Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception Book

I was born into the Free Methodists, raised Penty-costal, and now roll somewhere in-between. Reading this felt like discovering a long-forgotten element of my own legacy (numerous Methodists prior to my generation).

It was, in fact, the discovery of a legacy long-lost to most of Protestantism, the very real, very tangible social justice advocacy of John Wesley.

Exhaustively cited, the author presents the case of a John Wesley who's theology resembles socialist Liberation Theology far more than the historically received model, that of "empire defending", hostility to the poor, or otherwise alliance with the prevailing power structures in the name of Jesus.

Marx would never have called religion the opiate of the masses, had he read Wesley's journals!

Wesley had sharp, prophetically damning words for his own England's conquest of India, strictly to eliminate a textile competitor (!), along with the hypocritical American claims against England, claiming slavery as their reason to rebel, while owning slaves themselves. However, Wesley later applauds America for separating Church and State, uniquely ironic today, as extremists advocate an American, Christian equivalent to Iran.

Even the long Protestant tradition of Prohibition gets new light in this work. Particularly odious to me (LOL), I was pleased to learn that Wesley's opposition to DISTILLERIES (not beer or wine) was not based on scripture...but rather on the very real exploitation of the poor by those merchants all too willing to sell to those who could barely afford bare necessities. The blood of the poor was on their hands, and Wesley made no bones about equating their economic choice with hellfire, itself, precisely BECAUSE it exploited the poor!

Wesley's influence on all of Christendom is massive; were these same people to learn how he REALLY felt, our "Empire-allied", American Christianity would be called out for what it REALLY is: oppression hiding behind a Jesus mask. We would then have to choose between "Babylon" or Jesus, and if we heeded Wesley's call, the world would finally resemble a world transformed by the Jesus of scripture.