John Wesley has always created debate. During his lifetime, the number of debates that he either instigated, jumped into, or caused would be an article, or a book, all its own. These controversies only continued after his death in 1791, even as many Methodists with their commemorative Staffordshire Wesley busts, Wedgwood Wesley teapots, and numerous framed prints of the man placed in chapels and homes on both sides of the Atlantic made him into an almost mythic figure.
In the century after his death, Methodists continued to admire Wesley, even as Methodism itself developed in ways that were not always in line with his theological vision or practice. Theologians within the tradition arose, some with interest in Wesley but many without it, such as Adam Clarke, Nathan Bangs, Richard Watson, William Burt Pope, and others. American Methodism often revered Wesley yet took its cues from Francis Asbury and later revivalists of an American variety. Even Asbury ignored Wesley at times.
As…