'Weak Heads and Worse Principles'?: Church and State, Conservatism And Identity in Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Literature, 1797-1802
This essay considers Welsh Calvinistic Methodism at the turn of the nineteenth century through two English-language texts: Thomas Jones's A Word in Season (1798), and Thomas Charles's The Welsh Methodists Vindicated (1802). It argues that a close examination of these texts reveals that cer...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
University of Wales Press
[2018]
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| In: |
The journal of religious history, literature and culture
Year: 2018, Volume: 4, Issue: 1, Pages: 79-99 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This essay considers Welsh Calvinistic Methodism at the turn of the nineteenth century through two English-language texts: Thomas Jones's A Word in Season (1798), and Thomas Charles's The Welsh Methodists Vindicated (1802). It argues that a close examination of these texts reveals that certain descriptions of the Welsh Methodists that have gained traction over time need to be addressed and re-evaluated, with the most important of these being a nearly-ubiquitous label of 'conservative'. Although the Welsh Methodists espoused politically and socially conservative values (which Jones's and Charles's texts corroborate), they were also deeply concerned with how the traditional institutions of the Church and the State were operating. Specifically, they were troubled by fears that wayward social figures, such as politicians and clergy with inadequate scriptural knowledge, were misleading the population, and even pushing it farther away from historical virtues. Jones and Charles - in different ways, with different catalysts - elevated Welsh Methodist doctrine and life as models that could guide such figures back to more appropriate performance of their social duties. Such critiques problematize recent scholarly appraisals that characterize the Welsh Methodists as unquestionably obedient to the social orders, and necessitate a shift in how we are to understand their conservatism |
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| ISSN: | 2057-4525 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of religious history, literature and culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.16922/jrhlc.4.1.4 |