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This dissertation examines the spiritual autobiographies and biographies in The Arminian Magazine (later The Methodist Magazine ) first published by John Wesley in 1778 . The study covers such narratives through the year 1803 , thus covering the transatlantic movement of early Methodism from the American Revolution up to the Napoleonic Wars . A brief background in the field of transatlantic history is provided , followed by descriptions of anthropologist Victor Turner's theory of ritual transformation and cognitive structuralist James Day's understanding of narrative strategies as frameworks for examining these narratives . Methodism's theoretical construct behind the transformations sought by Methodists , namely John Wesley's theology and his regimen of transformation , is presented next . This regimen began with awakening and conviction as first , preliminal to the transformation of pardon and new birth , and secondly , preliminal to entire sanctification ; both received through the limen of faith . Puritans in the seventeenth century offered similar narratives with which early Methodist had some familiarity , and these are examined briefly first . The role of reading and writing within Methodism is then discussed , as well as common initial reactions to Methodism in the narratives and the extensive use of the motif of supernatural communications in dreams , visions and scripture verses being strongly impressed on the mind of a subject . Each basic element of the early Methodist transformation process is discussed at length , using many examples . The final part of the research relates to Methodist expansion . First attention is given to the Yorkshire revivals that led to some controversy regarding various aspects of transformation . These issues are revisited in the extensive reports on revivals in the United States , revivals that would later be called the Second Great Awakening . These reports included many from Presbyterian ministers so prominent early on in the revivals as well as many accounts of Methodist revivals in the United States . Special attention is given to the issue of race , particularly the attitudes reflected toward slavery and toward Africans and African Americans in general . This is especially true in the examination of the narratives from the West Indies . The study concludes with relevant conclusions and areas for further study . |
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