A Wesleyan Critique of the Leviathan of Capitalism

For Wesley, the spirit of capitalism is utterly inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity. For Wesley, this is evident in the economic story of the Gospel as displayed in the narrative of Jesus and the early Church. All one's actions should be reflective of the Divine Image of God, bound to love of neighbor. This conviction led Wesley to write some of evangelicalism's most scathing sermons on money, riches and power, and unrelentingly to critique any worldview that sought to victimize the very people to whom the Gospel had been originally proclaimed. Thus, to see the world from a Wesleyan perspective is not to be disillusioned by the narrative of endless consumption and debt; it is to engage the world with sanctified action. Consequently, Wesley comes to some vastly different conclusions than would be embraced by many contemporary Christians, evangelical or otherwise. The world from a Wesleyan perspective is the creation of an economy in which one is endlessly given to others, sharing with others, and defending others until one no longer lives in isolation asserting one's “rights,” but is rather marked by true koinonia wherein the myth of capitalism gives way to the story of the common … bound in sanctified love. This paper tells this story.