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Blake, Methodism, and “Christian Perfection”

Authors: Christopher Z. Hobson;

Blake, Methodism, and “Christian Perfection”

Abstract

This essay argues that Blake rejected John Wesley’s teaching of “Christian perfection” and examines the implications of this rejection for Blake’s ideas of morality, conduct, and social and sexual freedom. More specifically, it intervenes in discussions of Blake’s relation to eighteenth-century evangelicalism by proposing, at least on the issue of perfectionism as opposed to the persistence of sin, his greater affinity with the Methodism of George Whitefield than with Wesley’s. I maintain that Blake’s sense of sin was close to Whitefield’s, though distinct, and also that he rejected claims of perfectibility, such as Wesley’s, on the basis of this sense and because they provided justification for self-appointed elites. These concerns first become prominent in Milton and Jerusalem, despite some earlier foreshadowing. They exist in a productive tension with Blake’s belief in the holiness of the body, one correlating with his sense of the redeemed world as a cooperative society of imperfect beings.

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Powered by OpenAIRE graph
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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
1
Average
Average
Average
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