A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, Volume Two


Book Description

"This volume, constituted on the same lines as its predecessor, consists of substantial essays on those features of Methodism in Great Britain, from the death of Wesley to the middle of the nineteenth century, which seem to us to be the most significant for its own history and the most important from an ecumenical standpoint." -- From the Preface







A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, Volume Three


Book Description

"This third volume of A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, which began to be published in 1965, and took another step forward in 1978, brings the story of British Methodism to the event which was intended to conclude the whole work, that is, to the consummations of Methodist Union in 1932. Some chapters, however, advance beyond that event, since the description of some of the processes then in train could not be abruptly curtailed without historical injustice." -- From the Preface




A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, Volume One


Book Description

"We have not tried to encompass all the facts or to narrate all the happenings which have often been surveyed in accessible historical studies. It would be our hope that we have selected such salient features as enable the story of Methodism to be considered within an ecumenical perspective." -- From the Preface




A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, Volume Four


Book Description

"With this volume the publication of A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain comes to its appointed end. The project of writing it was initiated by the Methodist Conference of 1953, and the lapse of time since then has made it possible to include at appropriate points the results of the continuing research into the origins and nature of Methodism; but 'the chance and changes of this mortal life', which are bound to impinge on the progress of so complex an enterprise, together with the heavy involvement of all the contributors in ecclesiastical, ecumenical and academic affairs, have made this period much longer than the General Editors would have wished." -- From the Preface




Transatlantic Methodists


Book Description

Methodists in nineteenth-century Ontario and Quebec, like all British subjects, existed as satellites of an influential empire. Transatlantic Methodists uncovers how the Methodist ministry and laity in these colonies, whether they were British, American, or native-born, came to define themselves as transplanted Britons and Wesleyans, in response to their changing, often contentious relationship with the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Britain. Revising the nationalist framework that has dominated much of the scholarship on Methodism in central Canada, Todd Webb argues that a transatlantic perspective is necessary to understand the process of cultural formation among nineteenth-century Methodists. He shows that the Wesleyan Methodists in Britain played a key role in determining the identities of their colonial counterparts through disputes over the meaning of political loyalty, how Methodism should be governed, who should control church finances, and the nature and value of religious revivalism. At the same time, Methodists in Ontario and Quebec threatened to disrupt the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Britain and helped to trigger the largest division in its history. Methodists on both sides of the Atlantic shaped - and were shaped by - the larger British world in which they lived. Drawing on insights from new research in British, Atlantic, and imperial history, Transatlantic Methodists is a comprehensive study of how the nineteenth-century British world operated and of Methodism's place within it.




A Crown and a Cross


Book Description

This book critically reviews the origins, development, and decline of the Class Meeting. Beginning with an overview of the religious and societal milieu from the sixteenth century, and examining the heritage of John and Charles Wesley, the inheritance John Wesley took from the past is studied. The rise of the Anglican Unitary Societies is considered and Wesley's active work within those societies drawn out. The arrival of the Moravians in London in 1738 to form a group for Germans resident in London influenced many of the Anglican society members, not least the Wesley brothers. These influences are also considered before the Methodist movement, and particularly the Class Meeting are considered in detail. This book is unique in its drawing together the manner of religious association experienced in the Evangelical Revival and aims to show how Methodism was a fusion of pre-existing ideas, formed into a new working model of religious association. Paramount to the success of the early Methodist was the Class Meeting. This book draws on testimony, diary, and journal records to provide first-hand accounts of people's lives being changed through attendance at the Class Meeting and its making possible growth in grace and holiness. In the early period of Methodism the Class Meeting was the crown to Methodist identity. An analysis of the primary aims of this meeting, which gave the Methodist people their distinct characteristics, is followed by a study of the social identity and group processes that occurred when prospective members considered joining the Methodists. The decline of the Class Meeting to 1791 forms the concluding chapters, and, using three classic sociological models-Weber (routinisation), Durkheim (totemism), and Troeltsch (primary/secondary religion)-as themes, the reasons why the class became a cross are examined. Journal, diary, and testimonial material support the Methodists' declining interest in the class that led to its irrelevance for a people seeking respectability rather than an immediate encounter with God.




Historical Dictionary of Methodism


Book Description

In 2003, Methodists celebrated the 300th anniversary of the birth of their founder, John Wesley. Today, there are more than 300 Methodist denominations in 140 nations. Covering the activities of this group that plays an important role in the ecumenical movement through its many social and charitable activities in world affairs, this book offers more than 400 entries that describe important events, doctrines, and the church founders, leaders, and other prominent figures who have made notable contributions. It also includes: a list of commonly used acronyms, chronology of historical events, introductory essay on the history of Methodism, 15-page black-and-white photo spread, bibliography, listing of important libraries and depositories of Methodist materials. The impressive list of contributors includes more than 60 specialists who are academics, administrators, pastors, and theologians.




Solomon's Secret Arts


Book Description

DIVDIVThe late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are known as the Age of Enlightenment, a time of science and reason. But in this illuminating book, Paul Monod reveals the surprising extent to which Newton, Boyle, Locke, and other giants of rational thought and empiricism also embraced the spiritual, the magical, and the occult./divDIV /divDIVAlthough public acceptance of occult and magical practices waxed and waned during this period they survived underground, experiencing a considerable revival in the mid-eighteenth century with the rise of new antiestablishment religious denominations. The occult spilled over into politics with the radicalism of the French Revolution and into literature in early Romanticism. Even when official disapproval was at its strongest, the evidence points to a growing audience for occult publications as well as to subversive popular enthusiasm. Ultimately, finds Monod, the occult was not discarded in favor of “reason� but was incorporated into new forms of learning. In that sense, the occult is part of the modern world, not simply a relic of an unenlightened past, and is still with us today./div/div




University Studies


Book Description