GEORDAN HAMMOND. John Wesley in America: Restoring Primitive Christianity. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. 238. $29.95 (U.S.)
In this book based on his doctoral dissertation, Hammond focuses attention on the brief but formative period of Wesley’s missionary service in the nascent colony of Georgia (1735-1737). His thesis revolves around two primary concerns related to Wesley’s experience: 1) the Anglican priest’s efforts to recreate a primitive form of Christianity (in his view) in an unevangelized frontier setting, and 2) the continuity of this period—prior to Wesley’s famous Aldersgate experience—with his subsequent life and vision of Christian discipleship. While this “experiment” and the issue of Wesley’s primitivism have been examined previously by scholars, the author’s extraordinary attention to detail and his incorporation of underutilized documents into his analysis makes his assessment of the period unique. His nuanced examination of Wesley’s diary, as well as published and manuscript journal material, adds texture to the portrait. While Wesley clearly abandoned some of the Georgia practices that were an effort to imitate primitive Christianity, Hammond argues that he never abandoned his essential primitivistic commitments. Moreover, his vision of primitive Christianity—including Wesley’s Eucharistic spirituality, ascetic and penitential practices, and elevation of women—continued to shape the Methodist movement to the end of his life. Hammond’s conclusions, in other words, seriously challenge the stereotypes of Wesley—the evangelical revivalist who abandoned his “high church” proclivities after Aldersgate—promulgated, in particular, through nineteenth-century portraits of the Methodist founder.
Chapter 1 establishes the basic premise of Hammond’s interpretation of this period in Wesley’s life as an effort to reconstitute apostolic Christianity in a primitive setting and explores the origins of this vision. As a young student at Christ Church, Oxford, Wesley had experienced the Patristic renaissance in the University and became enamored of theologians and church leaders of the primitive church. His friendly attachment to important Non-Juring churchmen who elevated the practices and traditions of primitive Christianity fueled Wesley’s passion in these directions. Hammond demonstrates what Wesley scholars like Richard Heitzenrater had observed earlier, that in the context of the Holy Club, Wesley put early Christian tradition into practice, praying the hours, fasting twice weekly, and observing the more ancient practices associated with the Eucharist. Hammond demonstrates how these practices and Wesley’s vision of a restored primitive Christianity continue with increased vigor as he journeys to the colony of Georgia (chapter 2), engages with the Lutheran Pietists (chapter 3), and establishes a pattern of habituated primitive practice in the frontier setting (chapter 4). By documenting the interface and Wesley’s reading of Patristic sources (particularly the Apostolic Constitutions, which he believed to be authentic), Hammond ties each practice directly to these primary sources. Chapter 5 examines the opposition Wesley experienced in Georgia vis-à-vis this vision of Christian primitivism. His entanglement with Sophia Hopkey figures prominently in these discussions, as one who knows the basic narrative of this period might well expect. Wesley’s excommunication of Hopkey after her marriage to William Williamson and his fastidious attention of church law more than ruffled feathers. Within that turmoil, however, Wesley, as Hammond demonstrates, continued to advocate women’s leadership—modeled after the early church—beyond his close relationship with Hopkey. His concern for the poor and marginalized reflected his primitivism as well.
Hammond identifies five sub-themes that challenge many of the negative stereotypes of this period perpetrated by previous biographers. He takes particular aim at those who have portrayed the Georgia period as a painful episode of spiritual apprehension, relational calamity, and missional failure for Wesley, correcting these shibboleths and affording a more highly nuanced portrait of an Anglican-in-earnest in search of a vital experience of primitive Christianity. Rigorous scholarship, an engaging narrative, and a focus on pastoral practices characterize this volume worthy of close attention and study.