Christian History Home > Issue 69 > Like Mother, Like Son
Like Mother, Like Son
John Wesley's parents, especially his mother, profoundly influenced his character and career.
Charles Wallace, Jr. | posted 1/01/2001 12:00AM
The Reverend Samuel Wesley never cared much for the Isle of Axholme, a slight elevation in the middle of the north Lincolnshire fen country. He was sure his literary and theological talents better suited him for a bishopric or a prime London appointment. But he had been assigned to the village churches at Epworth and Wroot, so there he stayed from the end of the seventeenth century to 1735.
Samuel's wife, London-bred Susanna, also had literary and theological gifts—and a practical orientation that allowed her to get along in their rural setting. But she was not afraid to question her husband's authority.
John absorbed ideas from both of his unusual parents, but his mother clearly had the strongest influence on him. Indeed, Elsie Harrison's incisive biography of John is titled simply Son to Susanna.
Susanna earned quite a reputation for squabbling with her husband over theology and politics. Letters to a nearby noblewoman and a renegade conservative cleric reveal details of a marriage-threatening ...
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