John Wesley and the Education of Children

Gender, Class and Piety

Linda A. Ryan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351607292
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Denominaciones cristianas

Scholars have historically associated John Wesley's educational endeavours with the boarding school he established at Kingswood, near Bristol, in 1746. However, his educational endeavours extended well beyond that single institution, even to non-Methodist educational programmes. This book sets out Wesley's thinking and practice concerning child-rearing and education, particularly in relation to gender and class, in its broader eighteenth-century social and cultural context.

Drawing on writings from Churchmen, Dissenters, economists, philosophers and reformers as well as educationalists, this study demonstrates that the political, religious and ideological backdrop to Wesley's work was neither static nor consistent. It also highlights Wesley's eighteenth-century fellow Evangelicals including Lady Huntingdon, John Fletcher, Hannah More and Robert Raikes to demonstrate whether Wesley's thinking and practice around schooling was in any way unique.

This study sheds light on how Wesley's attitudes to education were influencing and influenced by the society in which he lived and worked. As such, it will be of great interest to academics with an interest in Methodism, education and eighteenth-century attitudes towards gender and class.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. Child-rearing and education in eighteenth-century England
• 2. Influences that helped shape John Wesley’s educational thinking
• 3. The implementation of John Wesley’s thinking on education
• 4. Educating pauper children: 1723–1780
• 5. Kingswood boarding school: 1746–1780
• 6. Growing tension between education and Evangelism: 1760–1791
• 7. Educating pauper children after 1780
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index