The Works of John Wesley - the Bicentennial Edition
As most Wesleyan and Methodist folks know, Abingdon has been publishing the only scholarly edition of the Works of John Wesley, often called the Bicentennial Edition. It is a masterpiece of Wesleyan study with notes by the greatest Wesleyan Scholars alive, (and some no longer alive such as Albert Outler who edited the four volumes of Wesley's Sermons. His notes alone are worth the entire project.) The first volume of this huge project was published over 30 years ago. The latest volumes to be released were published this summer. This great work plods along.
In 2005, Abingdon released a CD of the then published volumes in electronic format. It was a terrible format and virtually useless. I do have it installed on my computer for it is the only electronic format available. I can at least read the sermons and journals on it.
However, since that failure by Abingdon, there have been a significant number of volumes published in this project. These volumes have never been published in electronic format. Obviously, it is time to upgrade that terrible CD Abingdon released in 2005. I want the upgrade to be in Logos format.
My purpose is to urge Logos to seriously consider attempting to obtain the rights to publish this scholarly edition of Wesley's Works. After all, United Methodists are the third largest Christian denomination in the United States (behind only Catholics and Southern Baptists.). Why does Logos virtually ignore this market? This would be a great cornerstone for a Methodist / Wesleyan Collection.
Think of a Methodist / Wesleyan Collection that included the Bicentennial Edition of John Wesley's Works, The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary, The New Interpreter's Bible Dictionary, Tom Oden's great theological works, as well as Oden's works on the Church Father's, Ben Witherington's Commentaries, John Oswalt's Isaiah Commentary in the NICOT, and other Wesleyan Commentaries. A great Wesleyan package is already in Logos format, except for you know what.
It stands to reason that some Bible software is going to publish the Bicentennial Edition of Wesley's Works. It will be a shame (in my eyes) if it is not Logos.
I am one of my state's 6 delegates to General Conference 2016 next May. I am seriously thinking of submitting a resolution calling for Abingdon to seek to publish the Bicentennial Edition of Wesley's Works in the format of several of the popular Bible programs, including Faithlife and Wordsearch, etc. This would be based upon the fact that many of our clergy now use Bible software as their primary library and study tool. But given the controversial issues we will wrestle with, I may not be able to get something practical to the floor.
"In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church," John Wesley
Comments
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Michael,
You present a compelling case! Thanks for bringing this up.
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Michael Childs said:
Think of a Methodist / Wesleyan Collection that included the Bicentennial Edition of John Wesley's Works, The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary, The New Interpreter's Bible Dictionary, Tom Oden's great theological works, as well as Oden's works on the Church Father's, Ben Witherington's Commentaries, John Oswalt's Isaiah Commentary in the NICOT, and other Wesleyan Commentaries
SOLD! Take my money! I'm in!
This is underrepresented in Logos.
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Michael Childs said:
As most Wesleyan and Methodist folks know, Abingdon has been publishing the only scholarly edition of the Works of John Wesley, often called the Bicentennial Edition. It is a masterpiece of Wesleyan study with notes by the greatest Wesleyan Scholars alive, (and some no longer alive such as Albert Outler who edited the four volumes of Wesley's Sermons. His notes alone are worth the entire project.) The first volume of this huge project was published over 30 years ago. The latest volumes to be released were published this summer. This great work plods along.
[Y][Y][Y]
Dell, studio XPS 7100, Ram 8GB, 64 - bit Operating System, AMD Phenom(mt) IIX6 1055T Processor 2.80 GHZ
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This would be a great and welcomed addition.
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Agreed! [Y]
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Logos 7 Collectors Edition
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I have not purchased Logos yet, but am starting a distance study program next year and am seriously considering it. A Wesleyan/Methodist base package option and access to the Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley would certainly cause me to make the plunge.
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100 % agree! I am in.
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Absolutely right Mike. When I wrote my dissertation for my Doctoral project at Candler my advisor who is a well known Wesley scholar said to not use the Jackson Edition from Logos it is not respected among scholars. I now own all the print volumes of the Bicentennial Edition. I would search for what I needed in Jackson and then would go find it in the other edition. Pain in the. . . how much easier it would have been. I possessed the CD at one time too. It was awful.
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Question: What is the difference between the Jackson and Bicentennial versions? Is it it old English vs. modern English? Conservative vs. liberal? Or what?
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The difference is the scholarly apparatus the editors put together. This includes everything from the scripture references in notes, forwards to sermons and letters, clarifying where Wesley is citing others, and parsing older English phrasing and vocabulary for the modern reader.
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Kenneth Neighoff said:
This would be a great and welcomed addition.
Since it's not yet linked in this old thread: there's a suggestion to vote for it https://feedback.faithlife.com/boards/logos-book-requests/posts/bicentennial-edition-of-wesley-s-works
Have joy in the Lord!
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