Customer Reviews

A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (Epworth Classics)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

John Wesley (1703-1791) firmly believed that God continued to work in the life of the believer subsequent to justification. In A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, Wesley provides an account of the development of his understanding of the doctrine of Christian Perfection. This short work contains a lucid explanation of the doctrine with special attention not only to the Biblical promises and commands that are the basis of the doctrine but also the practical way that "perfect love" works in the life of the believer. While this work was certainly intended to instruct those who were seeking "perfect love," it also attempts to answer those who would deny the doctrine.

The essence of Christian Perfection, for Wesley, was clearly defined by Christ when an expert in the law asked him, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 23.36-40 NRSV)

Here one sees that, for Wesley, the main point of Christian Perfection is "perfect love." "Perfect love" thus defines our relationship to God and others.

This book is essential for those in the Wesleyan tradition and a worthwhile read for those from other Christian perspectives that wish to understand what Wesley thinks Christian Perfection is and is not.

Wesley's brief treatise on the important yet overlooked Christian doctrine of perfection is a "must read" for all Christians interested in growing in Christ. The fact that this book is not mandatory reading in every seminary and Bible school is a travesty, making a mockery contemporary Christian education. This book is excellent for anyone serious about their spiritual journey.

Since Wesley wrote in a different era, his style requires some adjustment but once one gets past that there is a lot of edifying content in this book. The key point of this book is the issue of "perfection." He sees it as living what Jesus said was the greatest commandment and its accompanying commandment, i.e., to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Wesley's life demonstrates that he reached the goal. He traveled extensively, read widely, wrote inspiringly, and influenced many people to believe in Jesus as their Savior. Thank God for his legacy in words and deeds. He truly practiced and preached.

I'll get straight to the point.

DO NOT BUY THIS EDITION OF "A plain account of Christian Perfection."

This book was a dismal disappointment. It is full of typos, missing words & sentences, and other gobbldeygook that makes reading it a chore and drastically limits one's ability to understand the author's intent.

Why is this book like this? Becuase it was not typed by a human being, but by an automated computer system that scanned in the original book, using software to "read" the letters and generate the text so it can then be printed.

This is explained in the front of the book, but it was NOT made clear here on the Amazon page. The "Product Description" here on Amazon does mention "This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text" BUT the "Look Inside" view for this book is NOT from this edition. Do not be misled by the conflicting information on this listing.

Spend a little more and get one of the REAL editions of this book. As I write this, there is another edition from a traditional publisher available on Amazon for less than $4 more.

I regret my purchase, and will try to return it. Please don't make the same mistake I made.

What a great book, what a poor copy.

Read the rest of the one star reviews to get the full story on this particular edition.

I am just adding this review to make sure there are enough in this column to warn people about the printing problem.

However, don't avoid this read! Get it in another edition.

Apparently there was no editing done on this edition. Spend the extra $0.50 and get the other Kindle version that has been combed over to ensure accuracy.

This review is specifically for the copy published by General Books LLC (the beige copy), NOT the copy published by CreateSpace(the blue copy):

This is a horrible copy on account of its major formatting errors and typos. There are many spaces missing between words and sporadic nonsensical sets of characters interspersed between words, for example: "perfection.,.).,-..-j-..,..,.--. ur:;-,; For", and, "us.'" ' .;.;.':.$,/.:..:-.-,".

I am NOT attacking Wesley. I admire Wesley and the work he has done for God's kingdom. Go purchase the copy of "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection" published by CreateSpace [...] which unfortunately has been associated with this poor copy.

It is scandalous that Amazon carries this item. The copy is so riddled with typographical errors, including streams of symbols and letters combined, that often the text is rendered nonsensical and indecipherable. Whatever my view of Wesley's doctrine might be, I would appreciate being able to analyze it using a text that benefited from the attention of simple copy editing at the most basic level. There literally are hundreds of errors in this copy, which makes reading it unproductive.