title: Dumpling

text: Germany, Poland, Romania, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia boast a large variety of dumplings, both sweet and savoury. A dumpling is called Kloß in northern Germany, Knödel, Nockerl or Knöpfle in southern Germany and Austria, and Kluski in Poland. These are flour dumplings, the most common dumplings, thin or thick, made with eggs and semolina flour, boiled in water. Meat dumplings (called Klopse or Klöpse in north-eastern Germany, Knöpfle and Nocken in southern Germany) contain meat or liver. Liver dumplings are frequent additions to soup. Thüringer Klöße are made from raw or boiled potatoes, or a mixture of both, and are often filled with croutons. Bread dumplings are made with white bread and are sometimes shaped like a loaf of bread, and boiled in a napkin, in which case they are known as "napkin dumplings" (Serviettenknödel). Potato dumplings, known as "Kartoffelklöße", are common in Bavaria, Thuringia, and the Rhineland areas, but they are also consumed all over the country. They generally consist of a combination of cooked and raw potatoes that are cooked in a salted water or pan-seared in butter. A Thuringian type of potato dumplings called "Thüringer Klöße", is made with potatoes and bread and is a common variation of potato dumplings. "Kartoffelklöße" are often served alongside roasted and braised meats, sauerbraten and sauerkraut, goulash and "rouladen".


title: Dumpling

text: Maultaschen are a Swabian (Baden-Württemberg) specialty food, consisting of an outer layer of pasta dough with a filling traditionally made of sausage meat, spinach, bread crumbs and onions and flavored with various spices. Similar in appearance to Italian ravioli, Maultaschen are usually larger, however, each Maultasche being about 8–12 cm (3-5 inches) across.


title: Dumpling

text: The only potato dumpling museum in the world, the Thüringer Kloßmuseum, is located in Germany, in the municipality of Heichelheim near Weimar.


title: Dumpling

text: Halušky are a traditional variety of dumplings cooked in the Central and Eastern European cuisines (Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine). These are small lumps cut from a thick flour and egg batter and dropped into boiling water, similar to the German Spätzle, Knöpfle, or Knödel.


title: Dumpling

text: In Hungary and Romania, the dumplings usually contain plums or cottage cheese and are called in Hungarian "szilvás gombóc", Romanian "galusca cu prune", or "túrógombóc (Hun)", "coltunasi cu branza (Rom)", depending on the filling. Sweet dumplings are either pre powdered, or dredged with sugar when a sweeter taste is needed. In Hungary, dumplings are called "gombóc" and in Austria "Zwetschgenknödel". Sweet varieties called "gombóc" are made with flour and potato dough, which is wrapped around whole plums or apricots, and then boiled and rolled in hot buttered bread crumbs. Shlishkes or "Krumplinudli" are small boiled potato dumplings made from the same potato dough as the sweet plum dumplings, also rolled in hot buttered bread crumbs.


title: Dumpling

text: "Bryndzové halušky", considered the Slovak national dish, are small potato dumplings without a filling, served with salty sheep's cheese on top. The same dumplings are also used to create a similar dish, "strapačky". Also available are their related stuffed version called pirohy, usually filled with bryndza ("bryndzové pirohy"), quark cheese, potatoes, onions, cabbage, mushrooms, or meat.


title: Dumpling

text: "Idrijski žlikrofi" are Slovenian dumplings, regionally located in the town of Idrija. They are made from dough with potato filling and have a characteristic form of a hat. Žlikrofi are made by a traditional recipe from the 19th century, but the source of the recipe is unknown due to lack of historical sources. The dish may be served as a starter or a side dish to meat based dishes. Žlikrofi were the first Slovenian food to be classified as a Traditional speciality guaranteed dish.


title: Dumpling

text: Pierogi of Poland and varenyky of Ukraine are ravioli-like crescent-shaped dumplings filled with savoury or sweet filling. Varenyky are usually boiled or steamed. Pierogi are often fried after boiling.


title: Dumpling

text: "Little ears", variously called in Poland, (ушки) in Russia, (вушка) in Ukraine, and (вушкі) in Belarus, are folded ring-shaped dumplings similar in shape to Italian tortellini or Jewish kreplach. They are stuffed with meat or mushrooms and traditionally served in borshch or clear soup. In Romania, "little ears" () are also served in dumpling soup ("supă de găluşte")


title: Dumpling

text: Lithuanian dough dumplings are called and . They are usually filled with meat or curd. One of the varieties is called , "cold nosed ones", and is made with blueberry filling. There are also potato dumplings called or , filled with meat or curd inside, served with soured cream. A similar dish exists in Belarus that is called (клёцкі).


title: Dumpling

text: Russian pelmeni are smaller than varenyky and made only of minced meat with addition of onions and spices. Sometimes the meat used is only beef, in other recipes is a mixture of beef with pork or mutton, while in Siberia the filling often includes venison. Pelmeni should be juicy inside. They are unrelated to the pasta with which they are sometimes compared as it is a savoury main dish. They are usually boiled in water with spices and salt, or in meat bouillon, sometimes fried before serving. They are often served with plenty of sour cream.


title: Dumpling

text: An important difference between pelmeni, varenyky, and pierogi is the thickness of the dough shell — in pelmeni this is as thin as possible, and the proportion of filling to dough is usually higher. Pelmeni are never served with a sweet filling, which distinguishes them from varenyky and pierogi, which sometimes are. Also, the fillings in pelmeni are usually raw, while the fillings of "vareniki" and "pierogi" are typically precooked.


title: Dumpling

text: The word "pelmeni" is derived from "pel'n'an"' (пельнянь) – literally "ear bread" in the Uralic Komi, Udmurt and Mansi languages. It is unclear when pelmeni entered the cuisines of the indigenous Siberian people and when they first appeared in Russian cuisine. One theory suggests pelmeni, or stuffed boiled dumplings in general, originated in Siberia, possibly a simplified adaptation of the Chinese Wonton (in some dialect is called Bāomiàn "包面"). Pelmeni are particularly good means of quickly preserving meat during long Siberian winter, especially eliminating the need to feed livestock during the long winter months.


title: Dumpling

text: The main difference between pelmeni and Momo (dumpling) is their size—a typical pelmeni is about in diameter, whereas momo are often at least twice that size.


title: Dumpling

text: In Siberia, especially popular with the Buryat peoples are steamed dumplings called "pozi" (buuz in Mongolian, from ). They are usually made with an unleavened dough, but are often encountered leavened. The traditional filling is meat, but the kind of meat and how it is processed varies. In Mongolia, mutton is favored, and is chopped rather than ground; pork and beef mixes are more popular in Russia.


title: Dumpling

text: In Cypriot cuisine, dumplings are called ravioli ("ραβιολες") and are pasta that contains the Cypriot cheese "halloumi" ("Χαλούμι"). They look like some types of Italian ravioli.


title: Dumpling

text: Filled pastas such as ravioli and tortellini fit the basic definition of a dumpling: these are pockets of pasta enclosing various fillings (cheese, mushrooms, spinach, seafood, or meat). Instead of being made from a ball of dough, the dough is rolled flat, cut into a shape, filled with other ingredients, and then the dough is closed around the filling.


title: Dumpling

text: Gnocchi is a different kind of Italian dumpling. The word "gnocchi" literally means "lumps", and they are rolled and shaped from a mixture of egg with potato, semolina, flour, or ricotta cheese (with or without spinach). The lumps are boiled in water and served with melted butter, grated cheese, or other pasta sauces. Gnocchi are frequently added to soup.


title: Dumpling

text: In Norwegian cuisine, dumplings have a vast variety of names, as the dialects differ substantially. Names include "potetball", "klubb", "kløbb", "raspeball", "komle", "kumle", "kompe", "kumpe", "kodla", "kudle", "klot", "kams", "ball", "baill", "komperdøse", "kumperdøse", "kompadøs", "ruter", "ruta", "raskekako", "risk", "klotremat", "krumme" and "kromme". They are usually made from crushed potatoes mixed with various types of flour, often with an emphasis on barley and wheat. In some local recipes the potatoes are dehydrated, while in others there is a mixture of raw and boiled potatoes. Occasionally they are filled with salted pork. Depending on local tradition, dumplings can be sided with syrup, lingonberry jam, swede and often meat if the dumplings does not have meat filling. Leftovers are often fried in butter and served with granulated sugar.


title: Dumpling

text: One distinct variety particular to Møre og Romsdal is "blandaball" (lit. mixed ball), where equal parts potatoes and fish are used. The fish is commonly pollack or haddock.


title: Dumpling

text: In Swedish cuisine, potato dumplings of originally German origin have several regional names, mainly depending on the type of flour used. When the potato is mixed with wheat flour, which is more common in southern Sweden, it is called "kroppkaka". In Blekinge and parts of the island of Öland, it is traditionally made from grated raw potato, which makes it greyish in colour, while on Gotland and in Småland it is predominantly made from mashed boiled potato, and is thus whiter in colour. The "kroppkaka" is usually filled with diced, smoked bacon and chopped, raw onion, and is often spiced with allspice.


title: Dumpling

text: When the potato is mixed with barley flour, which is traditional in northern Sweden, it is known as "palt" in Lapland, Västerbotten and Norrbotten, and as "kams" in Jämtland, Ångermanland and Medelpad. Originally, "palt" was eaten all over Sweden and was made from barley or rye flour alone, but during the 19th century, when potato was added and wheat became more common and inexpensive, the northern recipes retained the original name, while "kroppkaka", which had always been the name used on Öland for the flour dumpling, became the name for the variant in southern Sweden.


title: Dumpling

text: "Palt" and "kams" is usually filled with diced, unsmoked bacon. However, sometimes fried bacon is served on the side of unfilled "palt" or "kams", which then is known as or , as the lack of filling makes it flatter. The most well-known "palt" variant is the Pitepalt from Piteå. In Dalarna, where the dish is known as "klabbe", it is still made without potatoes and is never filled. "Klabbe" is instead served with diced bacon on the side.


title: Dumpling

text: A variant of "palt" is "blodpalt", where pig, beef or reindeer blood is mixed into the dough. Other "palt" variants are , with minced liver added to the dough, and , with diced kidney mixed into the bacon filling. "Blodpalt" also existed across the country originally, and has been found in Iron Age graves in Halland.


title: Dumpling

text: The filled "kroppkaka", "palt" or "kams" ball – as well as the flatter, unfilled , and – is dropped into boiling salted water and cooked until it floats. It is traditionally served warm with melted butter and lingonberry jam, although in some parts of southern Sweden the melted butter is replaced by half cream (a mix of milk and cream) or a warm milk sauce, and in parts of northern Sweden the butter is replaced by a warm milk sauce spiced with messmör. Leftover "kroppkaka" is often served halved and fried.


title: Dumpling

text: Unfilled flour dumplings for use in soup are called "klimp" if the flour is wheat, but "mjölpalt" if the flour is barley or rye.


title: Dumpling

text: Meat-filled manti in Armenia are typically served with yogurt or sour cream, accompanied by clear soup. "Mantapour" is an Armenian beef soup with manta.


title: Dumpling

text: "Boraki" () are a kind of Armenian fried dumplings. The main distinction of "boraki" is that the minced meat is pre-fried, the boraki are formed as small cylinders with an open top, the cylinders are lightly boiled in broth and then fried. Boraki are served garnished with yogurt and chopped garlic.


title: Dumpling

text: "Mataz" are dumplings in Circassian and some other Caucasian cuisines, closely related to manti. They typically consist of a spiced meat mixture, usually lamb or ground beef, with greens and onions, put in a dough wrapper, either boiled or steamed. Mushrooms, potatoes, or cheese may be used in place of meat.


title: Dumpling

text: Khinkali () are Georgian dumplings which originated in the mountain regions of Pshavi, Mtiuleti, and Khevsureti. Varieties of khinkali spread from there across different parts of the Caucasus, now the towns of Dusheti, Pasanauri and Mtskheta are particularly famous for their khinkali. The fillings of khinkali vary with the area. The original recipe consists of only minced meat (lamb or beef and pork mixed), onions, chili pepper, salt and cumin. Modern recipes use herbs like parsley and coriander. In Muslim-majority areas the use of beef and lamb is more prevalent. Mushrooms, potatoes, or cheese may be used in place of meat. The khinkali is typically consumed first by sucking the juices while taking the first bite, in order to prevent the dumpling from bursting.


title: Dumpling

text: In Nepal, steamed dumplings known as momo (or momo-cha) are a popular snack, often eaten as a full meal as well. They are similar to the Chinese jiaozi or the Central Asian manti. This dish is native to Nepal and the concept of the dumpling was brought to Nepal by the Newar traders of Kathmandu who were trading goods with Tibet before the 1930s. Many different fillings, both meat based and vegetarian are common. Kathmandu Valley, a popular destination for momo, has with time developed its own essence for this food that differentiates it from its Tibetan counterpart.


title: Dumpling

text: Momo can be served fried, steamed or grilled. Momo are usually served with a dipping sauce normally consisting of tomatoes and chillies as the base ingredient, from which numerous variations can be made. Momo soup is a dish that has steamed momo immersed in a meat broth. Momo that are pan fried after steaming first are known as , and steamed momo served in a hot sauce are called C-Momo in Nepal. Momo can also be prepared by directly deep frying without steaming first. Momo are one of the most common items on the menus of Nepali restaurants not only in Nepal but also around the world.


title: Dumpling

text: Yomari, also called "yamari", is a traditional dish of the Newar community in Nepal. It is a steamed dumpling that consists of an external covering of rice flour and an inner content of sweet substances such as chaku. The delicacy plays a very important role in Newaa society, and is a key part of the festival of Yomari punhi. According to some, the triangular shape of the yamari is a symbolical representation of one half of the shadkona, the symbol of Saraswati and wisdom.


title: Dumpling

text: American dumplings may be of the filled pastry type (which are usually baked), or they may be little pieces of dough added to a savoury or sweet dish, in which case they are usually boiled.


title: Dumpling

text: Baked sweet dumplings are a popular dessert in American cuisine. They are made by wrapping fruit, frequently a whole tart apple, in pastry, then baking until the pastry is browned and the filling is tender. While baking, the dumplings may be surrounded by, and even basted in, a sweet sauce, typically containing brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon or other spices.


title: Dumpling

text: Boiled dumplings are made by mixing flour, fat, and baking powder with milk or water to form a dough, which may be either rolled out and cut into bite-size pieces, or simply dropped by spoonfuls into the simmering liquid of a savoury soup or stew, or, for dessert dumplings, onto simmering sweetened fruit. The dropped kind are sometimes called "doughboys". When added to chicken and vegetables in chicken broth, the starch in the dumplings serves to thicken the broth into a gravy, creating the popular comfort food chicken and dumplings. Other common savoury pairings, particularly in the Midwestern and Southern US, are turkey, ham, and butterbeans. Popular sweet pairings are strawberries, apples, and blackberries. Dumplings also feature in the regional stews of the midwest and south called "burgoos." Further north, dumplings are frequently served with beef, corned-beef and duck stews, and blueberries are the favourite fruit for dessert dumplings.


title: Dumpling

text: In Canada, the "poutine râpée" is a type of filled dumpling made with pork mince inside a flour ball.


title: Dumpling

text: Indonesian cuisine features several dishes which could be characterized as dumplings under the influence of Chinese and Portuguese.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Calvin Johnson Jr., (born September 29, 1985) is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons with the Detroit Lions. He played college football at Georgia Tech, where he twice received first-team All-American honors, and was selected by the Lions second overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. Nicknamed "Megatron" after the "Transformers" character of the same name, he is regarded as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson was noted for having a rare combination of size (6 ft 5 in and 239 lbs), catching ability, speed (40-yard dash in 4.35 seconds), strength, leaping ability, and body control. In 2012, he set the NFL season record for receiving yards. Johnson is also tied with Michael Irvin for 100-yard games in a season, tied with Adam Thielen for consecutive 100-yard games, and holds the record for consecutive games with 10 or more receptions. He appeared in six consecutive Pro Bowls from 2010 to 2015 and received three consecutive first-team All-Pro selections from 2011 to 2013.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: While still regarded as being in his prime, Johnson retired after the 2015 season, citing a loss of passion for the game due to health concerns and the Lions' lack of overall success during his tenure. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson was born to Calvin Johnson Sr. and Arica Johnson on September 29, 1985, in Newnan, Georgia. Johnson's mother holds a Doctor of Education. Johnson's parents stressed education in his childhood, forbidding him from playing sports if he didn't receive A's and B's in school.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson was 6 feet tall in middle school, and 6 feet 4 inches as a sophomore in high school. He attended Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone, Georgia, and was a letterman in football and a baseball standout. In football, he was a three-year starter as a wide receiver for the Patriots football team. As a sophomore, he made 34 receptions for 646 yards and 10 touchdowns. As a junior, Johnson caught 40 passes for 736 yards and eight touchdowns. His #81 was retired on October 22, 2010.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson was rated among the nation's top 10 wide receivers and top 100 players by virtually every recruiting analyst. He was tabbed the No. 4 wide receiver and No. 15 player in the nation by TheInsiders.com, and named to the Super Southern 100 by the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution", the Rivals 100 by Rivals.com, TheInsiders.com Hot 100, the SuperPrep All-America 275, and the Prep Star Top 100 Dream Team.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson was also rated as the best player in Georgia, No. 12 in the Southeast and No. 37 in the nation by Rivals.com, the No. 7 wide receiver in the nation by SuperPrep, and first-team all-state selection (Class AAAA) by the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution". Finally, he was tabbed to the AJC's preseason Super 11. By the time he was a junior, he was ranked as within the top 10 wide receivers and the top 100 players in the nation by almost every writer.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he played for head coach Chan Gailey's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team from 2004 to 2006. Despite Georgia Tech being interested in his playing both football and baseball, Johnson's mother refused to allow Johnson to play both sports after determining that the year-round athletic schedule would be too demanding.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: As a freshman in 2004, Johnson was an immediate contributor. He made his collegiate debut against Samford and had two receptions for 45 receiving yards in the 28–7 victory. In the following game, against Clemson, he had eight receptions for 127 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns in the 28–24 victory. On October 16, against Duke, he had six receptions for 92 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 24–7 victory. On November 13, against Connecticut, he had six receptions for 131 receiving yards in the 30–10 victory. In the next week's game against Virginia, he had five receptions for 108 receiving yards in the 30–10 loss. He ended his freshman campaign against Syracuse in the 2004 Champs Sports Bowl, where he recorded two receptions for 61 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown to go along with a rushing touchdown in the 51–14 victory. Johnson was the Yellow Jackets' leading receiver with 48 catches for 837 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns, which were Georgia Tech freshman records. Johnson earned a first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) selection. He was named ACC Rookie of the Year.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson started the 2005 season with four receptions for 66 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in a 23–14 victory over Auburn. In the next game, he had six receptions for 114 receiving yards in a 27–21 victory over North Carolina. The game featured Georgia Tech having two 100-yard receivers in the same game for the sixth time in school history, Johnson and Damarius Bilbo, who had 131. On September 24, against Virginia Tech, he had five receptions for 123 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in the 51–7 loss. In the following game, against North Carolina State, he recorded a collegiate career-best ten receptions for 130 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in the 17–14 loss. He earned first-team All-American honors for the 2005 season. He also earned All-ACC honors for the second straight year and was a semifinalist for the Fred Biletnikoff Award. He led the team with 54 catches for 888 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson was named a team captain going into his junior season. He entered his 2006 season in the running for the Biletnikoff Award and Heisman Trophy. Although Johnson finished tenth in the Heisman voting, he won the Biletnikoff as the best college wide receiver. He started the season with seven receptions for 111 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in the 14–10 loss to Notre Dame. In the following game, he had four receptions for 26 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 38–6 victory over Samford. Against the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Toyota Gator Bowl, Johnson had nine catches for a collegiate-career best 186 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns, albeit in a 38–35 loss. In the game, he passed Jonathan Smith for the school record for receiving yards in a single season and also moved past Kelly Campbell to be the school's all-time leader in receiving yards for a career. In addition, Johnson's 186 receiving yards set a school record for receiving yards in a bowl game. Johnson was honored as the ACC Player of the Year, was a first-team All-ACC selection for the third consecutive year, and was recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American. Overall, Johnson tallied 1,202 receiving yards on 76 catches. Johnson's 15 receiving touchdowns were a new Georgia Tech single-season record. In his collegiate career, Johnson made a case for being the greatest Georgia Tech player of all time. Johnson had 178 receptions for 2,927 yards and 28 touchdowns during his time with the Yellow Jackets. He ranks first in school history in career receiving yards, second in receptions, first in touchdown receptions, and first in career 100-yard receiving games with 13.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: During the summer of 2006, Johnson, who majored in management with a background in building construction, was given the option of working on either constructing environmentally friendly luxury condos, or a project building solar latrines to improve sanitation in Bolivia. Johnson chose the latter, as he wanted to help the less fortunate. The "solar latrines" use the sun's rays to safely transform bacteria-laden waste into fertilizer.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: In 2016, Johnson was named to the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame. He was selected for induction to the College Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He was part of the Class of 2018.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson was SI.com's Midseason 2007 NFL Draft Projection #1 pick, though Johnson had stated that he intended to earn his degree from Georgia Tech. On January 8, 2007, Johnson declared himself eligible for the NFL Draft, bypassing his senior season at Georgia Tech. He was regarded as the best athlete to come out of the draft and was the #1 player on most draft boards. Johnson was said by ESPN to be able to be productive as a rookie, much like receiver Randy Moss. In a mid-February workout with speed and conditioning coach Mark Pearsall, Johnson clocked a 4.33-second 40-yard dash, recorded an 11-foot standing broad jump, and had a vertical leap of 43 inches.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson surprised many when he weighed in at 239 pounds at the combine although he claims that this season he played "at about 235 and I got up to 238" and that his weight was not a problem. Johnson ran a 4.35 and wowed scouts with his jump drill results, his receiving skills, and his 11 ft 7 in (3.53 m) broad jump, which was the "best broad jump I can ever remember an NFL prospect having," according to Gil Brandt. Johnson is one of only two players (Matt Jones) 6-foot-5 or taller, regardless of position, to run a 40-yard dash in under 4.40 seconds at the combine since 2005.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson was selected by the Detroit Lions in the first round as the second pick overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. This is the highest a Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket has ever been drafted. The Lions were expected to trade Johnson, most likely to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the team announced that they were keeping him. The next day, the Detroit Tigers invited him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson attended Reebok's NFL Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles. The Lions, being told by the league that Johnson would have to skip the minicamp to attend, rescheduled the camp to accommodate Johnson. On August 3, 2007, Johnson signed a six-year deal with the Detroit Lions after holding out for eight days, and passed his physical in time to be on the field for the start of that morning's practice. He was represented by agent James "Bus" Cook. The contract was worth up to , with 27.2 in guaranteed money, making Johnson the highest-paid player in Lions history (since passed by quarterback Matthew Stafford and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh) and the highest-paid receiver (in guaranteed money) in the NFL.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Although he did not start the game, Johnson had an impressive NFL debut on Sunday, September 9, 2007, catching four passes for 70 yards and his first career touchdown in Detroit's 36–21 win over the Oakland Raiders. He sustained a lower back injury after making a catch over two Philadelphia Eagles defenders on September 23, 2007. He scored his first and only professional rushing touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on October 21, 2007, on a 32-yard reverse play in the 23–16 victory. Fellow teammate and wide receiver Roy Williams nicknamed Johnson "Megatron", due to his large hands being similar to that of the towering Decepticon. The nickname caught on well with fans. Williams later changed the nickname to "Bolt" after Jamaican sprinting phenom Usain Bolt, comparing the two athletes' similar height and running abilities. Johnson finished the 2007 season with 48 receptions for 756 yards and five total touchdowns.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: In 2008, Johnson said he could "still feel" the lower-back injury that bothered him throughout his rookie season. Johnson took five weeks off after the 2007 season and was taking part in the Lions' offseason program. "I know it's there but it doesn't hurt," he said. Johnson revealed that he needed Vicodin to play through the final three months of the 2007 season. He needed the medication to help him play with a bone bruise in his back. "I was on meds the rest of the season," he said. "I was taking Vicodin twice a game just to get through the game. I stayed hurt the whole season, probably because I was trying to come back too soon."


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson and the Lions faced the Atlanta Falcons on the road on September 7, 2008, in the season opener at the Georgia Dome. As the official starting wide receiver behind Roy Williams, Johnson led the team in receptions and yards, collecting seven catches for 107 yards, which included one 38-yard catch-and-run in the Lions' 34–21 loss. During Week 2 versus the Green Bay Packers, he had two key touchdowns late in the game, which sparked a large comeback, though the Lions eventually lost the game, 48–25. Both touchdown catches included a run after the catch (the first catch going for 38 yards and the second going for 47 yards, both over the middle) displaying Johnson's speed and breakaway ability. He ended the game with six receptions for 129 yards and two touchdowns. In the following two games, losses to San Francisco and Chicago, Johnson failed to score a touchdown or gain over 50 yards receiving. However, against the Minnesota Vikings, Johnson had four receptions for 85 yards and his third touchdown of the season.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: On October 14, before the Week 6 trade deadline, Roy Williams was traded to the Dallas Cowboys for a first, a third and a seventh-round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, making Johnson the Lions' starting wide receiver and the last big threat on the offense. In his first game without Roy Williams alongside him in the Week 7 game against the Houston Texans, Johnson caught only two passes, totaling 154 yards receiving; the first pass did not come until quarterback Dan Orlovsky threw a pass up for grabs at the end of the first half which Johnson caught for 58 yards and the second pass came on a 96-yard touchdown catch-and-run. With Williams gone and starting quarterback Jon Kitna lost to injury for the season, the Texans defense had little to do to stop the Lions' offense but shut down Johnson, winning the game 28–21.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson set a career-high for receptions in a game during the Week-9 match-up against the Lions' division rivals, the Chicago Bears, with eight receptions that garnered 94 yards and one touchdown, but still lost the game 27–23. During Week 10, formerly retired All-Pro quarterback Daunte Culpepper was signed to a one-year contract with the Lions in hopes to spur the offense and earned the starting job for the next two games. Johnson ended his first game with Culpepper at quarterback with two receptions for 92 yards in a 38–14 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. During the Week 14 match-up against the division rival Minnesota Vikings, Johnson passed the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the first time in his career after collecting three catches for 84 yards and one touchdown, ending the week with 1,055 yards receiving and nine touchdowns on the season.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson and the 2008 Detroit Lions finished the first ever 0–16 season in NFL history after a 31–21 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 17. Despite the Lions' failures and the fact that five different quarterbacks played during the year, Johnson finished as one of the strongest wide receivers statistically for the 2008 season, finishing fifth in receiving yards (1,331) and 7th in receiving yards per game (83.2), and leading the league in receiving touchdowns (12), despite the fact that the entire Lions team only passed for 18 touchdowns. However, Johnson missed the Pro Bowl, with most experts attributing the snub to the Lions' dismal winless season.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: After 2008, Detroit's front office and coaching personnel were essentially overhauled by the team ownership. Matt Millen, the team's incumbent general manager and CEO since 2001, was terminated on September 24, 2008. Head coach Rod Marinelli was fired in the offseason. Marinelli was replaced by Jim Schwartz, then defensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans. Schwartz ultimately revamped the entire Detroit offensive (and defensive) philosophieshiring Scott Linehan and Gunther Cunningham, respectively. Detroit held the first pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, and selected quarterback Matthew Stafford out of the University of Georgia. Stafford was named the team's starting quarterback out of training camp, but he battled various injuries throughout the season. Much of the 2008 Detroit roster was released by the new regime, and the 2009 team was viewed as somewhat of a work-in-progress and eventually finished with a 2–14 record. Johnson finished the 2009 season with 67 receptions, 984 yards, and five touchdowns, while missing two games.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: In the season opener against the Chicago Bears, Johnson caught a pass with 31 seconds left in regulation in the end zone for what looked like a game-winning touchdown. However, referee Gene Steratore ruled the catch incomplete, saying that Johnson had not maintained possession of the ball through the entire process of the catch. The Lions lost the game by a score of 19–14. In Week 6, against the New York Giants, he had five receptions for 146 yards and one receiving touchdown in the 28–20 loss. In Week 8, against the Washington Redskins, he had nine receptions for 101 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns in the 37–25 victory. In Week 10, against the Buffalo Bills, he had ten receptions for 128 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in the 14–12 loss. The Bills game was the beginning of a four-game streak for Johnson where he recorded a receiving touchdown. In Week 15, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he had ten receptions for 152 receiving yards in the 23–20 victory.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson amassed 77 receptions for 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns during the 2010 season. He was selected to the first Pro Bowl of his career. Following the 2010 season, Johnson was the recipient of the Lions/Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association/Pro Football Writers Association (Detroit Chapter) Media-Friendly Good Guy Award. Johnson was ranked 27th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2011.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: In 2011, Johnson had his second best statistical season of his NFL career, reaching a then career-high 1,681 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns. In Week 4 against the Dallas Cowboys, Johnson helped rally the Lions from a 24-point deficit to a 34–30 victory by catching two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, including a famous catch in which Johnson beat the Cowboys' triple coverage in the end zone. This performance gave Johnson eight touchdown receptions through the first four games of the season and tied Cris Carter for most consecutive games with multiple touchdown receptions with four. In a Week 15 game against the Oakland Raiders, Johnson had nine receptions for 214 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 28–27 victory. He joined Cloyce Box as the only players in franchise history to record at least 200 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the same game. Johnson and the Lions clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 1999, and the first time in Johnson's career, after a 38–10 beating of the San Diego Chargers on Christmas Eve. In a Week 17 game against the Green Bay Packers, Johnson had 11 receptions for a then career-best 244 receiving yards in a 45–41 loss. The Lions finished with a 10–6 record, finished second in the NFC North, and earned a playoff berth.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Detroit found themselves on the road again in a game against the heavily favored New Orleans Saints in the playoffs. Always tough to play against at the Superdome, the Saints wore down the Detroit defense and New Orleans would go on to a win by a score of 45–28. In the game, Johnson caught 12 passes for 211 receiving yards and two touchdownsbreaking Detroit's playoff record of 150 receiving yards in a playoff game previously held by Brett Perriman and Leonard Thompson. Johnson was ranked third by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2012.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: On March 14, 2012, Johnson signed an eight-year extension worth with the Detroit Lions, with guaranteed, making Johnson the highest-paid receiver in the league. Johnson beat out 42 other players and eliminated quarterback Cam Newton to win the "Madden NFL 13" cover athlete on April 25, 2012, on "SportsNation". Johnson started off the season with six receptions for 111 yards in a 27–23 victory over the St. Louis Rams. In Week 3, against the Tennessee Titans, he had 10 receptions for 164 yards and a touchdown in the 44–41 loss. In Week 6, against the Philadelphia Eagles, he had six receptions for 135 yards in the 26–23 victory. In the stretch from Week 9 to Week 14, he recorded five consecutive games with 125 receiving yards or more, which tied the NFL record held by Pat Studstill in the 1966 season. In that stretch were performances of 207 yards and a touchdown in a 34–24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings and 171 yards and a touchdown in a 35–33 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. In the Colts game, Johnson was targeted a career-high 20 times. On December 22, against the Atlanta Falcons, Johnson broke Jerry Rice's single-season receiving yards record of 1,848 yards. Johnson was also named a starter for the NFC in the Pro Bowl played in Honolulu, Hawaii. Johnson finished with five receptions for 72 yards against the Chicago Bears in Week 17, missing out on 2,000 receiving yards by 36. Johnson finished the season leading the league in receptions (122) and receiving yards (1,964). Johnson became the only player in the Super Bowl era (since 1967) to average 120 yards per game in a season, when he averaged 122.8 yards per game in 2012. Johnson was ranked third by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2013.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: After a slow start to the 2013 season in Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings, Johnson had six receptions for 116 yards and two touchdowns in a 25–21 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. In the following game, against the Washington Redskins, he had seven receptions for 115 receiving yards and a touchdown in the 27–20 victory. In Week 7, against the Cincinnati Bengals, he had nine receptions for 155 yards and two receiving touchdowns. On October 27, in a 31–30 win over the Dallas Cowboys, Johnson caught a career-high 14 of 16 passes thrown in his direction; he finished the game with a career-high 329 receiving yards and one touchdown. In addition to breaking the Lions' franchise record of 302 receiving yards set by Cloyce Box on December 3, 1950, it was the highest receiving yardage ever in a regulation-length game and the second-highest overall single-game yardage in NFL history, behind Flipper Anderson's 336-yard performance in a 1989 overtime win. Anderson accumulated 40 of those yards in overtime. In this same game, Johnson tied Lance Alworth for the most career games with at least 200 yards receiving with five. In Week 10 against the Chicago Bears, Johnson had six receptions for 83 yards and two touchdown receptions. The second one gave him the Lions all-time record for touchdown catches with 63, breaking the old mark previously held by Herman Moore. In the following game, he had six receptions for 179 yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 37–27 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 11. Following the Steelers game, he added two more 100-yard performances in Weeks 12–13 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Green Bay Packers.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Overall, he finished the 2013 season with 84 receptions, 1,492 receiving yards, and 12 receiving touchdowns in 14 games. Johnson was named to the 2014 Pro Bowl, but an injury forced him to withdraw. Johnson was ranked second by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2014.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson started the 2014 season off strong with seven receptions for 164 yards and two receiving touchdowns in a 35–14 victory over the New York Giants on "Monday Night Football". Johnson suffered an ankle injury that kept him out of action after Week 5. He returned in Week 10 against the Miami Dolphins and had seven receptions for 113 yards and a touchdown in the 20–16 victory. On November 27, in the annual Thanksgiving Day game against the Chicago Bears, Johnson became the fastest player to reach 10,000 receiving yards in NFL history at the time, eclipsing the mark in the second quarter of his 115th game. Against the Bears, he had 11 receptions for 146 yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 34–17 victory. In the next game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he had eight receptions for 158 yards and a receiving touchdown in the 34–17 victory. He closed the season out with four receptions for 39 yards and two receiving touchdowns in a 30–20 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The Lions finished with a 11–5 record and earned a playoff spot in the . In the 24–20 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, he had five receptions for 85 receiving yards.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson was named to his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl, the most by any Lion since Barry Sanders was named to ten consecutive Pro Bowls. He finished the 2014 season with 71 receptions for 1,044 receiving yards and receiving eight touchdowns. Johnson and Golden Tate became the Lions' first duo to reach 1,000 yards apiece in the same season since Roy Williams and Mike Furrey in 2006. Johnson was ranked sixth by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2015.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Much like Week 1 in Chicago five years back, in Week 4 at Seattle, Johnson was involved in another controversial play. This time, late in the fourth quarter, Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor punched the ball out of Johnson's hands while he was trying to score a late go-ahead touchdown. Linebacker K. J. Wright then batted the ball out of the end zone for a touchback. The NFL later admitted the referees should have penalized Wright for illegal batting. The Seahawks won the game by a score of 13–10. In Week 5, a 42–17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Johnson caught his 671st career pass, breaking Herman Moore's franchise record. In Week 6, Johnson caught six passes for 166 yards in an overtime 37–34 victory over the Chicago Bears. This gave the Lions their first victory of the season after an 0–5 start. This was his fourth NFC Offensive Player of the Week nomination for his effort against the Bears. In Week 12, against the Philadelphia Eagles, Johnson caught eight passes for 93 yards and three touchdowns to help lead the Lions to their third straight victory and lift their record to 4–7. In Week 8 against the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL International Series on November 1, Johnson became the fastest player to reach 11,000 receiving yards in NFL history, in his 127th game. Johnson finished the season with 88 receptions for 1,214 yards (13.8 average), and nine touchdowns, reaching 1,000-yards receiving for the sixth consecutive year, and seventh time in nine years. Johnson was named to the Pro Bowl for the sixth consecutive year, but he declined to attend. His 1,214 yards in the 2015 season are the most ever in a player's final season in the NFL, while his 88 receptions are the second most in a player's final season, trailing Sterling Sharpe's 94 receptions in the 1994 season.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: On March 8, 2016, Johnson announced his retirement from the NFL after nine seasons. His 11,619 receiving yards rank fourth in a player's first nine seasons, trailing only Julio Jones (12,125), Torry Holt (11,864) and Jerry Rice (11,776). Since Johnson was drafted by the Lions with the second overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, no player had more receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and 100-yard games (46) than Johnson through the 2015 season. His 5,137 receiving yards from 2011 to 2013 are the most by any player over a three-year stretch in NFL history. On February 6, 2021, Johnson was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Despite spending his entire 9 year career with the Lions, Johnson does not partake in any events or attend games being played by his former team. He has stated this is because the Lions forced him to repay $1.6 million of his signing bonus for retiring early and not playing out his contract. The Lions offered to pay Johnson $500,000 a year for three years to show up and speak at team events and donate an additional $100,000 to a charity of his choice, but he did not accept the offer, stating "they need to figure out a way to do it and not have me work for it. Because I already did the work for it". He has said on multiple occasions that things between him and his former team will never be made right until then and has gone on to say that ownership views the team's players as "pawns".


title: Calvin Johnson

text: On August 30, 2016, Johnson was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 23 of "Dancing with the Stars". He was partnered with professional dancer Lindsay Arnold. He finished in third place to James Hinchcliffe and Laurie Hernandez.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: In February 2019, Johnson and his wife Brittney were granted preliminary approval to open a medical cannabis dispensary in Michigan. He has since proceeded with plans to launch several cannabis facilities across the state (along with his business partner Rob Sims) under the brand name Primitiv. In August 2019, Johnson was named to the board of directors of the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Also in August 2019, Johnson announced a partnership with Harvard University to study the effects of cannabis on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and its benefits in managing pain. As part of the partnership, Johnson and Sims announced a six-figure donation to the International Phytomedicines and Medical Cannabis Institute at Harvard. In his Hall of Fame induction speech, Johnson noted his work with Harvard and the potential for plant-based medicines to "provide an alternative to their destructive counterparts, opioids".


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson became engaged to long-time girlfriend Brittney McNorton in March 2015. They were married in June 2016. The couple currently resides in Detroit. He has a son, C.J., from a previous relationship.


title: Calvin Johnson

text: Johnson is a Christian. Johnson has a tattoo of the crucifixion of Jesus on his left arm and a Christian cross on his right arm. Johnson was part of a weekly Bible study group with other Lions players.


title: John Wesley

text: John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Methodist movement that continues to this day.


title: John Wesley

text: Educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford, Wesley was elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1726 and ordained as an Anglican priest two years later. At Oxford, he led the "Holy Club", a society formed for the purpose of the study and the pursuit of a devout Christian life; it had been founded by his brother Charles and counted George Whitefield among its members. After an unsuccessful ministry of two years, serving at Christ Church, in the Georgia colony of Savannah, he returned to London and joined a religious society led by Moravian Christians. On 24 May 1738, he experienced what has come to be called his evangelical conversion, when he felt his "heart strangely warmed". He subsequently left the Moravians and began his own ministry.


title: John Wesley

text: A key step in the development of Wesley's ministry was, like Whitefield, to travel and preach outdoors. In contrast to Whitefield's Calvinism, Wesley embraced Arminian doctrines. Moving across Great Britain and Ireland, he helped form and organise small Christian groups (societies) that developed intensive and personal accountability, discipleship, and religious instruction. He appointed itinerant, unordained evangelists—both women and men—to care for these groups of people. Under Wesley's direction, Methodists became leaders in many social issues of the day, including the abolition of slavery and prison reform.


title: John Wesley

text: Although he was not a systematic theologian, Wesley argued for the notion of Christian perfection and against Calvinism—and, in particular, against its doctrine of predestination. His evangelicalism, firmly grounded in sacramental theology, maintained that means of grace sometimes had a role in sanctification of the believer; however, he taught that it was by faith a believer was transformed into the likeness of Christ. He held that, in this life, Christians could achieve a state where the love of God "reigned supreme in their hearts", giving them not only outward but inward holiness. Wesley's teachings, collectively known as Wesleyan theology, continue to inform the doctrine of Methodist churches.


title: John Wesley

text: Throughout his life, Wesley remained within the established Church of England, insisting that the Methodist movement lay well within its tradition. In his early ministry years, Wesley was barred from preaching in many parish churches and the Methodists were persecuted; he later became widely respected, and by the end of his life, was described as "the best-loved man in England".


title: John Wesley

text: John Wesley was born on in Epworth, 23 miles (37 km) north-west of Lincoln. He was the fifteenth child of Samuel Wesley and his wife Susanna Wesley (née Annesley). Samuel Wesley was a graduate of the University of Oxford and a poet who, from 1696, was rector of Epworth. He married Susanna, the twenty-fifth child of Samuel Annesley, a dissenting minister, in 1689. Ultimately, she bore nineteen children, of which nine lived beyond infancy. She and Samuel Wesley had become members of the Church of England as young adults.


title: John Wesley

text: As in many families at the time, Wesley's parents gave their children their early education. Each child, including the girls, was taught to read as soon as they could walk and talk. They were expected to become proficient in Latin and Greek and to have learned major portions of the New Testament by heart. Susanna Wesley examined each child before the midday meal and before evening prayers. The children were not allowed to eat between meals and were interviewed singly by their mother one evening each week for the purpose of intensive spiritual instruction. In 1714, at age 11, Wesley was sent to the Charterhouse School in London (under the mastership of John King from 1715), where he lived the studious, methodical and, for a while, religious life in which he had been trained at home.


title: John Wesley

text: Apart from his disciplined upbringing, a rectory fire which occurred on 9 February 1709, when Wesley was five years old, left an indelible impression. Some time after 11:00 pm, the rectory roof caught on fire. Sparks falling on the children's beds and cries of "fire" from the street roused the Wesleys who managed to shepherd all their children out of the house except for John who was left stranded on an upper floor. With stairs aflame and the roof about to collapse, Wesley was lifted out of a window by a parishioner standing on another man's shoulders. Wesley later used the phrase, "a brand plucked out of the fire", quoting , to describe the incident. This childhood deliverance subsequently became part of the Wesley legend, attesting to his special destiny and extraordinary work. Wesley was also influenced by the reported haunting of Epworth Rectory between 1716 and 1717. The Wesley family reported frequently hearing noises and occasionally seeing apparitions which they believed were caused by a ghost called 'Old Jeffery'.


title: John Wesley

text: In June 1720, Wesley entered Christ Church, Oxford. After graduating in 1724, Wesley stayed on at Christ Church to study for his master's degree.


title: John Wesley

text: He was ordained a deacon on 25 September 1725—holy orders being a necessary step toward becoming a fellow and tutor at the university. On 17 March 1726, Wesley was unanimously elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. This carried with it the right to a room at the college and regular salary. While continuing his studies, he taught Greek and philosophy, lectured on the New Testament and moderated daily disputations at the university. However, a call to ministry intruded upon his academic career. In August 1727, after completing his master's degree, Wesley returned to Epworth. His father had requested his assistance in serving the neighbouring cure of Wroot. Ordained a priest on 22 September 1728, Wesley served as a parish curate for two years.


title: John Wesley

text: In the year of his ordination he read Thomas à Kempis and Jeremy Taylor, showed his interest in mysticism, and began to seek the religious truths which underlay the great revival of the 18th century. The reading of William Law's "Christian Perfection" and "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life" gave him, he said, a more sublime view of the law of God; and he resolved to keep it, inwardly and outwardly, as sacredly as possible, believing that in obedience he would find salvation. He pursued a rigidly methodical and abstemious life, studied Scripture, and performed his religious duties diligently, depriving himself so that he would have alms to give. He began to seek after holiness of heart and life.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley returned to Oxford in November 1729 at the request of the Rector of Lincoln College and to maintain his status as junior fellow.


title: John Wesley

text: During Wesley's absence, his younger brother Charles (1707–88) matriculated at Christ Church. Along with two fellow students, he formed a small club for the purpose of study and the pursuit of a devout Christian life. On Wesley's return, he became the leader of the group which increased somewhat in number and greatly in commitment. The group met daily from six until nine for prayer, psalms, and reading of the Greek New Testament. They prayed every waking hour for several minutes and each day for a special virtue. While the church's prescribed attendance was only three times a year, they took Communion every Sunday. They fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays until nones (3:00 pm) as was commonly observed in the ancient church. In 1730, the group began the practice of visiting prisoners in gaol. They preached, educated, and relieved gaoled debtors whenever possible, and cared for the sick.


title: John Wesley

text: Given the low ebb of spirituality in Oxford at that time, it was not surprising that Wesley's group provoked a negative reaction. They were considered to be religious "enthusiasts", which in the context of the time meant religious fanatics. University wits styled them the "Holy Club", a title of derision. Currents of opposition became a furore following the mental breakdown and death of a group member, William Morgan. In response to the charge that "rigorous fasting" had hastened his death, Wesley noted that Morgan had left off fasting a year and a half since. In the same letter, which was widely circulated, Wesley referred to the name "Methodist" with which "some of our neighbors are pleased to compliment us." That name was used by an anonymous author in a published pamphlet (1732) describing Wesley and his group, "The Oxford Methodists". This ministry, however, was not without controversy. The Holy Club ministered and maintained support for Thomas Blair who in 1732 was found guilty for sodomy. Blair was notorious among the townspeople and his fellow prisoners, and Wesley continued to support him.


title: John Wesley

text: For all of his outward piety, Wesley sought to cultivate his inner holiness or at least his sincerity as evidence of being a true Christian. A list of "General Questions" which he developed in 1730 evolved into an elaborate grid by 1734 in which he recorded his daily activities hour-by-hour, resolutions he had broken or kept, and ranked his hourly "temper of devotion" on a scale of 1 to 9. Wesley also regarded the contempt with which he and his group were held to be a mark of a true Christian. As he put it in a letter to his father, "Till he be thus contemned, no man is in a state of salvation."


title: John Wesley

text: On 14 October 1735, Wesley and his brother Charles sailed on "The Simmonds" from Gravesend in Kent for Savannah in the Province of Georgia in the American colonies at the request of James Oglethorpe, who had founded the colony in 1733 on behalf of the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America. Oglethorpe wanted Wesley to be the minister of the newly formed Savannah parish, a new town laid out in accordance with the famous Oglethorpe Plan.


title: John Wesley

text: It was on the voyage to the colonies that the Wesleys first came into contact with Moravian settlers. Wesley was influenced by their deep faith and spirituality rooted in pietism. At one point in the voyage a storm came up and broke the mast off the ship. While the English panicked, the Moravians calmly sang hymns and prayed. This experience led Wesley to believe that the Moravians possessed an inner strength which he lacked. The deeply personal religion that the Moravian pietists practised heavily influenced Wesley and is reflected in his theology of Methodism.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley arrived in the colony in February 1736, and lived for a year at the parsonage that stood on the site of today's Oliver Sturges House. He approached the Georgia mission as a High churchman, seeing it as an opportunity to revive "primitive Christianity" in a primitive environment. Although his primary goal was to evangelise the Native American people, a shortage of clergy in the colony largely limited his ministry to European settlers in Savannah. While his ministry has often been judged to have been a failure in comparison to his later success as a leader in the Evangelical Revival, Wesley gathered around him a group of devoted Christians, who met in a number of small group religious societies. At the same time, attendance at Communion increased over the course of nearly two years in which he served as Christ Church's parish priest.


title: John Wesley

text: Nonetheless, Wesley's High Church ministry was controversial among the colonists and it ended in disappointment after Wesley fell in love with a young woman named Sophia (or Sophy) Hopkey. He hesitated to marry her because he felt that his first priority in Georgia was to be a missionary to the Native Americans, and he was interested in the practice of clerical celibacy within early Christianity. Following her marriage to William Williamson, Wesley believed Sophia's former zeal for practising the Christian faith declined. In strictly applying the rubrics of the "Book of Common Prayer", Wesley denied her Communion after she failed to signify to him in advance her intention of taking it. As a result, legal proceedings against him ensued in which a clear resolution seemed unlikely. On 22 December 1737, Wesley fled the colony and returned to England.


title: John Wesley

text: It has been widely recognised that one of the most significant accomplishments of Wesley's Georgia mission was his publication of a "Collection of Psalms and Hymns". The "Collection" was the first Anglican hymnal published in America, and the first of many hymn-books Wesley published. It included five hymns he translated from German.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley returned to England depressed and beaten. It was at this point that he turned to the Moravians. Both he and Charles received counsel from the young Moravian missionary Peter Boehler, who was temporarily in England awaiting permission to depart for Georgia himself. Wesley's noted "Aldersgate experience" of 24 May 1738, at a Moravian meeting in Aldersgate Street, London, in which he heard a reading of Martin Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans, revolutionised the character and method of his ministry. The previous week he had been highly impressed by the sermon of John Heylyn, whom he was assisting in the service at St Mary le Strand. Earlier that day, he had heard the choir at St Paul's Cathedral singing Psalm 130, where the Psalmist calls to God "Out of the depths."


title: John Wesley

text: But it was still a depressed Wesley who attended a service on the evening of 24 May. Wesley recounted his Aldersgate experience in his journal:


title: John Wesley

text: "In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."


title: John Wesley

text: A few weeks later, Wesley preached a sermon on the doctrine of personal salvation by faith, which was followed by another, on God's grace "free in all, and free for all." Considered a pivotal moment, Daniel L. Burnett writes: "The significance of Wesley's Aldersgate Experience is monumental ... Without it, the names of Wesley and Methodism would likely be nothing more than obscure footnotes in the pages of church history." Burnett describes this event as Wesley's "Evangelical Conversion". May 24 is commemorated in Methodist churches as Aldersgate Day.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley allied himself with the Moravian society in Fetter Lane. In August 1738 Wesley travelled to Germany, specifically to see Herrnhut in Saxony, as he wished to study at the Moravian headquarters there. On his return to England, Wesley drew up rules for the "bands" into which the Fetter Lane Society was divided and published a collection of hymns for them. He met frequently with this and other religious societies in London but did not preach often in 1738, because most of the parish churches were closed to him.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley's Oxford friend, the evangelist George Whitefield, was also excluded from the churches of Bristol upon his return from America. Going to the neighbouring village of Kingswood, in February 1739, Whitefield preached in the open air to a company of miners. Later he preached in Whitefield's Tabernacle. Wesley hesitated to accept Whitefield's call to copy this bold step. Overcoming his scruples, he preached the first time at Whitefield's invitation a sermon in the open air, near Bristol, in April 1739. Wesley wrote,


title: John Wesley

text: I could scarce reconcile myself to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he [Whitefield] set me an example on Sunday; having been all my life till very lately so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley was unhappy about the idea of field preaching as he believed Anglican liturgy had much to offer in its practice. Earlier in his life he would have thought that such a method of saving souls was "almost a sin." He recognised the open-air services were successful in reaching men and women who would not enter most churches. From then on he took the opportunities to preach wherever an assembly could be brought together, more than once using his father's tombstone at Epworth as a pulpit. Wesley continued for fifty years—entering churches when he was invited, and taking his stand in the fields, in halls, cottages, and chapels, when the churches would not receive him.


title: John Wesley

text: Late in 1739 Wesley broke with the Moravians in London. Wesley had helped them organise the Fetter Lane Society, and those converted by his preaching and that of his brother and Whitefield had become members of their bands. But he believed they fell into heresy by supporting quietism, so he decided to form his own followers into a separate society. "Thus," he wrote, "without any previous plan, began the Methodist Society in England." He soon formed similar societies in Bristol and Kingswood, and Wesley and his friends made converts wherever they went.


title: John Wesley

text: From 1739 onward, Wesley and the Methodists were persecuted by clergy and religious magistrates for various reasons. Though Wesley had been ordained an Anglican priest, many other Methodist leaders had not received ordination. And for his own part, Wesley flouted many regulations of the Church of England concerning parish boundaries and who had authority to preach. This was seen as a social threat that disregarded institutions. Clergy attacked them in sermons and in print, and at times mobs attacked them. Wesley and his followers continued to work among the neglected and needy. They were denounced as promulgators of strange doctrines, fomenters of religious disturbances; as blind fanatics, leading people astray, claiming miraculous gifts, attacking the clergy of the Church of England, and trying to re-establish Catholicism.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley felt that the church failed to call sinners to repentance, that many of the clergy were corrupt, and that people were perishing in their sins. He believed he was commissioned by God to bring about revival in the church, and no opposition, persecution, or obstacles could prevail against the divine urgency and authority of this commission. The prejudices of his High-church training, his strict notions of the methods and proprieties of public worship, his views of the apostolic succession and the prerogatives of the priest, even his most cherished convictions, were not allowed to stand in the way.


title: John Wesley

text: Seeing that he and the few clergy co-operating with him could not do the work that needed to be done, Wesley was led, as early as 1739, to approve local preachers. He evaluated and approved men who were not ordained by the Anglican Church to preach and do pastoral work. This expansion of lay preachers was one of the keys of the growth of Methodism.


title: John Wesley

text: As his societies needed houses to worship in, Wesley began to provide chapels, first in Bristol at the New Room, then in London (first The Foundery and then Wesley's Chapel) and elsewhere. The Foundery was an early chapel used by Wesley. The location of the Foundery is shown on an 18th-century map, where it rests between Tabernacle Street and Worship Street in the Moorfields area of London. When the Wesleys spotted the building atop Windmill Hill, north of Finsbury Fields, the structure which previously cast brass guns and mortars for the Royal Ordnance had been sitting vacant for 23 years; it had been abandoned because of an explosion on 10 May 1716.


title: John Wesley

text: The Bristol chapel (built in 1739) was at first in the hands of trustees. A large debt was contracted, and Wesley's friends urged him to keep it under his own control, so the deed was cancelled and he became sole trustee. Following this precedent, all Methodist chapels were committed in trust to him until by a "deed of declaration", all his interests in them were transferred to a body of preachers called the "Legal Hundred".


title: John Wesley

text: When disorder arose among some members of the societies, Wesley adopted giving tickets to members, with their names written by his own hand. These were renewed every three months. Those deemed unworthy did not receive new tickets and dropped out of the society without disturbance. The tickets were regarded as commendatory letters.


title: John Wesley

text: When the debt on a chapel became a burden, it was proposed that one in 12 members should collect offerings regularly from the 11 allotted to him. Out of this grew the Methodist class-meeting system in 1742. To keep the disorderly out of the societies, Wesley established a probationary system. He undertook to visit each society regularly in what became the quarterly visitation, or conference. As the number of societies increased, Wesley could not keep personal contact, so in 1743 he drew up a set of "General Rules" for the "United Societies". These were the nucleus of the Methodist "Discipline", still the basis.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley laid the foundations of what now constitutes the organisation of the Methodist Church. Over time, a shifting pattern of societies, circuits, quarterly meetings, annual conferences, classes, bands, and select societies took shape. At the local level, there were numerous societies of different sizes which were grouped into circuits to which travelling preachers were appointed for two-year periods. Circuit officials met quarterly under a senior travelling preacher or "assistant." Conferences with Wesley, travelling preachers and others were convened annually for the purpose of co-ordinating doctrine and discipline for the entire connection. Classes of a dozen or so society members under a leader met weekly for spiritual fellowship and guidance. In early years, there were "bands" of the spiritually gifted who consciously pursued perfection. Those who were regarded to have achieved it were grouped in select societies or bands. In 1744, there were 77 such members. There also was a category of penitents which consisted of backsliders.


title: John Wesley

text: As the number of preachers and preaching-houses increased, doctrinal and administrative matters needed to be discussed; so John and Charles Wesley, along with four other clergy and four lay preachers, met for consultation in London in 1744. This was the first Methodist conference; subsequently, the Conference (with Wesley as its president) became the ruling body of the Methodist movement. Two years later, to help preachers work more systematically and societies receive services more regularly, Wesley appointed "helpers" to definitive circuits. Each circuit included at least 30 appointments a month. Believing that the preacher's efficiency was promoted by his being changed from one circuit to another every year or two, Wesley established the "" and insisted that his preachers submit to its rules.


title: John Wesley

text: John Wesley had strong links with the North West of England, visiting Manchester on at least fifteen occasions between 1733 and 1790. In 1733 and 1738 he preached at St Ann's Church and Salford Chapel, meeting with his friend John Clayton. In 1781 Wesley opened the chapel on Oldham Street—part of the Manchester and Salford Wesleyan Methodist Mission, now the site of Manchester's Methodist Central Hall.


title: John Wesley

text: Following an illness in 1748 John Wesley was nursed by a classleader and housekeeper, Grace Murray, at an orphan house in Newcastle. Taken with Grace, he invited her to travel with him to Ireland in 1749 where he believed them to be betrothed though they were never married. It has been suggested that his brother Charles Wesley objected to the engagement, though this is disputed. Subsequently, Grace married John Bennett, a preacher.


title: John Wesley

text: As the societies multiplied, they adopted the elements of an ecclesiastical system. The divide between Wesley and the Church of England widened. The question of division from the Church of England was urged by some of his preachers and societies, but most strenuously opposed by his brother Charles. Wesley refused to leave the Church of England, believing that Anglicanism was "with all her blemishes, [...] nearer the Scriptural plans than any other in Europe". In 1745 Wesley wrote that he would make any concession which his conscience permitted, to live in peace with the clergy. He could not give up the doctrine of an inward and present salvation by faith itself; he would not stop preaching, nor dissolve the societies, nor end preaching by lay members. In the same year, in correspondence with a friend, he wrote that he believed it wrong to administer sacraments without having been ordained by a bishop.


title: John Wesley

text: When, in 1746, Wesley read Lord King's account of the primitive church, he became convinced that apostolic succession could be transmitted through not only bishops, but also presbyters (priests). He wrote that he was "a scriptural "episkopos" as much as many men in England." Although he believed in apostolic succession, he also once called the idea of uninterrupted succession a "fable".


title: John Wesley

text: Edward Stillingfleet's "Irenicon" led him to decide that ordination (and holy orders) could be valid when performed by a presbyter rather than a bishop. Nevertheless, some believe that Wesley was secretly consecrated a bishop in 1763 by Erasmus of Arcadia, and that Wesley could not openly announce his episcopal consecration without incurring the penalty of the "Præmunire" Act.


title: John Wesley

text: In 1784, he believed he could no longer wait for the Bishop of London to ordain someone for the American Methodists, who were without the sacraments after the American War of Independence. The Church of England had been disestablished in the United States, where it had been the state church in most of the southern colonies. The Church of England had not yet appointed a United States bishop to what would become the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. Wesley ordained Thomas Coke as superintendent of Methodists in the United States by the laying on of hands, although Coke was already a priest in the Church of England. He also ordained Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey as presbyters; Whatcoat and Vasey sailed to America with Coke. Wesley intended that Coke and Francis Asbury (whom Coke ordained as superintendent by direction of Wesley) should ordain others in the newly founded Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. In 1787, Coke and Asbury persuaded the American Methodists to refer to them as bishops rather than superintendents, overruling Wesley's objections to the change.


title: John Wesley

text: His brother, Charles, was alarmed by the ordinations and Wesley's evolving view of the matter. He begged Wesley to stop before he had "quite broken down the bridge" and not embitter his [Charles'] last moments on earth, nor "leave an indelible blot on our memory." Wesley replied that he had not separated from the church, nor did he intend to, but he must and would save as many souls as he could while alive, "without being careful about what may possibly be when I die." Although Wesley rejoiced that the Methodists in America were free, he advised his English followers to remain in the established church.


title: John Wesley

text: The 20th-century Wesleyan scholar Albert Outler argued in his introduction to the 1964 collection "John Wesley" that Wesley developed his theology by using a method that Outler termed the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. In this method, Wesley believed that the living core of Christianity was contained in Scripture (the Bible), and that it was the sole foundational source of theological development. The centrality of Scripture was so important for Wesley that he called himself "a man of one book," although he was well-read for his day. However, he believed that doctrine had to be in keeping with Christian orthodox tradition. So, tradition was considered the second aspect of the Quadrilateral. Wesley contended that a part of the theological method would involve experiential faith. In other words, truth would be vivified in personal experience of Christians (overall, not individually), if it were really truth. And every doctrine must be able to be defended rationally. He did not divorce faith from reason. Tradition, experience and reason, however, were subject always to Scripture, Wesley argued, because only there is the Word of God revealed "so far as it is necessary for our salvation."


title: John Wesley

text: The doctrines which Wesley emphasised in his sermons and writings are prevenient grace, present personal salvation by faith, the witness of the Spirit, and entire sanctification. Prevenient grace was the theological underpinning of his belief that all persons were capable of being saved by faith in Christ. Unlike the Calvinists of his day, Wesley did not believe in predestination, that is, that some persons had been elected by God for salvation and others for damnation. He understood that Christian orthodoxy insisted that salvation was only possible by the sovereign grace of God. He expressed his understanding of humanity's relationship to God as utter dependence upon God's grace. God was at work to enable all people to be capable of coming to faith by empowering humans to have actual existential freedom of response to God.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley defined the witness of the Spirit as: "an inward impression on the soul of believers, whereby the Spirit of God directly testifies to their spirit that they are the children of God." He based this doctrine upon certain Biblical passages (see as an example). This doctrine was closely related to his belief that salvation had to be "personal." In his view, a person must ultimately believe the Good News for himself or herself; no one could be in relation to God for another.


title: John Wesley

text: Entire sanctification he described in 1790 as the "grand "depositum" which God has lodged with the people called 'Methodists'." Wesley taught that entire sanctification was obtainable after justification by faith, between justification and death. Wesley defined it as:"That habitual disposition of soul which, in the sacred writings, is termed holiness; and which directly implies, the being cleansed from sin, ‘from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit;’ and, by consequence, the being endued with those virtues which were in Christ Jesus; the being so ‘renewed in the image of our mind,’ as to be ‘perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect."The term “sinless perfection” was one which Wesley avoided using "because of its ambiguity," rather, he contended that a Christian could be made "perfect in love". (Wesley studied Eastern Orthodoxy and embraced particularly the doctrine of "Theosis"). This love would mean, first of all, that a believer's motives, rather than being self-centred, would be guided by the deep desire to please God. One would be able to keep from committing what Wesley called, "sin rightly so-called." By this he meant a conscious or intentional breach of God's will or laws.


title: John Wesley

text: Secondly, to be made perfect in love meant, for Wesley, that a Christian could live with a primary guiding regard for others and their welfare. He based this on Christ's quote that the second great command is "to love your neighbour as you love yourself." In Wesley's view, this orientation would cause a person to avoid any number of sins against his neighbour. This love, plus the love for God that could be the central focus of a person's faith, would be what Wesley referred to as "a fulfilment of the law of Christ." He maintained that individuals could have assurance of perfection, akin to a second conversion or instantaneous sanctifying experience, through the testimony of the Spirit. Wesley collected and published such testimonies.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley entered controversies as he tried to enlarge church practice. The most notable of his controversies was that on Calvinism. His father was of the Arminian school in the church. Wesley came to his own conclusions while in college and expressed himself strongly against the doctrines of Calvinistic election and reprobation. His system of thought has become known as Wesleyan Arminianism, the foundations of which were laid by Wesley and his fellow preacher John William Fletcher. Although Wesley knew very little about the beliefs of Jacob Arminius and arrived at his religious views independently of Arminius, Wesley acknowledged late in life, with the 1778 publication of "The Arminian Magazine", that he and Arminius were in general agreement. Theology Professor W. Stephen Gunther concludes he was "a faithful representative" of Arminius' beliefs. Wesley was perhaps the clearest English proponent of Arminianism.


title: John Wesley

text: By contrast, Whitefield inclined to Calvinism; in his first tour in America, he embraced the views of the New England School of Calvinism. Whitefield opposed Wesley's advocacy of Arminianism, though the two maintained a strained friendship. When in 1739 Wesley preached a sermon on "Freedom of Grace", attacking the Calvinistic understanding of predestination as blasphemous, as it represented "God as worse than the devil," Whitefield asked him not to repeat or publish the discourse, as he did not want a dispute. Wesley published his sermon anyway. Whitefield was one of many who responded. The two men separated their practice in 1741. Wesley wrote that those who held to unlimited atonement did not desire separation, but "those who held 'particular redemption' would not hear of any accommodation."


title: John Wesley

text: Whitefield, Howell Harris (leader of the Welsh Methodist revival), John Cennick, and others, became the founders of Calvinistic Methodism. Whitefield and Wesley, however, were soon back on friendly terms, and their friendship remained unbroken although they travelled different paths. When someone asked Whitefield if he thought he would see Wesley in heaven, Whitefield replied, "I fear not, for he will be so near the eternal throne and we at such a distance, we shall hardly get sight of him."


title: John Wesley

text: In 1770, the controversy broke out anew with violence and bitterness, as people's view of God related to their views of men and their possibilities. Augustus Toplady, Daniel Rowland, Sir Richard Hill and others were engaged on one side, while Wesley and Fletcher stood on the other. Toplady was editor of "The Gospel Magazine", which had articles covering the controversy.


title: John Wesley

text: In 1778, Wesley began the publication of "The Arminian Magazine", not, he said, to convince Calvinists, but to preserve Methodists. He wanted to teach the truth that "God willeth all men to be saved." A "lasting peace" could be secured in no other way.


title: John Wesley

text: Some have suggested that later in life Wesley may have embraced the doctrine of universal salvation, although this is disputed. The claim is supported by a letter Wesley wrote in 1787 in which he endorsed as "one of the most sensible tracts I have ever read" a work by Charles Bonnet in which the author's conclusion was, "There will therefore be a perpetual advance of all the individuals of humanity towards greater perfection or greater happiness."


title: John Wesley

text: Later in his ministry, Wesley was a keen abolitionist, speaking out and writing against the slave trade. Wesley denounced slavery as "the sum of all villainies," and detailed its abuses. He addressed the slave trade in a polemical tract, titled "Thoughts Upon Slavery," in 1774. He wrote, "Liberty is the right of every human creature, as soon as he breathes the vital air; and no human law can deprive him of that right which he derives from the law of nature". Wesley influenced George Whitefield to journey to the colonies, spurring the transatlantic debate on slavery. Wesley was a mentor to William Wilberforce, who was also influential in the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.


title: John Wesley

text: It is thanks to Wesley's abolitionist message that a young African American, Richard Allen, converted to Christianity in 1777 and later founded, in 1816, the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), in the Methodist tradition.


title: John Wesley

text: Women had an active role in Wesley's Methodism, and were encouraged to lead classes. In 1761, he informally allowed Sarah Crosby, one of his converts and a class leader, to preach. On an occasion where over 200 people attended a class she was meant to teach, Crosby felt as though she could not fulfill her duties as a class leader given the large crowd, and decided to preach instead. She wrote to Wesley to seek his advice and forgiveness. He let Crosby to continue her preaching so long as she refrained from as many of the mannerisms of preaching as she could. Between 1761 and 1771, Wesley wrote detailed instructions to Crosby and others, with specifics on what styles of preaching they could use. For instance, in 1769, Wesley allowed Crosby to give exhortations.


title: John Wesley

text: In the summer of 1771, Mary Bosanquet wrote to John Wesley to defend hers and Sarah Crosby's work preaching and leading classes at her orphanage, Cross Hall. Bosanquet's letter is considered to be the first full and true defense of women's preaching in Methodism. Her argument was that women should be able to preach when they experienced an 'extraordinary call,' or when given permission from God. Wesley accepted Bosanquet's argument, and formally began to allow women to preach in Methodism in 1771. Methodist women, including preachers, continued to observe the ancient practice of Christian head covering.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley travelled widely, generally on horseback, preaching two or three times each day. Stephen Tomkins writes that "[Wesley] rode 250,000 miles, gave away 30,000 pounds, ... and preached more than 40,000 sermons... " He formed societies, opened chapels, examined and commissioned preachers, administered aid charities, prescribed for the sick, helped to pioneer the use of electric shock for the treatment of illness, and superintended orphanages and schools (including Kingswood School).


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley practised a vegetarian diet and in later life abstained from wine for health reasons. He wrote, "thanks be to God, since the time I gave up flesh meals and wine I have been delivered from all physical ills." Wesley warned against the dangers of alcohol abuse in his famous sermon, "The Use of Money," and in his letter to an alcoholic. In his sermon, "On Public Diversions", Wesley says: "You see the wine when it sparkles in the cup, and are going to drink of it. I tell you there is poison in it! and, therefore, beg you to throw it away". These statements against alcohol use largely concerned "hard liquors and spirits" rather than the low-alcohol beer, which was often safer to drink than the contaminated water of that time. Methodist churches became pioneers in the teetotal temperance movement of the 19th and 20th centuries, and later it became "de rigueur" in British Methodism.


title: John Wesley

text: He attended music concerts, and was especially an admirer of Charles Avison. After attending a performance in Bristol Cathedral in 1758, Wesley recorded in his journal: "I went to the cathedral to hear Mr. Handel's "Messiah". I doubt if that congregation was ever so serious at a sermon as they were during this performance. In many places, especially several of the choruses, it exceeded my expectation."


title: John Wesley

text: He is described as "rather under the medium height, well proportioned, strong, with a bright eye, a clear complexion, and a saintly, intellectual face". Though Wesley favoured celibacy rather than marital bond, he married very unhappily in 1751, at the age of 48, to a widow, Mary Vazeille, described as "a well-to-do widow and mother of four children." The couple had no children. John Singleton writes: "By 1758 she had left him—unable to cope, it is said, with the competition for his time and devotion presented by the ever-burgeoning Methodist movement. Molly, as she was known, was to return and leave him again on several occasions before their final separation." Wesley wryly reported in his journal, "I did not forsake her, I did not dismiss her, I will not recall her."


title: John Wesley

text: In 1770, at the death of George Whitefield, Wesley wrote a memorial sermon which praised Whitefield's admirable qualities and acknowledged the two men's differences: "There are many doctrines of a less essential nature ... In these we may think and let think; we may 'agree to disagree.' But, meantime, let us hold fast the essentials..." Wesley may have been the first to use "agree to disagree" in print—in the modern sense of tolerating differences—though he himself attributed the saying to Whitefield, and it had appeared in other senses previously.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley's health declined sharply towards the end of his life and he ceased preaching. On 28 June 1790, less than a year before his death, he wrote:


title: John Wesley

text: This day I enter into my eighty-eighth year. For above eighty-six years, I found none of the infirmities of old age: my eyes did not wax dim, neither was my natural strength abated. But last August, I found almost a sudden change. My eyes were so dim that no glasses would help me. My strength likewise now quite forsook me and probably will not return in this world.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley died on 2 March 1791, at the age of 87. As he lay dying, his friends gathered around him, Wesley grasped their hands and said repeatedly, "Farewell, farewell." At the end, he said, "The best of all is, God is with us", lifted his arms and raised his feeble voice again, repeating the words, "The best of all is, God is with us." He was entombed at his chapel on City Road, London.


title: John Wesley

text: Because of his charitable nature he died poor, leaving as the result of his life's work 135,000 members and 541 itinerant preachers under the name "Methodist". It has been said that "when John Wesley was carried to his grave, he left behind him a good library of books, a well-worn clergyman's gown" and the Methodist Church.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley wrote, edited or abridged some 400 publications. As well as theology he wrote about music, marriage, medicine, abolitionism and politics. Wesley was a logical thinker and expressed himself clearly, concisely and forcefully in writing. Between 1746 and 1760, Wesley compiled several volumes of written sermons, published as "Sermons on Several Occasions"; the first four volumes comprise forty-four sermons which are doctrinal in content. His "Forty-Four Sermons" and the "Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament" (1755) are Methodist doctrinal standards. Wesley was a fluent, powerful and effective preacher; he usually preached spontaneously and briefly, though occasionally at great length.


title: John Wesley

text: In his "Christian Library" (1750), he writes about mystics such as Macarius of Egypt, Ephrem the Syrian, Madame Guyon, François Fénelon, Ignatius of Loyola, John of Ávila, Francis de Sales, Blaise Pascal, and Antoinette Bourignon. The work reflects the influence of Christian mysticism in Wesley's ministry from the beginning to the end, although he ever rejected it after the failure in Georgia mission.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley's prose, "Works", were first collected by himself (32 vols., Bristol, 1771–74, frequently reprinted in editions varying greatly in the number of volumes). His chief prose works are a standard publication in seven octavo volumes of the Methodist Book Concern, New York. The "Poetical Works" of John and Charles, ed. G. Osborn, appeared in 13 vols., London, 1868–72.


title: John Wesley

text: In addition to his "Sermons" and "Notes" are his "Journals" (originally published in 20 parts, London, 1740–89; new ed. by N. Curnock containing notes from unpublished diaries, 6 vols., vols. i–ii, London and New York, 1909–11); "The Doctrine of Original Sin" (Bristol, 1757; in reply to John Taylor of Norwich); "An Earnest Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion" (originally published in three parts; 2nd ed., Bristol, 1743), an elaborate defence of Methodism, describing the evils of the times in society and the church; and a "Plain Account of Christian Perfection" (1766).


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley's "Sunday Service" was an adaptation of the "Book of Common Prayer" for use by American Methodists. In his Watchnight service, he made use of a pietist prayer now generally known as the Wesley Covenant Prayer, perhaps his most famous contribution to Christian liturgy. He was a noted hymn-writer, translator and compiler of a hymnal.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley also wrote on physics and medicine, such as in "The Desideratum", subtitled "Electricity made Plain and Useful by a Lover of Mankind and of Common Sense" (1759). and "Primitive Physic, Or, An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases".


title: John Wesley

text: In spite of the proliferation of his literary output, Wesley was challenged for plagiarism for borrowing heavily from an essay by Samuel Johnson, published in March 1775. Initially denying the charge, Wesley later apologised officially.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley continues to be the primary theological influence on Methodists and Methodist-heritage groups the world over; the Methodist movement numbers 75 million adherents in more than 130 countries. Wesleyan teachings also serve as a basis for the Holiness movement, which includes denominations like Free Methodist Church, the Church of the Nazarene, the Salvation Army, and several smaller groups, and from which Pentecostalism and parts of the Charismatic movement are offshoots. Wesley's call to personal and social holiness continues to challenge Christians who attempt to discern what it means to participate in the Kingdom of God.


title: John Wesley

text: He is commemorated in the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on 2 March with his brother Charles. The Wesley brothers are honoured with a Lesser Feast on 3 March in the Calendar of Saints of the Episcopal Church, and on 24 May (Aldersgate Day, with a Lesser Festival) in the Church of England's Calendar.


title: John Wesley

text: In 2002, Wesley was listed at number 50 on the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons, drawn from a poll of the British public.


title: John Wesley

text: Wesley's house and chapel, which he built in 1778 on City Road in London, are still intact today and the chapel has a thriving congregation with regular services as well as the Museum of Methodism in the crypt.


title: John Wesley

text: Numerous schools, colleges, hospitals and other institutions are named after Wesley; additionally, many are named after Methodism. In 1831, Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, was the first institution of higher education in the United States to be named after Wesley. The now secular institution was founded as an all-male Methodist college.


title: John Wesley

text: A replica of the rectory where Wesley lived as a boy was built in the 1990s at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. This was an addition to a group of buildings built starting in the 1950s for the World Methodist Council, including a museum which housed letters written by Wesley and a pulpit Wesley used. The museum was already having difficulty staying open, and the COVID-19 pandemic finally made closing the museum necessary. Its contents went to Bridwell Library of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.


title: John Wesley

text: In 1954, the Radio and Film Commission of the British Methodist Church, in co-operation with J. Arthur Rank, produced the film "John Wesley". This was a live-action re-telling of the story of the life of Wesley, with Leonard Sachs in the title role.


title: John Wesley

text: In 2009, a more ambitious feature film, "Wesley", was released by Foundery Pictures, starring Burgess Jenkins as Wesley. The film was directed by the award-winning filmmaker John Jackman.


title: John Wesley

text: In 1976 the musical "Ride! Ride!", composed by Penelope Thwaites AM and written by Alan Thornhill, premiered at the Westminster Theatre in London's West End. The piece is based on the true story of eighteen-year-old Martha Thompson's incarceration in Bedlam, an incident in Wesley's life. The premier ran for 76 performances. Since then it has had more than 40 productions, both amateur and professional, including a 1999 concert version, issued on the Somm record label, with Keith Michell as Wesley.


title: The Six Million Dollar Man

text: The Six Million Dollar Man is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is rebuilt with superhuman strength, speed and vision due to bionic implants and is employed as a secret agent by a fictional U.S. government office titled OSI. The series was based on Martin Caidin's 1972 novel "Cyborg", which was the working title of the series during pre-production.


title: The Six Million Dollar Man

text: Following three television films intended as pilots, which all aired in 1973, "The Six Million Dollar Man" television series aired on the ABC network as a regular episodic series for five seasons from 1974 to 1978. Steve Austin became a pop culture icon of the 1970s.


title: The Six Million Dollar Man

text: A spin-off television series, "The Bionic Woman", featuring the lead female character Jaime Sommers, ran from 1976 to 1978. Three television movies featuring both bionic characters were also produced from 1987 to 1994.


title: The Six Million Dollar Man

text: When NASA astronaut USAF Colonel Steve Austin is severely injured in the crash of an experimental lifting body aircraft, he is "rebuilt" in an operation that costs $6 million (equivalent to $ million in ). His right arm, both legs and left eye are replaced with "bionic" implants that enhance his strength, speed and vision far above human norms: he can run at speeds of over , and his eye has a 20:1 zoom lens and infrared capabilities, while his bionic limbs all have the equivalent power of a bulldozer. He uses his enhanced abilities to work for the OSI (Office of Scientific Intelligence) as a secret agent.