Would John Wesley watch “Law & Order?” Once I Facebooked the question and a colleague cleverly responded: “Not SVU!” She was citing the series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” which the producers originally wanted to title “Sex Crimes” until overruled by network censors.
Wesley like most evangelicals of his day would have disapproved of most if not all theatrical dramas. His rules for Methodists warned against “singing those songs, and reading those books, which do not tend to the knowledge or love of God.” However, at age 86, he did read the somewhat relatively racy memoir of infamous British actress Mrs. Bellamy, which he called a “very pretty trifle,” whose author had “total ignorance of God,” yet was a “fine and elegant writer.” Wesley sardonically noted of her potboiler: “Surely never did any since John Dryden study more ‘to make vice pleasing and damnation shine.’”
Read Full Article »