Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Do Methodist preachers ever use John Wesley's Notes on the New Testament

In the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (the connexion of which I am a member) we claim that the doctrines of the Evangelical Faith are based upon the Divine revelation recorded in the Holy Scriptures. "These Evangelical Doctrines, to which the preachers of the Methodist Church, ministerial and lay, are pledged, are contained in Wesley's Notes on the New Testament and his Forty-four Sermons" [Laws and Discipline, MCSA, 11 edition, 2007]. I wonder however, how many of our preachers have actually read the Forty-four sermons and how many refer to JW's Notes when preparing a sermon. I may be wrong, but I believe the answer to both questions is: relatively few. I base this assumption on informal discussions, as well as a perusal of some of our recent 'study documents' which often quote many other commentators, but not JW's Notes. They are very accessible on the world wide web and are in the public domain. When I bought my own 'hard copy' a number of years ago I could not source one from our denominational bookshop in South Africa, but did find a copy in my local branch of a national franchise Christian bookshop.

With this in mind I am going to make available each week, JW's notes on the Gospel reading set for the coming Sunday based on the Revised Common Lectionary, which is currently in Year C.