Podcast Episode 39
John Wesley Returns
to Oxford University
with Dr. Kenneth Collins & host Nick Walters
Episode 39 of This Week in Christian History features a full-length interview with Dr. Kenneth J. Collins, Professor of Historical Theology and Wesley Studies at Asbury Seminary. In this episode, Dr. Collins explores the world of John Wesley during the period when Wesley returned to Oxford. This was a decisive season in Wesley’s development, shaping the disciplined spiritual life, theological concerns, and devotional commitments that would eventually influence the Methodist movement across Britain and the Atlantic world. The conversation highlights Wesley’s intellectual environment, the religious atmosphere of Oxford in the early eighteenth century, and the spiritual practices that shaped his understanding of Christian holiness, grace, and discipleship.
This interview with Dr. Collins is part of the ongoing series dedicated to exploring the people, places, and ideas that have shaped Christian history. Each episode includes an interview with Nick Walters, founder of the Center for Christian History at Mississippi College, a Deep Dive segment with a subject matter expert, and a set of major historical highlights drawn from this week in Christian history. These segments are designed for viewers who want to expand their understanding of the global Christian story, access trustworthy historical information, and discover the lives of influential Christian thinkers, writers, reformers, missionaries, and leaders.
This week’s episode includes two significant historical highlights associated with the same calendar week. The first is connected to the birth of Billy Sunday on November 19, 1862. Billy Sunday emerged as one of the most dynamic and influential evangelists in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Before entering ministry, Sunday was a well-known professional baseball player whose conversion to Christianity profoundly redirected the trajectory of his life. Over the course of his ministry, Sunday preached in more than three hundred revival campaigns, reaching an estimated one hundred million people. More than one million individuals publicly professed faith in Jesus Christ at his meetings. His high-energy preaching style, uncompromising moral exhortations, and athletic stage presence made him one of the most recognizable Christian figures of his era and an early pioneer of mass evangelism in modern America.
The second highlight takes us back to November 23, 1654, when the French mathematician, physicist, inventor, and theologian Blaise Pascal experienced a decisive Christian conversion. Pascal was already known across Europe for his groundbreaking work in mathematics and for constructing one of the first calculating machines in 1652. His conversion occurred after a profound encounter with God that he recorded in what is now known as the Pascal Memorial. Following a reading of Psalm 119, Pascal wrote in his journal, “I will not forget thy Word. Amen.” This declaration marked a turning point in his spiritual life and influenced the devotional and philosophical reflections that later appeared in his Pensées. His writings continue to shape Christian apologetics, philosophy, and discussions of faith and reason.
The Deep Dive segment in this episode focuses on John Wesley’s period at Oxford, a subject that Dr. Collins has researched extensively over decades of teaching and writing. Wesley’s Oxford years included his role as a fellow of Lincoln College, his participation in the Holy Club, and his efforts to cultivate a disciplined Christian life grounded in prayer, fasting, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and serious study of Scripture and the early Church. These practices became core elements of the Methodist tradition and continue to influence Christian spiritual formation around the world. This episode gives viewers a clear understanding of how Wesley’s return to Oxford shaped his theological vision and prepared him for the ministry that would soon follow.
As always, this program encourages viewers to explore the wider Christian story, engage thoughtfully with the past, and make use of historically grounded resources. The interview with Dr. Collins adds scholarly depth to the week’s material, while the historical highlights provide additional insights into major figures whose influence extended far beyond their own time. Through these conversations and historical reflections, This Week in Christian History offers a deeper appreciation for the leaders, events, and spiritual movements that have shaped the church across centuries.
Image citation for recommended portrait of John Wesley:
Wesley, John (1703–1791). Portrait after George Romney (1789). London: National Portrait Gallery.
