A Brand from the Burning: The Life of John Wesley (Hardcover)

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Amazon.co.uk Review
A Brand from the Burning weaves together the personal, theological, political and spiritual elements in the life of John Wesley to reflect the spirit of his age and the impact he had upon it. Roy Hattersley approaches writing with the same verve and commitment that marked his political career. Always one for plain talking and a brisk sense of humour, he also has a sense of proportion both about himself and the wider world. Having authored Blood and Fire, the biography of William and Catherine Booth, the Christian social reformers who founded the Salvation Army, Hattersley turns an observant and affectionate eye on John Wesley. As a Labour politician, he is naturally interested in the impact of the Methodist movement on the social and political scene of Britain. He traces Wesley's fascinating life to show how an itinerant preacher became "one of the architects of the modern world".

John Wesley's beginning in the Anglican rectory and his enthusiasm for the Christian faith at Oxford led to his becoming a missionary to the nascent colony of Georgia. There he found God in a new way and came back to preach a revivalist message across Britain. Out of this fiery movement the Methodist Church was established and it has been claimed that because of Wesley's work Britain experienced a spiritual revival rather than a bloody revolution. Roy Hattersley writes clear, straightforward prose and tells the story of Wesley with a spark of the same zeal and charisma that Wesley himself must have had. --Dwight Longenecker

Review
Praise for A BRAND FROM THE BURNING: 'A first class biography, lucid and always interesting. Hattersley seems incapable of writing a dull page' Frank McLynn in INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'A lively, forthright biography' Jenny Uglow in SUNDAY TIMES 'A full and fair biography' Kathryn Hughes in NEW STATESMAN;

On 9 February 1709 Epworth Rectory in Lincolnshire, home of the Rector Samuel Wesley, his wife Susanna and their growing brood of children, was burned to the ground. It was only when they counted the children that Samuel and Susanna discovered one was missing: six-year-old John. By then the flames were so fierce it was impossible for anyone to go back into the house. It isn't clear how, eventually, John managed to escape on his own but it was typical of his later strength and determination that he did. Young as he was, John Wesley firmly believed that his survival was a miracle - that he was 'a brand plucked from the burning' because God had work for him to do. He was not handsome, and his personal relationships - especially with women - were disastrous, but he had charisma, and his unwavering conviction that he had been called to do God's work drew to him increasingly big crowds, whom he gave something to live for. He was amazingly tough, often riding from early morning until late at night, stopping off to preach three or four times a day to followers who became known as Methodists. Wesley had no desire to found a separate chu