The Crucible of Life, the Role of Experience in John Wesley’s Theological Method

This volume is published in cooperation with the Center for the Study of World Christian Revitalization Movements at Asbury Theological Seminary. Building on the work of the previous studies, the Center provides a focus for research in the history and practice of revitalization movements within the Christian tradition. The purpose of this project is to sponsor interdisciplinary, international, and interdenominational research on the relationship between religious revivals and socio-cultural change. The Center recognizes the need for conducting research that combines insights from the history of evangelical renewal and revival movements with anthropological and religious studies literature on revitalization movements. It also networks with similar or related research and study centers around the world, in addition to sponsoring its own research projects. Crutcher's study of John Wesley's understanding of experience provides a comprehensive survey of Wesley's use of experience for doing theology and takes that discussion to new depths and clarity, and in so doing he serves to advance the concern for revitalization within Christianity that cannot be meaningfully articulated without attention to this foundational issue.