Watching and Praying (Personality Transformation in Eighteenth-Century British Methodism)

Using John Wesley’s sermons and treatises, and the autobiographical narratives of his followers, Watching and Praying gives a detailed examination of the contemplative techniques that comprised Wesley’s “method” and model of personality transformation. The first of its kind, the book employs a psychoanalytic perspective that explains both the effectiveness of the method and the emotional crises that arose at every turn. Haartman argues that Wesley’s view of spiritual growth – a series of developmental stages that culminated in “sanctification” – was legitimately therapeutic as measured by the standards of contemporary psychoanalysis. Wesley’s pastoral genius lay not only in his implicit grasp of the unconscious (e.g. repression, defense, sublimation), but also in his abiding appreciation of healthy ideals and their integrative power. Watching and Praying will appeal to psychoanalysts interested in the clinical facets of religious experience, to scholars in the field of psychology and religion, and to researchers in the area of personality change.