par van Noppen, Jean Pierre 
Référence Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, 73, 3, page (693-714)
Publication Publié, 1995
Référence Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, 73, 3, page (693-714)
Publication Publié, 1995
Article sans comité de lecture
| Résumé : | The critics' stereotype represents Methodism as an oppressive, reactionary discourse forced upon illiterate audiences by insidious rhetorical devices. The guiding hypothesis which underlies such analyses seems to be that the success of Methodism, if any, was not a natural and voluntary response to a religious appeal, but the effect of a deliberate, manipulative process which cynically sought to trick people into a belief system which conditioned their world-view and behaviour patterns, allegedly on behalf of industrial interests which required an obedient and submissive work force. A critical, corpus-based analysis shows that Wesley's discourse did contain the seeds of a work ethic which lay the message open to misunderstanding and misuse in post-Wesleyan Methodism; but the Methodist revival as a whole cannot be indicted with intentional manipulation of the working masses. |
