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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > Methodist Churches
This is a major 2008 study of the daily life and spirituality of
early Methodist men and women. Phyllis Mack challenges traditional,
negative depictions of early Methodism through an analysis of a
vast array of primary sources - prayers, pamphlets, hymns, diaries,
recipes, private letters, accounts of dreams, and rules for
housekeeping. She examines how ordinary men and women understood
the seismic shift from the religious culture of the seventeenth
century to the so-called 'disenchantment of the world' that
developed out of the Enlightenment. She places particular emphasis
on the experience of women, arguing that both their spirituality
and their contributions to the movement were different from men's.
This revisionist account sheds light on how ordinary people
understood their experience of religious conversion, marriage,
worship, sexuality, friendship, and the supernatural, and what
motivated them to travel the world as missionaries.
Hugh Bourne (1772-1852) was a Methodist preacher who is best known
as the co-founder of the Primitive Methodist movement. After
converting to Methodism in 1799, Bourne became influenced by the
evangelical American Lorenzo Dow (1777-1834) and together with
William Clowes held an open-air evangelical meeting in 1807. Such
gatherings were prohibited by the Methodist Conference, and the two
were expelled by the Methodist Society in 1808. They formed the
Primitive Methodist Connexion in 1810, with Bourne assuming a
leading role in the movement. This volume, first published in 1854
and written by Bourne's nephew John Walford, contains a detailed
biography of Bourne. Using private papers inherited on Bourne's
death, his childhood, conversion and the founding of the movement
are described, with his leadership of the Connexion also discussed.
This biography provides valuable information concerning Bourne's
life and motivations during and after the founding of the movement.
Methodist missionary Thomas Birch Freeman (1809 1890) was one of
the most successful missionaries of his day, founding churches in
Nigeria and the Gold Coast. The son of an African father and
English mother, he possessed great diplomatic skills in dealing
with colonial administrators and native rulers, and Methodist
churches spread rapidly using literate converts as lay preachers,
particularly among freed and repatriated slaves. His resignation
was caused by financial problems due to poor accounting. His
Journal was serialised in a Methodist periodical between 1840 and
1843, published as a book in 1843, and revised the following year.
His attempts to get the slave trade and the practice of human
sacrifice abolished in Dahomey were frustrated, but he was much
more successful in founding missions. The book is a fascinating
picture of life in West Africa in the mid-nineteenth century.
Holliday Bickerstaff Kendall (1844 1919) was a Methodist minister
and a social historian. Born into a family of Primitive Methodist
ministers, Kendall himself served as a minister between 1864 and
1903. This volume, written during his retirement and first
published in 1919, contains Kendall's history of the origins and
development of the Primitive Methodist movement. The movement
originated with Hugh Bourne (1772 1852) and William Clowes (1780
1851), who attempted to restore the mass evangelism they thought
had been lost in the Wesleyan Church after 1810. Kendall explores
the social and political context of this period, and discusses
Bourne's and Clowes' influence on the origins of the movement. He
then describes the growth and development of the movement in the
nineteenth century, discussing the expansion of the church until
1918. This clear and concise volume is considered the definitive
work on the history of the movement.
In Three Simple Rules, Rueben Job offers an interpretation of
John Wesley's General Rules for today's readers. For individual
reading or group study, this insightful work calls us to mutual
respect, unity and a deeper daily relationship with God. This
simple but challenging look at three commands, "do no harm, do
good, stay in love with God." Every year I review the three general
rules of the United Methodist Church with those who are being
ordained. Now I have a wonderful ordination gift to give them in
Bishop Job s, Three Simple Rules, to start and deepen the
conversation as they enter a new relationship with the church.
Bishop Job has described by attending upon all the ordinances of
God to be to stay in love with God. It s a fresh language that
speaks especially to long-time Christians and United Methodists.
Sally Dyck, Resident Bishop, Minnesota Area
Three Simple Rules is a new catechism for everyone wanting to
follow Jesus Christ. These practices for holy living should replace
the membership vows in every church Don t let the title fool you.
Bishop Job writes, The rules are simple, but the way is not easy.
Only those with great courage will attempt it, and only those with
great faith will be able to walk this exciting and demanding way.
John Hopkins, Resident Bishop, East Ohio Area"
This is a major new study of the daily life and spirituality of
early Methodist men and women. Phyllis Mack challenges traditional,
negative depictions of early Methodism through an analysis of a
vast array of primary sources - prayers, pamphlets, hymns, diaries,
recipes, private letters, accounts of dreams, rules for
housekeeping - many of which have never been used before. She
examines how ordinary men and women understood the seismic shift
from the religious culture of the seventeenth century to the
so-called 'disenchantment of the world' that developed out of the
Enlightenment. She places particular emphasis on the experience of
women, arguing that both their spirituality and their contributions
to the movement were different from men's. This revisionist account
sheds new light on how ordinary people understood their experience
of religious conversion, marriage, worship, sexuality, friendship,
and the supernatural, and what motivated them to travel the world
as missionaries.
A Real Christian: The Life of John Wesley fills a void in available
books in Wesleyan studies by providing a brief, solid biography
that focuses on Wesley himself. While exploring Wesley's ancestry,
birth, death, and every major biographical and theological event
between, Collins also explores the theme of John Wesley's spiritual
growth and maturation.
Wesley came to the conclusion that real Christians are those
whose inward (and outward) lives have been transformed by the
bountiful sanctifying grace of God -- what he termed real
Christianity, and this he strove to obtain for himself. Real
Christianity, as Wesley understood it, embraces both works of piety
and mercy, the person and the social.
John Wesley s Teaching is the first systematic exposition of John
Wesley's theology that is also faithful to Wesley's own writings.
Wesley was a prolific writer and commentator on Scripture---his
collected works fill eighteen volumes---and yet it is commonly held
that he was not systematic or consistent in his theology and
teachings. On the contrary, Thomas C. Oden demonstrates that Wesley
displayed a remarkable degree of internal consistency over sixty
years of preaching and ministry. This series of 4 volumes is a
text-by-text guide to John Wesley s teaching. It introduces Wesley
s thought on the basic tenets of Christian teaching: God,
providence, and man (volume 1), Christ and salvation (volume 2),
the practice of pastoral care (volume 3), and issues of ethics and
society (volume 4). In everyday modern English, Oden clarifies
Wesley s explicit intent and communicates his meaning clearly to a
contemporary audience. Both lay and professional readers will find
this series useful for devotional reading, moral reflection, sermon
preparation, and for referencing Wesley s opinions on a broad range
of pressing issues of contemporary society."
The ways in which people change and grow, and learn to become good,
are not only about conscious decisions to behave well, but about
internal change which allows a loving and compassionate response to
others. Such change can take place in psychotherapy; this book
explores whether similar processes can occur in a religious
context. Using the work of Julia Kristeva and other post-Kleinian
psychoanalysts, change and resistance to change are examined in the
lives of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and his brother
Charles, the greatest English hymn-writer. Their mother's
description of them as young men as 'two scrubby travellers', was a
prescient expression indicating their future pilgrimage, which they
negotiated through many struggles and compromises; it points
towards the 'wounded healer', a description which could be applied
to John in later years. The use of psychoanalytic thought in this
study allows the exploration of unconscious as well as conscious
processes at work and interesting differences emerge, which shed
light on the elements in religion that promote or inhibit change,
and the influence of personality factors. 'Two scrubby travellers':
A psychoanalytic view of flourishing and constraint in religion
through the lives of John and Charles Wesley enriches our
understanding of these two important historical figures. It
questions the categorising of forms of religion as conducive to
change and so 'mature', and other forms as 'immature', at a time
when many, particularly young people, are attracted by
fundamentalist, evangelical forms of belief. This book will be
essential reading for researchers working at the intersection of
psychoanalysis and religious studies; it will also be of interest
to psychotherapists and psychoanalysts more generally, and to
researchers in the philosophy of religion.
A critical contribution to the history of Britain and the U.S., this book demonstrates how the search for personal supernatural power lay at the heart of the so-called eighteenth-century English evangelical revival. John Kent rejects the view that the Wesleys rescued the British from moral and spiritual decay by reviving primitive Christianity. The study is of interest to everyone concerned with the history of Methodism and the Church of England, the Evangelical tradition, and eighteenth-century religious thought and experience.
Scholars have historically associated John Wesley's educational
endeavours with the boarding school he established at Kingswood,
near Bristol, in 1746. However, his educational endeavours extended
well beyond that single institution, even to non-Methodist
educational programmes. This book sets out Wesley's thinking and
practice concerning child-rearing and education, particularly in
relation to gender and class, in its broader eighteenth-century
social and cultural context. Drawing on writings from Churchmen,
Dissenters, economists, philosophers and reformers as well as
educationalists, this study demonstrates that the political,
religious and ideological backdrop to Wesley's work was neither
static nor consistent. It also highlights Wesley's
eighteenth-century fellow Evangelicals including Lady Huntingdon,
John Fletcher, Hannah More and Robert Raikes to demonstrate whether
Wesley's thinking and practice around schooling was in any way
unique. This study sheds light on how Wesley's attitudes to
education were influencing and influenced by the society in which
he lived and worked. As such, it will be of great interest to
academics with an interest in Methodism, education and
eighteenth-century attitudes towards gender and class.
Features & Benefits- Examines the faith of John and Charles
Wesley- Organized around four themes: message, community,
discipline and servanthood- Concise but comprehensive- Highlights
the unique strengths of Wesleyan theology- Draws on John Wesley's
writings and Charles Wesley's hymns- Written by a scholar and
teacher specializing on the Wesleys
In recent years, new music and worship styles have enriched the
worship styles have enriched the worship experience, from
contemporary worship and praise music to world music. New hymnody
offers modern images and refreshing tunes that tell the old, old
story. Now churches can continue to sing the hymns they treasure
and add newer music to their worship life! All editions come with
Cross & Flame emblem on the cover except for the "Cross Only"
version of the Pew Edition.
The Primitive Methodist Connexion's mature social character may
have been working-class, but this did not reflect its social
origins. This book shows that while the Primitive Methodist
Connexion's mature social character was working-class, this did not
reflect its social origins. It was never the church of the working
class, the great majority of whose churchgoers went elsewhere:
rather it was the church whose commitment to its emotional witness
was increasingly incompatible with middle-class pretensions. Sandy
Calder shows that the Primitive Methodist Connexion was a religious
movementled by a fairly prosperous elite of middle-class preachers
and lay officials appealing to a respectable working-class
constituency. This reality has been obscured by the movement's
self-image as a persecuted community of humble Christians, an image
crafted by Hugh Bourne, and accepted by later historians, whether
Methodists with a denominational agenda to promote or scholars in
search of working-class radicals. Primitive Methodists exaggerated
their hardships and deliberately under-played their social status
and financial success. Primitive Methodism in the later nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries became the victim of its own founding
mythology, because the legend of a community of persecuted
outcasts, concealing its actual respectability, deterred potential
recruits. SANDY CALDER graduated with a PhD in Religious Studies
from the Open University and has previously worked in the private
sector.
The second of three volumes devoted to Wesley s theological
writings contains two major sets of material. The first set (edited
by Paul Chilcote) contains writings throughout Wesley s ministry
devoted to defense of the doctrine of Christian perfection,
including "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection." The second set
(edited by Kenneth Collins) collects Wesley s various treatises
focused on predestination and related issues, often in direct
debate with Calvinist writers, including "Predestination Calmly
Considered."
Why did the Wesleyan Methodists and the Anglican evangelicals
divide during the middle of the eighteenth century? Many would
argue that the division between them was based narrowly on
theological matters, especially predestination and perfection. Ryan
Danker suggests, however, that politics was a major factor
throughout, driving the Wesleyan Methodists and Anglican
evangelicals apart. Methodism was perceived to be linked with the
radical and seditious politics of the Cromwellian period. This was
a charged claim in a post-Restoration England. Likewise Danker
explores the political force of resurgent Tory influence under
George III, which exerted more pressure on evangelicals to prove
their loyalty to the Establishment. These political realities made
it hard for evangelicals in the Church of England to cooperate with
Wesley and meant that all their theological debates were
politically inflected. Rich in detail, here is a book for all who
seek deeper insight into a critical juncture in the development of
evangelicalism and early Methodism.
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