Better Late Than Never: An Assessment of the Reception of 'Las Obras de Wesley' in Latin America

Justo Gonzalez launched the first volumes of the Spanish translation of the Works of John Wesley into Spanish in October of 1997—more than one hundred years since the arrival of Methodism in Latin America. Early Methodist missionaries had evangelized, planted churches, social ministries, educational institutions and trained native-born pastors without access to the founder’s writings in the vernacular. This paper examines three main questions: 1) What were the theological sources consulted by Latin American Methodism prior to the translation of Las Obras into Spanish? 2) Now a quarter of century has passed since the launching of Las Obras and this paper assesses the reception. How has the availability of Wesley’s writings impacted seminary training for Methodist pastors? 3) The paper concludes with unanswered questions and future opportunities for Methodist Studies in the Spanish-speaking world.