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Critical Pragmastylisticsapplied to

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Early Methodist Discourse A Critical Analysis

© Commission Régionale de la Catéchèse, Strasbourg. Ed. Rameau-Sadifa.

A Balanced Conclusion ...

• Wesley : a remarkably effective multi-media communicator !

• Wesley advocated a number of conservative causes, but there are no grounds for suspecting him of manipulating the rising proletariat on behalf of industrial capitalism.

• Criticism of Wesley has been partial, « partiel et partial »= selective and biased

• Granted : certain branches of 19th-century Methodism are more open to the accusation of conservative sympathies (« opposition to social progress »)

(= improving the workers’ social situation, or emancipation through revolution ?)

• But other connexions took the « leftward turn » to defend labour interests.

Preaching (in the open air)Itinerance (to reach audiences)Singing (to reach illiterates)Teaching (Classes, Sunday Schools)Printing (Tracts, Magazines, Journals)Societies

• The final picture presented by an analysis can vary widely according to differences of perspective and emphasis.

• [...] An emphasis cannot be regarded as either right or wrong, but it can be challenged on the grounds of being misleading (Gilbert 1976:87).

Why a Critical Analysis of Methodist Discourse ?

• « A progressive, modernising and revolutionary influence » which « leavened the labour movement »

B. SemmelJ. Davenport

Methodist discourse has given rise to divergent evaluations :


• « A social religion par excellence, a hint of daybreak in the national darkness, the greatest friend the working masses had in the 18th century » ...

W. Thonger


• « A deliberate scheme to blunt consciousness, which weakened the working classes from within by internalizing capitalist demands ... which discouraged sedition and rebellion and thus hindered the emancipation of the proletariat »

E.P. Thompson

• The ideological and political impact of Methodist discourse, then, is subject to controversy, but ...

• ... the popular success of Methodism in terms of growth is attested.

• How can this success be explained, and ...

• What can the linguist contribute to the debate ?

discourse analystdiscourse analyst : « exogenous reasons »,

documenting...

• institutions, ...• historical and cultural context• participants (senders and recipients); • their motives, needs and expectations :

=> Transforming Words, 1999

• • stylisticianstylistician : the corresponding internal characteristics :

=> description : form and content of texts=> The English Hymn, 2001=> Wesley’s Pulpit Style, 2007

Communicative(Situational)Constraints

LinguisticFeatures

D. Hymes : « SPEAKING »Towards Ethnographies of Communication (1964)

SS Setting, Scene (hist., soc., psych. context)PP Participants (senders, receivers)EE Ends (aims pursued)AA Act Sequences (form and content)KK Key (styles of communication)II Instrumentalities (means of communication)NN Norms (norms of interpretation/reception)GG Genres (expectations and constraints)

18th-century England :

« a time of great social upheaval, leading to rampant social evils in a disastrous moral and spiritual climate »

giving rise to ...

EnclosuresIndustrial RevolutionPopulation Movements

ExploitationCriminalityInjusticeAlcoholismProstitution

… large underprivileged sections of the community living in conditions of insecurity and distress, and

… relegated to the margins of society.

Yet these people appear to have come to the new mining and industrial centres with a spiritual need of sorts, …

… which was most often ignored by the Established Church

« The Church of England spoke a language altogether foreign to the situation of the emerging proletariat, both in terms of register and of relevance. »

« If the Church of England was unable to adapt to the new circumstances, Wesley’s itinerant system could and did :

Wesley ... found the victims of the social and economic dislocations where they were and ... gathered them into new social groups in which each person found acceptance and a new sense of dignity. »

Itinerant open-air preaching : an efficient popular medium,

« re-invented » for the purpose.

George Whitefield+ lay preachers

(Humphrey Clinker,Dinah Morris)

D. Hymes : « SPEAKING »Towards Ethnographies of Communication (1964)

SS Setting, Scene (hist., soc., psych. context)PP Participants (senders, receivers)EE Ends (aims pursued)AA Act Sequences (form and content)KK Key (styles of communication)II Instrumentalities (means of communication)NN Norms (norms of interpretation/reception)GG Genres (expectations and constraints)

Thy (Thee, Thou, Thine, Thyself), My (Me), Love, Grace, O, All, Let, Sin, Lord, Heart, Soul, Saviour, We (Us, Our), God, Shall, Praise, Hast, Jesus, Art, Earth, Heaven(ly), Blood, Faith, Perfect, Glory (Glorious), Word, Gracious, Spirit, Still, Mercy, Lamb, Name, Feel, Impart, Remove, Prove, Live, Face, Save, Come, Below, Above.

KEY WORDS in WESLEY’S HYMNS :

John

Charles

= an efficient popular medium,« re-invented » for the purpose.

= prominent in termsof relative frequency

AscriptiveTrinitarian



AscriptiveTrinitarianProtestant :« Sola Gratia »« Sola Fide »« Sola

Scriptura »



AscriptiveTrinitarianProtestantArminian :« Grace for All »(rather than for the

elect or predestined)

Thy (Thee, Thou, Thine, Thyself), My (Me), Love, Grace, Love, Grace, O, All,All, Let, Sin, Lord, Heart, Soul, Saviour, We (Us, Our), God, Shall, Praise, Hast, Jesus, Art, Earth, Heaven(ly), Blood, Faith, Perfect, Glory (Glorious), Word, Gracious, Spirit, Still, Mercy, Lamb, Name, Feel, Impart, Remove, Prove, Live, Face, Save, Come, Below, Above.


A gospel of grace, accessible to all:= a message of love and hope :

it proclaimed salvation for all, without distinction=> the equality of all humans before God

which suggested=> the equality of all humans on earth

which yielded=> social and moral comfort

and allowed people to hope for=> improvement of their fate / condition :

• in the hereafter,• but also here and now

An ethic of sinlessness and industriousnessconducive to happier family lives ,increased (= better-spent) income,increased health and (self-) respect.

Social integration (classes, societies).

Literacy (Sunday-Schools)

Social ascendancy.

A favourable response from the public sensitive to the immediate advantages of joining the Methodist movement;

Hostile reactions from the religious and political Establishment;

20th century :

Methodism denounced by Marxists as« opiate of the people »

Interpretation /Interpretation /Reception :Reception :

An example of Audience Response :

« When I found myself noticed and cared for by [the Methodist preacher], and even treated with brotherly respect, ... I felt as if I had risen from the rank of nothingness to that of being : I felt as if I really was a man, or destined to be one, and as if the world had not been made in vain. I felt as if I had been an outcast from the world before, [...] and as if I was now admitted within its circle » (The Life of Joseph Barker).

A positive evaluation by an opponent :

« The immediate temporal advantages which people of the lower classes feel as soon as they enter [the Methodist] society must [...] be numbered among the most efficient causes of its rapid and continued increase. All idle and pernicious habits, all useless expences are proscribed. [The convert’s] pride is gratified in the consequence which he obtains by being an acknowledged member of the community. »

A negative evaluation by an opponent :

« The Methodists’ doctrines are most repulsive and strongly tinctured with impertinence and disrespect towards their superiors, in perpetually endeavouring to level all ranks and to do away with all distinctions. »

« It is monstrous to be told that you have a heart as sinful as the common wretches that crawl on the earth»

The Duchess of Buckingham

to the Countess of Huntingdon :

The Wesleyan Message = Brainwashing ?

Present-day manipulation of the masses by means of advertising and TV is nothing compared with the insidious indoctrination carried out by Methodism. (E.P. Thompson)

Il est stupéfiant de voir ce Saint François du siècle des lumières inaugurer les techniques terriblement efficaces de la publicité et de la propagande modernes, sinon du lavage de cerveau. (C.J. Bertrand)


If one ignores the « natural » appeal of the message,one needs to find another explanation

for its success.

(Thompson, Sargant, Bertrand, Abelove)

• The target audiences were lulled into hypnosis or excited into hysteria by the singing of hymns ...

• ... heavily fraught with sexual and sado-masochistic imagery in order to increase emotive tension and thus lower the threshold of receptivity;

The Wesleyan Message = Brainwashing ?The arguments of Thompson, Sargant, Davenport, Bertrand

If one ignores the « natural » appeal of the message, one needs to find another explanation for its success :

• a state of fear was fostered by frightening representations of infernal torments ;

• the audience’s anxiety was prodded by «taylorized» repetitions of the urgency of immediate conversion ;

• the meetings provoked and exploited spectacular emotive effects such as crying, shouting, convulsions and fainting ;



• the resulting conversions were sudden but short-lived ;

• as a result Methodism resorted to «classes» to effect a form of mutual policing, and thus maintain the converts within the sphere of Methodist influence.

• « ticket blackmail » : refusal to renew the ticketsof members with revolutionary penchants



« A selective collage of half-truths » (JPvN)

A reading « with » the text yields a more plausible interpretation than a reading « against »,

but the reading « against » corresponds better to the stereotype of religion as « opiate of the people ».



Is it « revisionist » to suppose a reading « in good faith » of religious discourse ?


« A selective collage of half-truths »« A selective collage of half-truths »

1. The hymns :Appeal of music, of rhythmEmotive effect of communal singing= hysteria, hypnosis ?

2. Sexual and sado-masochistic imagery ?a. Critics have unearthed a few examples of Moravian hymnody, which Wesley himself rejected as

«an amazing compound of nonsense and blasphemy»

« A selective collage of half-truths »

Sexual imagery ?

« Dearest little opening »

« Hide My soul in Jesu’s wounded side; O put me in the cleft... »

« O precious side-hole’s cavityI want to spend my life in thee ...There in one side-hole’s joy divineI’d spend all future days of mine ... »

b. Critics have maligned Wesley’s imagery of blood / wounds in certain hymns; but note that :

a) « blood » is one of the key words in the hymns ; butb) most of the occurrences enjoy biblical status;c) images of « poor taste » are rare.


« Still the wounds are open wide,The Blood doth freely flowAs when first His sacred sideReceiv’d the deadly blow.Still, O God, the blood is warm,Cover’d with the blood we are... »

Collocations of « blood » ?


3. Threats of immediate retribution,inspiring fear of hell ?

« hell » a relatively infrequent theme in Wesley (only 1 sermon, « On Hell »)

Wesley disapproved of « hellfire and brimstone» preaching

but it is true that some lay preachers ...... made an exaggerated use of it.

« A selective collage of half-truths »« A selective collage of half-truths »

The Law / Gospel schema advocated by Wesley :

I think the right method of preaching is this [...]: After a general declaration of the love of God to sinners, to preach the law. [...] After more and more persons are convinced of sin, we may mix more and more of the gospel.

I would not advise to preach the law without the gospel, any more than the gospel without the law. (J.W.: Letters on Preaching Christ, December 20, 1751).

The Law / Gospel schema denounced by Sargant :

Law = certitude that the sinner is bound for hell

Gospel = need for immediate conversion

What did Wesley actually say ? (in the very text quoted by Sargant !)

By “preaching the law” I mean explaining and enforcing the commands of Christ briefly comprised in the Sermon on the Mount. (…) I mean by “preaching the gospel” preaching the love of God to sinners (…) with all the blessings which in consequence thereof are freely given to true believers.

4. « taylorised repetitions » ?

Repetition of key notions, of aphorisms= brainwashing or good pedagogy ?

« for all my Lord was crucified, for all, for all my Saviour died, for all, for all my Saviour died ! »


5. A climate charged with emotion(crying, shouting, fainting, ...) ?

Yes, in the early manifestations; but Wesley was wary of them, did not « exploit » them, and encouraged austere and disciplined practice.


6. Short-lived conversions ? Disengagement ?

• not all adhesions were permanent (or spiritually motivated);• but membership numbers kept growing, and• members were not retained against their will -- on the contrary :


« Un collage sélectif de demi-vérités »

7. Classes : a spiritual police ?

• a locus of sharing and edification• a factor of integration for displaced members

© Commission Régionale de la Catéchèse, Strasbourg. Ed. Rameau-Sadifa

7. Classes : a spiritual police ?

• in a sense, yes ; but not in the sense suggested by Thompson (i.e. blackmail)

;rather :

• « testing » the sincerity of conversion :need to « bear fruits » (Galatians 5:22, Titus 3:14)

• refusal of the « ticket » to backsliders

• refusal or expulsion on political grounds :only in later, conservative methodism (Bunting).


Other Ends / Aims ?

Were there political motives ?

Wesley has been accused of collusion with the conservative interests of industrial capitalism,

mainly because he advocated obedience, diligence and industriousness at work as a way of abstaining from sinful activity and earning means to practise social solidarity.

A socio-economic aim : set up a community of sharing.

Earn all you can,Save all you can, and then Give all you can

(J.W.: On the Use of Money)

The roots of a Capitalist ethic (Weber) ? No : Wesley was explicitly opposed to the accumulation

of wealth ! (The More Excellent Way) but he had not anticipated a secondary effect

of «embourgeoisement »

Other objections to Wesley

His opposition to democracy His monarchism His criticism of the American Revolution His condonement of child labour


His opposition to democracy His monarchism His criticism of the American Revolution His condonement of child labourWesley worked and thought within the

mainstream political theory of an age haunted by the fear of a popular uprising, and rejected democracy lest it should establish a “dictatorship of the mob.”

In practice, however, Wesley advocated egalitarianism and the abolition of classbarriers and privileges; and in its everyday practice, Methodismproved more democratic than clerical inits reliance on laymen and -women inpositions of responsibility.



To stave off charges of sedition, Methodist doctrine must conform to the teaching of the C of E and of Scripture (Romans 13:1)*. Wesley’s faithfulness to the Crown paid off eventually, sinceGeorge II and George III advocated religious liberty. This allegiance* was however taken over by post-Wesleyan methodism as an argument against popular radicalism.

« There is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. »

« Fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change » (Prov. 24:21)



Cf. S. Johnson’s Taxation no Tyranny : The rebels were not poorslaves driven to insurrection by exploitation, but wealthy tradesmenseeking to protect their own financial and commercial interests.



18th-c. view of children : inherently depraved and sinful rather thanpartaking of adamic purity and innocence.

The high place in the virtues accorded to industriousness was not conducive to a protest against early labour.

« In works of labour or of skill I would be busy too, For Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do ».

(Isaac Watts)

A Balanced Conclusion ...

• Wesley : a remarkably effective multi-media communicator !

• Wesley advocated a number of conservative causes, but there are no grounds for suspecting him of manipulating the rising proletariat on behalf of industrial capitalism.

• Criticism of Wesley has been partial, « partiel et partial »= selective and biased

• Granted : certain branches of 19th-century Methodism are more open to the accusation of conservative sympathies (« opposition to social progress »)

(= improving the workers’ social situation, or emancipation through revolution ?)

• But other connexions took the « leftward turn » to defend labour interests.

• There are many ways of looking at a single phenomenon, and the final picture presented by an analysis can vary widely according to differences of perspective and emphasis.

• Evaluations of the role of Methodism and Dissent in early industrial England have differed significantly because historians have been impressed by different aspects of the same social or ideological functions.

• [...] An emphasis cannot be regarded as either right or wrong, but it can be challenged on the grounds of being misleading (A.D. Gilbert 1976:87).

Conclusion :

THANK YOUTHANK YOU

Abelove’s suggestion that Wesley faced his audiences “adorned with silver and gold”, for instance, is based on a single reference to a breast-pin and one report by a woman who noticed his shiny shoe-buckles. Nor does it cohere well with Wesley’s own resentment against “silver, gold, pearls and costly apparel”, which he insistently voices throughout his letters and sermons.

« A selective collage of half-truths » (JPvN)

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