors analyze the political, cultural, and social history of the Wesleys’ enormous influence on English culture and religious practices. Contributors are Stephen Banfield, Jonathan Barry, Martin V. Clarke, Sally Drage, Peter S. Forsaith, Peter Holman, Peter Horton, Robin A. Leaver, Alyson McLamore, Geoffrey C. Moore, John Nightingale, Philip Olleson, Nicholas Temperley, J. R. Watson, Anne Bagnall Yardley, and Carlton R. Young. Nicholas Temperley is professor emeritus of musicology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author of The Music of the English Parish Church and other works. Stephen Banfield is Stanley Hugh Badock Professor of Music at the University of Bristol. His books include Sensibility and English Song: Critical Studies of the Early Twentieth Century.
Erasmus of Arcadia, John Wesley and Apostolic Succession
Posted by Joel in Reformation on August 23, 2010
A few Sunday’s ago, we were talking about the importance (to some) of Apostolic Succession, who one wondered how Methodism got around the notion of Apostolic Succession. For those unfamiliar with the term, it is the Catholic/Orthodox belief that they can be traced back through ordinations of bishops to the Apostles themselves. Now, to some, this important and a hallmark of the Church (the Creed gives for points of the church, one of them being Apostolic). Of course, the term has come to mean something differently than it once did, encompassing not just historic congregations, but the entire faith. Anyway, the apocryphal story of Apostolic Succession and John Wesley, and hence Methodism, goes like this:
(Erasmus of Arcadia) apparently visited London in 1763 during a time when John Wesley faced a dilemma. It seems Anglican bishops wouldn’t ordain Methodist preachers, yet more and more people were coming for Communion. Wesley refused to allow unordained lay preachers to consecrate Communion, but people wanted to receive the Sacrament from them anyway. I guess getting all the new Methodists into Anglican parishes wasn’t as easy as Wesley thought it would be. So when Erasmus visited, we know that he ordained some of Wesley’s preachers (which Wesley scholar William Abraham called “bizarre in the extreme”), and by some accounts, he ordained Wesley a bishop. (here)
Interesting, if you are into that sort of thing…
