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The History of Methodism: Volume 1

1483 – 1703

The Methodist movement did not spring fully formed from the mind of John Wesley. It emerged from two centuries of religious upheaval, theological debate, and spiritual longing that stretched from Wittenberg to Westminster, from Geneva to Georgia.

Drawing extensively on John Wesley's own writings and historical commentaries, Pruitt reveals how Wesley understood himself not as an innovator but as an inheritor — someone who drew deeply from Cranmer's prayer book, Hooker's theology, Taylor's devotional writings, and Spener's vision for small-group discipleship.

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La Historia del Metodismo: Volumen 1

1483 – 1703

El movimiento metodista no surgió completamente formado de la mente de John Wesley. Emergió de dos siglos de agitación religiosa, debate teológico y anhelo espiritual que se extendieron desde Wittenberg hasta Westminster, desde Ginebra hasta Georgia.

Basándose ampliamente en los propios escritos y comentarios históricos de John Wesley, Pruitt revela cómo Wesley se entendía a sí mismo no como un innovador, sino como un heredero: alguien que bebió profundamente del libro de oración de Cranmer, la teología de Hooker, los escritos devocionales de Taylor y la visión de Spener para el discipulado en grupos pequeños.

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Volume 1

Prolegomena & Dissertations I–XI

The opening volume contains the Prolegomena — in which Wesley sets out his method, sources, and purpose — followed by Dissertations I through XI. These early dissertations address foundational questions: whether Job’s history is true or merely parabolic, the authorship of the book, its dramatic structure, and its poetic figures.

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Volume 2

Dissertations XII–XVI

This volume continues the ethnographic and geographical studies that occupy the middle portion of Wesley’s commentary. Dissertations XII and XIII complete the survey of Abraham’s descendants and the cities of the plain. Dissertation XIV catalogues the allusions in the Book of Job to events from primordial history through the Exodus. The volume then opens the great geographical sequence with Dissertation XV on the history of Edom — the territory most closely associated with the Land of Uz — followed by a maritime periplus of the Red Sea, in which Wesley traces the Arabian Gulf coast-by-coast through classical and biblical sources.

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Volume 3

Dissertations XVII–XXVIII

The largest volume in the series, containing twelve dissertations that complete Wesley’s geographical survey and turn at last to the person of Job himself. It opens with a periplus of the Persian Gulf and a systematic traverse of the three Arabias — Petraea, Deserta, and Felix. The second half takes up the human drama of the Book of Job directly: the children of Job, his wife, his three friends, and his enemies, drawing on biblical, classical, and rabbinical traditions to reconstruct the social world of the patriarch.

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Volume 4

Dissertations XXIX–XXXIX

This volume addresses the two great disputed questions — where and when Job lived — before turning to the material and intellectual world of the Book of Job. Brief studies of warfare, law, metallurgy, botany, and gemstones follow, reconstructing the civilization reflected in Job’s world. The volume then opens Wesley’s survey of the natural phenomena reflected in Job: constellations and meteorology, the celebrated Phoenix, and the famous passages on Behemoth and Leviathan. The volume closes with the great theological question of the origin of evil.

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Volume 5

Dissertations XL–LIII & Appendices

The final volume addresses the theological and hermeneutical heart of Wesley’s enterprise. It opens with studies of idolatry, Zabianism, and Zoroastrianism — the religious systems that formed the background to Job’s world — followed by a literary study of the animal descriptions and treatments of serpent-worship, the underworld, and ancient magic. The climax comes in Dissertations L and LI on the Goel and the Resurrection — Wesley’s extended argument that Job 19:25–27 constitutes a genuine profession of faith in bodily resurrection. The volume concludes with appendices on the original subscribers, key terms, persons and works, and geographical names, along with biblical and subject indices.

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