A Greater Than John Wesley is Here

A Greater than John Wesley is here in America.  87 years of age he is alive and kicking and has just published his memoir, Dream With Me.

I am a proud Wesleyan.  In my opinion, John Wesley was the greatest Christian leader since NT times.  Greater than Calvin and Luther in that he led a remarkable religio-social movement that reached the masses, especially the poor.

John Wesley's greatest strengths were:

1.  An intense biblical focus on and practice of LOVE.

2.  Evangelism focused on the poor.

3.  A new style of church, including class meetings, that created strong disciples.

4.  A Spirit-filled movement.

Wesley's greatest weaknesses were:

1.  Weak on kingdom justice; his strong emphasis on love did not include an equally strong biblical emphasis on justice.  Justice and love must be combined like Siamese twins.

2.  His strong emphasis on the poor did not include an equally strong emphasis on the biblical teaching on oppression, the primary cause of poverty.  He did not understand how political and economic systems often became systems of oppression.  Howard Snyder, an expert on Wesley, concludes that John Wesley does not make a good guide in political and economic matters.  Wesley believed in the divine right of kings; therefore Christians should obey kings.  Period.

More speculation on why Wesley was weak on the extensive biblical teaching on justice.  The KJV, likely Wesley's primary English Bible, was a catastrophic failure in its translation of justice.  Whereas the typical Spanish, French or Latin translations of the NT had around 100 references to justice, the KJV had zero references to justice.  Even the KJV OT was deeply flawed on justice.  The Hebrew mishpat was almost always translated as judgment, not justice.  So Amos 5:24 read "Let judgment roll down like waters."

John Perkins is one a few Americans who has a deep understanding of justice.  Being born in raised in Mississippi as a poor, oppressed black, he was keenly aware of the need for justice.  Perkins realized that only a Jubilee justice could end oppression and produce justice.

In some important ways, John Perkins went further than Martin Luther King.  He developed and practiced a remarkable method to rebuild poor communities which he called Christian Community Development.  Perkins implemented King's 'beloved community.'

I assert that in some important ways Perkins was superior to both Wesley and King.  I say this only to draw attention Perkins unique ideas and practice of biblical Christianity.  John Perkins himself would reject these types of comparisons as idle talk by scholars.