Emptiness as a Work of the Holy Spirit in the Writings of John and Charles Wesley Available to Purchase

The familiar pneumatology of John and Charles Wesley can be summarized with words like fullness, assurance, and confidence. This article examines the place of spiritual emptiness as a distinct work of the Holy Spirit in the brothers’ writings. There we find that spiritual emptiness may prompt repentance, heal what is unholy, and draw believers closer to Christ in his crucifixion. Spiritual emptiness may signify that God is completing the work of salvation. This less familiar aspect of Wesleyan pneumatology does not displace the more familiar, but it does provide nuance and balance to how we understand early Wesleyan pneumatology.