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In this innovative study, Jesse challenges the prevailing view of
Blake as an antinomian and describes him as a theological moderate
who defended an evangelical faith akin to the Methodism of John
Wesley. She arrives at this conclusion by contextualizing Blake's
works not only within Methodism, but in relation to other religious
groups he addressed in his art, including the Established Church,
deism, and radical religions. Further, she analyzes his works by
sorting out the theological "road signs" he directed to each
audience. This approach reveals Blake engaging each faction through
its most prized beliefs, manipulating its own doctrines through
visual and verbal guide-posts designed to communicate specifically
with that group. She argues that, once we collate Blake's messages
to his intended audiences-sounding radical to the conservatives and
conservative to the radicals-we find him advocating a system that
would have been recognized by his contemporaries as Wesleyan in
orientation. This thesis also relies on an accurate understanding
of eighteenth-century Methodism: Jesse underscores the empirical
rationalism pervading Wesley's theology, highlighting differences
between Methodism as practiced and as publicly caricatured.
Undergirding this project is Jesse's call for more rigorous
attention to the dramatic character of Blake's works. She notes
that scholars still typically use phrases like "Blake says" or
"Blake believes," followed by some claim made by a Blakean
character, without negotiating the complex narrative dynamics that
might enable us to understand the rhetorical purposes of that
statement, as heard by Blake's respective audiences. Jesse
maintains we must expect to find reflections in Blake's works of
all the theologies he engaged. The question is: what was he doing
with them, and why? In order to divine what Blake meant to
communicate, we must explore how those he targeted would have
perceived his arguments. Jesse concludes that by analyzing the
dramatic character of Blake's works theologically through this
wide-angled, audience-oriented approach, we see him orchestrating a
grand rapprochement of the extreme theologies of his day into a
unified vision that integrates faith and reason.
In this innovative study, Jesse challenges the prevailing view of
Blake as an antinomian and describes him as a theological moderate
who defended an evangelical faith akin to the Methodism of John
Wesley. She arrives at this conclusion by contextualizing Blake's
works not only within Methodism, but in relation to other religious
groups he addressed in his art, including the Established Church,
deism, and radical religions. Further, she analyzes his works by
sorting out the theological "road signs" he directed to each
audience. This approach reveals Blake engaging each faction through
its most prized beliefs, manipulating its own doctrines through
visual and verbal guide-posts designed to communicate specifically
with that group. She argues that, once we collate Blake's messages
to his intended audiences-sounding radical to the conservatives and
conservative to the radicals-we find him advocating a system that
would have been recognized by his contemporaries as Wesleyan in
orientation. This thesis also relies on an accurate understanding
of eighteenth-century Methodism: Jesse underscores the empirical
rationalism pervading Wesley's theology, highlighting differences
between Methodism as practiced and as publicly caricatured.
Undergirding this project is Jesse's call for more rigorous
attention to the dramatic character of Blake's works. She notes
that scholars still typically use phrases like "Blake says" or
"Blake believes," followed by some claim made by a Blakean
character, without negotiating the complex narrative dynamics that
might enable us to understand the rhetorical purposes of that
statement, as heard by Blake's respective audiences. Jesse
maintains we must expect to find reflections in Blake's works of
all the theologies he engaged. The question is: what was he doing
with them, and why? In order to divine what Blake meant to
communicate, we must explore how those he targeted would have
perceived his arguments. Jesse concludes that by analyzing the
dramatic character of Blake's works theologically through this
wide-angled, audience-oriented approach, we see him orchestrating a
grand rapprochement of the extreme theologies of his day into a
unified vision that integrates faith and reason.
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