67).
Of all of the events that chronicled in the book, the fire stands out as the most poignant force that helped to shape John Wesley's life. After this, Wesley developed the idea that god had saved him because he had a purpose for his life. Thinking all was lost, Wesley's father knelt in prayer when John was rescued just before the building collapsed (Collins, p. 14). Samuel Wesley prayed not to save his belongings, but instead thanked him for saving his son. This also had an effect on the rest of Wesley's family. Collins biography reveals that nine infants died, but that John still came from a large family. The Wesley family knew the value of every member of the family.
The fire shaped the family, particularly the way in which John had been spared from the flames. After that, John Wesley's mother decided that he was special and that he had been chosen by God. She made a special effort to make sure that she instilled proper religious teachings of in Wesley and gave him opportunities to explore his own spirituality and faith. The fire was perhaps one of the most pivotal points in young John Wesley's life and the point that changed the rest of his life. Wesley was never able to fully understand why he had been spared and this was reflected in his idea that reason that can only go so far and that the Bible only gives us what we need to know for salvation (United Methodist Church, p. 17). We should not seek to understand the mind of God; we should only seek to follow his word.
The first chapters of the book about Wesley's early life are perhaps the most engaging. It is here that the reader learns the foundations that shaped Wesley's beliefs and mind. Collins relied on the works of other biographers for the pertinent facts of Westly's life. However, as Collins notes, there are many discrepancies among famous biographers as to the dates of certain events, or the reasons for them. For instance, biographers disagree on the cause of the fire that nearly took young Wesley's life. Collins...
Collins tries to bring as readers an understanding of the inner life of John Wesley, rather than focusing on the outward results of his works or beliefs. That is the real contribution of columns work to the collection of biographies that now exist.
One of the key strengths of Collins books is that it provides more depth and insight into the mind of John Wesley than other biographical works. One example of this is the supposed plagiarism of Samuel Johnson's work (Abelove, p. 71). Like Wesley, he takes note of these differences, but leaves them for others to decide for themselves. These differences in material facts and unwillingness to take a stand on them is one of the key weaknesses of the work. However, Collins compensated by giving the reader the sources that he used, thus diverting attention from them so that the main point of the work would be the focus. Collins succeeded in giving the readers a different view of the life of John Wesley than one usually gets from other biographical works. His work is pivotal in understand the many that was John Wesley.
Works Cited
Abelove, H. 1997. John Wesley's plagiarism of Samuel Johnson and its contemporary reception.
The Huntington Library Quarterly, vol. 59m no. 1. pp.73 -- 80
Collins, K. A Real Christian: The Life of John Wesley. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. 1999.
United Methodist Church (1984) the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, 1984,
Nashville, TN: United Methodist Publ. House, p. 77,
Wallace, Charles Jr. (1997) Susanna Wesley: the complete writings, New York: Oxford
University Press, p. 67.
