This is not a book for the newcomer or the general reader, though the ‘technical’ wording of the title should not dissuade serious students from gaining valuable insights into an area of John Wesley's theology that has been somewhat neglected in the past. The author in fact begins his preface by defining pneumatology as ‘an orderly understanding of God's spiritual nature in relation to human existence’, precisely because of the difficulties involved in using appropriate and meaningful language when speaking about the Holy Spirit. Cunningham is wise to do this, as Wesley himself acknowledged the problems in explaining (and justifying) his position in rational terms against Hume and others – as have Christian theologians throughout the centuries – and Wesley, perhaps, was better equipped than most to engage in the task of apologetic.

This careful study by Joseph Cunningham is not always easy to read, but covers an area where scholarship has been relatively thin on the ground. The term ‘perceptible inspiration’ (the book's subtitle) was used by Wesley himself to define, as far as was possible, the way in which believers ‘experience the Spirit by faith, and are transformed for holiness through inward perception of the divine’. Wesley's correspondence between 1745 and 1748 with a certain John Smith, a pseudonym for a leading contemporary Anglican divine, forms the basis of chapter i, where we have a helpful delineation of Wesley's basic beliefs, showing that he could combine in his writings the complexities of speaking of God's Spirit on the one hand, with a beautiful simplicity on the other, illustrated in his use of the Collect for Purity. This, perhaps, was Wesley's essential genius. The second chapter, despite its invitation to consider the subject of grace as the ‘relational foundation’ of perceptible inspiration, is less effective because the author takes some time to deal with his main subject, though wherever he cites Wesley directly, such as in the little-read sermon ‘On dissipation’, we are given a clear insight into his (Wesley's) thinking. The following chapters move us on in a logical progression – from grace to faith as a ‘sensorium of spiritual encounter’ in chapter iii, then on to the area of witness in chapter iv, where Wesley's teaching on matters relating to assurance and perfection caused perhaps most controversy. The final (and in some ways, most illuminating) chapter deals with the fruits of the Spirit and Cunningham gives a compelling analysis of the way in which Wesley's pneumatology unfolded in practical terms. In his pamphlet ‘The character of a Methodist’, which appeared in 1742, Wesley said that a Methodist was one who was ‘happy in God’, and Joseph Cunningham's final chapter includes a delightful examination of this characteristic in the life of faith. Whilst not breaking any new ground, the author should be congratulated on providing us with a valuable study of a crucially important element of Wesley's theology.