1879. With sketches of their female associates and successors in the early history of the denomination. Stevens was an American editor, historian and Methodist Episcopal clergyman. He suffered the trials of poverty and hard work in childhood and early on he was converted and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. He began to preach when a mere youth, and before he was twenty-one years of age was regarded as a prodigy of eloquence. He opened the vein of American Methodistic history, and gave a long series of historical articles, which afterward appeared in the form of books, and, indeed, entered upon the investigations which produced his History of Methodism, one of the ablest and best-known works of its class. He states in the Preface to this volume that his previous historical studies of early Methodism have convinced him that no other modern, perhaps no ancient, section of the Church possessed richer materials for the illustration of female piety and agency in religion than Methodism. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Description: John Wesley (1703-91) was a unique character in history who left a disproportionately large imprint on the world. That imprint was a contagious passion for what he called real Christianity--the Good News of saving grace and scriptural holiness. This book examines Wesley's life and faith in order to better understand what it means to be a present-day participant in that legacy. The book begins with the story of Wesley's search for an authentic Christian experience. His steps are traced from his early days of struggle, through his conversion at Aldersgate, to his long years of remarkable ministry. The second part of the book outlines the basic Wesleyan understandings of sin, grace, redemption, new birth, sanctification, and perfection. A concluding exploration of some practical implications of the Wesleyan doctrine of holiness is found in the third part. This book celebrates the Wesleyan tradition, especially that branch known as the Holiness Movement. It is, however, not entirely uncritical. It seeks to provide an honest and sympathetic consideration of the heritage and faith of Wesley's lasting imprint. Endorsements: ""Dan Burnett's new book In the Shadow of Aldersgate has captured the person of John Wesley and the theological movement that followed him with clarity and freshness. . . . This doctrinal overview refers to other spiritual traditions with respect and grace but assists the reader to understand Wesleyanism in respect to other faith perspectives. It] is a gift to those who want to understand historic Wesleyan doctrine."" --Dr. Don Bray General Director, Global Partners, The Wesleyan Church ""For anyone interested in a concise biography of John Wesley, and an excellent summary of his doctrine of salvation, one could not go wrong in choosing In the Shadow of Aldersgate. I certainly intend to use it as a text in my course 'The Life and Theology of John Wesley.'"" Mark L. Weeter, Professor, Division of Religion and Philosophy Oklahoma Wesleyan University ""In the Shadow of Aldersgate . . . moves from John Wesley's life to the thought and potential of the tradition that flows from that life. . . . Besides aiding the Wesleyan tradition in understanding its inaugural springs of authentic Christianity, this book will be an introductory source to those in the wider Christian community . . . . The evangelical spirit of the writer is evident throughout, but this posture does not diminish the book's use for an ecumenical audience."" Richard K. Eckley Professor of Theology Houghton College About the Contributor(s): Daniel L. Burnett has worked in various capacities of ministry and theological education in both the USA and England. A graduate of Nazarene Theological Seminary (M.Div., D.Min.), he now serves as pastor of Central Wesleyan Church in Anderson, Indiana.

"Commissioned by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry for use in United Methodist doctrine/polity/history courses." This in-depth analysis of the connection between United Methodist polity and theology addresses ways in which historical developments have shaped--and continue to shape--the organization of the church.
This revised edition incorporates the actions of The United Methodist General Conference, 2004. The book discusses continuing reforms of the church's plan for baptism and church membership, as well as the emergence of deacon's orders and other changes to ordained ministry procedures. The text is now cross-referenced to the Book of Discipline, 2004, including the revised order of disciplinary chapters and paragraph numbering. Denominational statistics are updated, along with references to recent works on The United Methodist Church and American religious life.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

John Wesley (1703-1791) is the chief architect and source of inspiration to the teaching commonly referred to as Christian perfection. Among his many publications, the book that best summarizes his teachings on holiness is A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, as believed and taught by the Reverend Mr. John Wesley, from the year 1725 to the year 1777. For many years this timeless classic has been reproduced in various formats. Now, for the first time, John Wesley's 'A Plain Account of Christian Perfection' is being offered in a definitive Annotated Edition by Mark K. Olson. This edition is volume one in a projected three volume series. The Annotated Edition offers the following: The entire text has been divided into chapters and verses for detailed study and cross-referencing. The introduction examines in detail when and why Wesley wrote A Plain Account. The verse by verse commentary discusses the history and background behind the text, offering unsurpassed explanation of Wesley's doctrine of perfect love. Five end notes address Wesley's early doctrinal development, the impact of Aldersgate on his perfection doctrine, many testimonies of attaining perfection, and other relevant material from early Methodism. Over 150 quotations from Wesley's sermons, writings, and letters offer unlimited clarification to his views on perfection. The insights of many Wesley scholars are included: Albert Outler, Randy Maddox, Kenneth Collins, William Greathouse, Thomas Oden, Harold Lindstrom, Stephen Gunter, H. Ray Dunning, Theodore Runyon, plus many others. A timeline details every event in Wesley's lifetime corresponding to A Plain Account. Several exhaustive indexes are included: scripture, annotation, subject, author, Wesley quotations, and two synonym indexes from Wesley's Journal and A Plain Account. The Essential Reading Section further empowers the study of Wesley's theology of perfection. Included are: o Twenty key sermons, along with their dates and locations in Wesley's Works (both the Jackson and Bicentennial editions). Wesley's most important writings on perfection, listing their date and location in his Works. 250 letters relevant to his theology of perfection. The index includes their date and location in Wesley's Works, with a brief description of their contents. Two additional volumes are planned in the series. John Wesley's Theology of Perfection will offer specialized studies for those wanting to dig deeper into Wesley's theology of perfection. The third volume, John Wesley's Doctrine of Christian Perfection, will present in systematic format every facet of Wesley's views on perfection. The projected release for both volumes is 2006 and 2007. Together, these three volumes will present one of the most thorough and exhaustive studies ever done on Wesley's most beloved, yet, most controversial doctrine.

Autobiographical journals of Thomas Coke, an important figure to both American and Methodist history.
In these journals Thomas Coke gives contemporaneous detailed impressions of late-18th century North America from his nine visits and four Caribbean tours. Using the 1816 edition of the journals as a base, Vickers compares it to earlier editions and, where available, to the manuscript journal, noting any variations.

A comprehensive guide to the theology and practice of evangelism within the Wesleyan tradition.
No one would deny that evangelism stands at the heart of the Wesleyan/Methodist movement. Yet ask any number of representatives of that movement what evangelism means, and you will get an equal number of definitions. Is it bringing the lost to saving faith in Christ? Working to conform the social order to the Kingdom of God? Deepening the commitment of disciples to the work the Gospel?
This important new volume answers that evangelism is all these, and more. Drawing on the work of prominent theologians and church leaders, it examines both the theory and the practice of evangelism among the people called Methodist, charting a course for a faithfully Wesleyan fulfillment of the Great Commission.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

In John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, the pilgrims cannot reach the Celestial City without passing through Vanity Fair, where everything is bought and sold. In recent years there has been much analysis of commerce and consumption in Britain during the long eighteenth century, and of the dramatic expansion of popular publishing. Similarly, much has been written on the extraordinary effects of the evangelical revivals of the eighteenth century in Britain, Europe, and North America. But how did popular religious culture and the world of print interact? It is now known that religious works formed the greater part of the publishing market for most of the century. What religious books were read, and how? Who chose them? How did they get into people's hands? Vanity Fair and the Celestial City is the first book to answer these questions in detail. It explores the works written, edited, abridged, and promoted by evangelical dissenters, Methodists both Arminian and Calvinist, and Church of England evangelicals in the period 1720 to 1800. Isabel Rivers also looks back to earlier sources and forward to the continued republication of many of these works well into the nineteenth century. The first part is concerned with the publishing and distribution of religious books by commercial booksellers and not-for-profit religious societies, and the means by which readers obtained them and how they responded to what they read. The second part shows that some of the most important publications were new versions of earlier nonconformist, episcopalian, Roman Catholic, and North American works. The third part explores the main literary kinds, including annotated bibles, devotional guides, exemplary lives, and hymns. Building on many years' research into the religious literature of the period, Rivers discusses over two hundred writers and provides detailed case studies of popular and influential works.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

The public theology of the Wesleyan tradition is best understood as moral theology rather than as philosophical and applied ethics. Long asserts that the ethical nature of the Wesleyan tradition can be best understood using the frame of moral theology stemming from the virtue tradition, particularly the work of Thomas Aquinas. This recognizes that the gathering of the faithful for the purpose of seeking holiness is the public voice of the church. Because we squeezed the Wesleyan tradition in the academic discipline of philosophical and applied ethics, we distorted our tradition. This distortion led us into our current ethical impasse, particularly with money, war and peace, homosexuality, and technology.
An excerpt from the "Circuit Rider" review: "In John Wesley s Moral Theology, D. Stephen Long offers a radical proposal: By letting Wesley be Wesley in his context and thus being out of step with ours, Wesley actually has more to say to us in our postmodern context. Here, our problem with making him relevant for today is implied in the difference between ethics and moral theology. As a moral theologian, Wesley believed that doing and knowing what is good can only be achieved by being united with Christ. In other words, the Good and the True cannot be known outside of God. Thus, there is no separation between ethics and theology since the former is only intelligible in the light of the latter." (Click here to read the entire review.)"

Representative writings of early American Methodists illustrating their spirituality and lives.
This book presents primary source material from the writings of early American Methodists (ca. 1770-1820). Ruth topically organizes and sets each reading in context. Materials from Francis Asbury, Thomas Coke, Peter Cartwright, as well as rank-and-file Methodists are included. Ruth's book demonstrates that early Methodism was made up of both men and women and both Black and White persons. The primary material includes sermon outlines, journal and diary entries, excerpts from correspondence, hymnody and poetry, theological reflections, and contemporaneous historical descriptions.

The title of this volume is as old as the Wesleyan movement and apt for the very latest Methodist theological self-designation.Marks of Methodism points back to John Wesley himself and to his efforts to define the movement.Such marks or hallmarks prescribe a basis for Methodist identity, purpose, and unity.They also serve to differentiate Methodists from other Christians, to sketch the boundaries of our movement, and to mark us off.Marks also invite attention to the conjunction of precept and practice, to the considerable recent affirmation of practices as the traditioning and corporate bearers of Christian faithfulness and witness; and therefore as the ground of theology and doctrine, and to Methodist embodiment of and featuring of traditioning practices long before that became fashionable. These marks point to an understanding of church, a doctrine of the church, an ecclesiology, embedded in the everyday structures, policies, organizations, and patterns of Methodist life."

Introduccion a la Vida y Pensamiento de JuanWesley

"What does it mean to be a United Methodist?" The answer to this question, says Kenneth H. Carter, Jr., is to live a particular way of life and follow a particular form of discipleship. The distinctive aspects of that way of discipleship are contained in what has recently come to be known as "the practices." Christian practices are things done together, over time, in response to God's grace. They constitute an extended argument against some harmful alternative in the culture; they address and define a fundamental human need; they come to focus in worship; and they add up to a way of life. Carter contends that there are 6 essential practices in the United Methodist tradition: (1) searching the scriptures, (2) generosity with the poor, (3) testimony, (4) singing, (5) Holy Communion, and (6) Christian conferencing.

Written primarily for those who lead in United Methodist congregations, this book will give the reader not only an understanding of what the central United Methodist practices are, but also how they can be taught. Being formed in and by these practices does not happen overnight; it happens across a lifetime of observing the practices in others and trying them out oneself. Neglecting the Christian practices--failing to attend to them--can mean a life devoid of much of the purpose and power that life in the Spirit can hold.