In the British Methodist liturgical year, Aldersgate Sunday stands as the only uniquely denominational festival linked to a specific date in the calendar. This reflects an enthusiasm for the story, or the myth, of John Wesley's evangelical conversion; an enthusiasm that led Neville Ward to observe sharply in his 1967 Fernley-Hartley Lecture, The Use of Praying, that Aldersgate is a narrative ‘which Methodism has so overcooked as to make it almost unpalatable’.
Although popular commitment to the commemoration of Aldersgate Sunday has perhaps declined, scholarly interest in the event, its significance, and its interpretation has been sustained. Mark Olson's Wesley and Aldersgate, building on a Manchester PhD thesis, sets out to tackle ‘the riddle of Aldersgate’ through a careful reading of Wesley's narrative, allusions elsewhere in his works, and references in other contemporary sources. In so doing, Olson hopes to establish the significance of 24 May 1738 for...
