The MWRC and the American Academy of Religion
In 2017, the MWRC became a Related Scholarly Organization of the American Academy of Religion. It has since held a session at AAR annually featuring papers from recent MWRC Visiting Research Fellows. Since 2018 we’ve held a second session annually in partnership with Pentecostal Theological Seminary on intersections between the Holiness and Pentecostal movements.
The MWRC at the AAR November 18-21, 2023 (San Antonio, Texas)
The MWRC will host two sessions at the AAR in 2023. The first session—Methodist/Wesleyan Reflections on Holiness in the Hebrew Bible, Celibacy, and Eschatology—will be held on Sunday 19 November from 3:00 to 4:30 PM at the Marriott Riverwalk, Alamo Ballroom, Salon B. It is session M19-301 in the Online Program Book. The second session—Review Panel on Oneness Pentecostalism: Race, Gender, and Culture (Penn State University Press, 2023)—will be held on Sunday 19 November from 5:00 to 6:30PM at the Marriott Rivercenter, Conference Room 2. It is session M19-400 in the Online Program Book. Full details about both sessions can be found below.
“Methodist/Wesleyan Reflections on Holiness in the Hebrew Bible, Celibacy, and Eschatology”
Geordan Hammond, Presiding
This session highlights the research of scholars associated with the Manchester Wesley Research Centre. The first presentation will focus on Susanna Wesley’s foundational influence on her son John’s evolving commitment to celibacy. Charles Wesley’s role in Methodist community formation in Bristol through his letters is the subject of the second presentation. The final presentation will explore the evolving teaching of Wesleyan minister Maynard James on the second coming of Christ.
Papers:
Julianne Burnett (Asbury University), The Call to Belong: Examining the Use of qdš in the Torah with Implications for a Wesleyan Understanding of Holiness
Natalya Cherry (Brite Divinity School), Mother Superior and the Epworth Abbey
Walter N. Gessner (Nazarene Bible College), The Second Coming of Christ, World War II, and the Teaching of Maynard James
Abstracts:
Julianne Burnett (Asbury University), The Call to Belong: Examining the Use of qdš in the Torah with Implications for a Wesleyan Understanding of Holiness
This paper examines the Torah’s understanding of qdš with specific attention to Yahweh’s self-revelation and call to His people to be “qdš” with a reflection on implications for a Wesleyan understanding of holiness. The holiness of God is widely attested in Scripture and upheld in the Wesleyan theological tradition. But what is the background and context to this Hebrew word “qdš”? David Clines demonstrated that whilst the verb (qdš) is presented frequently in Hebrew lexicons with the basic meaning of “to separate,” this is an inadequate rendering based on the textual evidence. The root “qdš” is directly related to the deity and that which belongs to the deity rather than primarily “to be separated” or “to be clean.” The context of this term will be explored with a brief reflection on the theological implications.
Natalya Cherry (Brite Divinity School), Mother Superior and the Epworth Abbey
This presentation examines the mother and milieu contributing to John Wesley’s sense of a calling or vocation to a single life. In the absence of formal monastic communities to provide accountability to vows of celibacy in eighteenth-century England, Susanna Wesley raised young John and his siblings as a kind of miniature monastic community with a rule of life all its own in a literal backwater on the formerly isolated Isle of Axholme. This research, supported by both Manchester Wesley Research Centre and AAR, draws on previously unpublished evidences of everyday life in the Epworth Rectory from the Special Collections of John Rylands Library (University of Manchester). It is part of a larger, co-authored project exploring the foundation, evolution, and implications of John Wesley’s commitment to celibacy across a life the majority of which he lived as a single person in communities (arguably even when married).
Walter N. Gessner (Nazarene Bible College), The Second Coming of Christ, World War II, and the Teaching of Maynard James
This paper will examine the teaching of British Wesleyan minister Maynard James on the second coming of Christ before, during, and following World War II. James interpreted the second coming of Christ through the lens of current national and world events, often engaging prophetic discourse and scriptural reference. Later, James would revisit his view and change his position on Christ’s second coming.
Tracing James’s teaching on the second coming of Christ in several periodicals shows that he held to a two stage return of Christ: first a secret pre-tribulation translation of the saints, followed by the destruction of the antichrist in Christ’s open appearance after the tribulation. James wrote articles and editorials interpreting current events in Britain and elsewhere in the world through the lens this view of Christ’s second coming. The imminence of Christ’s return and prophetic interpretation intensified for James during World War II. As the twentieth century progressed after the war and James aligned with the Church of the Nazarene and changed his view. Reflecting the Nazarene Articles of Faith, he came to teach the essential aspects of the doctrine of Christ’s return and the rapture of the saints: the second coming of Christ and resurrection, judgment, and destiny.
“Review Panel on Oneness Pentecostalism: Race, Gender, and Culture (Penn State University Press, 2023)”
Volume editors, contributors, and respondents convene for this roundtable session on the first academic edited volume on Oneness Pentecostalism in North America. It maps the major ideas, arguments, periodization, and historical figures; corrects long-standing misinterpretations; and draws attention to how race and gender impacted the growth and trajectories of this movement. With its rapid growth throughout the twentieth century, especially among ethnic minorities, Oneness Pentecostalism assumed a diversity of theological, ethnic, and cultural expressions. This book reckons with the multiculturalism of the movement over the course of the twentieth century. The contributors to this volume demonstrate that the movement is fluid and that the interpretation of its history and theology should be grounded in the variegated North American contexts in which Oneness Pentecostalism has taken root and dynamically developed.
Panelists:
Lloyd Barba (Amherst College)
Dara Delgado (Allegheny College)
Andrea Johnson (Cal State University Dominguez Hills)
Daniel Ramirez (Claremont Graduate University)
Respondents:
Peter Althouse (Oral Roberts University)
Leah Payne (George Fox University)
The MWRC at the AAR November 19-22, 2022 (Denver, Colorado)
The MWRC will host two sessions at the AAR in 2022. The first session—John Wesley and Early Methodism: Reflections on Celibacy, Smallpox, and Enlightenment Language—will be held on Sunday 20 November from 3:00 to 4:30 PM at the Sheraton Downtown-Plaza Court 1 (Plaza Tower - Concourse Level - 1 level below Lobby). It is session M20-301 in the Online Program Book. The second session—‘Social Engagement in the Holiness and Pentecostal Traditions’—will be held on Monday 21 November from 9:00 to 11:00 AM at the Convention Center-102 (Street Level). It is session M21-101 in the Online Program Book. Full details about both sessions can be found below.
“John Wesley and Early Methodism: Reflections on Celibacy, Smallpox, and Enlightenment Language”
Geordan Hammond, Manchester Wesley Research Centre, Presiding
This session highlights the research of scholars associated with the Manchester Wesley Research Centre. The first presentation will focus on John Wesley’s evolving commitment to celibacy. Smallpox in Wesley’s thinking and ministry is the subject of the second presentation. The final presentation will explore the relationships between Lockean Enlightenment language and Eighteenth-Century Wesleyan Methodism.
Papers:
Ted A. Campbell (Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University), The Evolution of John Wesley’s Commitment to Celibacy
W. Brian Shelton (Asbury University), Riding Against the Speckled Monster: Smallpox in the Thought and Ministry of John Wesley
Kyle B. Robinson (Olivet Nazarene University), Tongues of Faith: Locke, Wesley, and the Enlightenment Language of Eighteenth-Century Methodism
Abstracts:
Ted A. Campbell (Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University), The Evolution of John Wesley’s Commitment to Celibacy
This paper will examine the evolution of John Wesley’s thoughts on marriage and singleness and his attempts to live out a single life in the context of a church that had no formal structures for blessing a single life and holding accountable those committed to it. Wesley had been formed at the London Charterhouse and in Oxford colleges in medieval architectures for monastic life, and he made a formal commitment to celibacy between 1726 through 1751 as a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. He wrote about the advantages of the single life and the dangers of marriage for Christian discipleship (Thoughts on Marriage and a Single Life, 1743; Thoughts on a Single Life, 1748; Thoughts on Marriage, 1785). Despite his marriage to Mary Vazeille in 1751, he lived for most of his adult life in communities of single men (in London, Bristol, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne), and continued that way of life in the summers of years when he was married to Mary.
W. Brian Shelton (Asbury University), Riding Against the Speckled Monster: Smallpox in the Thought and Ministry of John Wesley
The journals of John Wesley report the encounter with smallpox in his ministry experiences, a reality for this church leader and his itinerant preachers in the urban sites and countryside’s of America and Britain. While the disease claims lives, his concern for souls seems to subordinate this real contagion to the advance of the gospel message. This study considers the place of smallpox in the thought and ministry of John Wesley, framed by eighteenth-century attitudes. His theological essays describe this pestilence as a product of the fall. His journals evidence a ministry accepting of disease and death. His medical reflections reveal genuine scientific interest and concern. Yet, a resilience marks the tone of his writings when the gospel is confronted by disease. With renewed interest in Christian attitudes during an epidemic, scholarly exploration of Wesley’s outlook on the intersection of smallpox and his own ministry is valuable.
Kyle B. Robinson, Tongues of Faith: Locke, Wesley, and the Enlightenment Language of Eighteenth-Century Methodism
“Not one nation under the canopy of heaven can vie with the English in profaneness.” Such was the characterization of his countrymen by John Wesley. Indeed, a consistent preoccupation with the rejection of profane language and speech’s connection to a holy life occurs across the pages of eighteenth-century Methodist sermons and diaries. Godly language demonstrated participation in shared signifiers of observable and reasonable faith in the community of believers. It was an observable marker of conversion and holiness. Here, in observable marks signifying holiness through speech is evidence of the influence of the wider Lockean Enlightenment in England and its dialogue with Wesley’s Methodism. Given the increased historiographic recognition of the interplay of religious discourse with the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, this paper argues that it is through discourse on language itself that an identifiable relationship between Wesley and Locke emerges.
“Social Engagement in the Holiness and Pentecostal Traditions”
Presiding: Geordan Hammond, Manchester Wesley Research Centre
The Holiness and Pentecostal traditions have complicated relationships with wider society but have historically and are presently engaging with it in conventional and creative ways. The concept of “social engagement” as developed in the social sciences provides a considered framework for this session. This AAR session will examine these engagements using specific cases and comparative analysis.
Papers:
Dennis C. Dickerson (Vanderbilt University), “An Army of Jubilee: Civil War Veterans, Ecclesial Holiness, and the Construction of African Methodism, 1861-1920”
Amanda Koch (Liberty University), “Saving Souls in the City: Holiness and Pentecostal Rescue Missions in the Twentieth-Century United States”
Randall J. Stephens (University of Oslo), “‘Catholicism and Communism are swiftly advancing’: White Holiness-Pentecostal Politicization in the 20th Century United States”
David D. Daniels III (McCormick Theological Seminary), “Black Holiness and Pentecostal Activism within the Civil Rights Movement, 1955-1968”
Abstracts:
Dennis C. Dickerson (Vanderbilt University), “An Army of Jubilee: Civil War Veterans, Ecclesial Holiness, and the Construction of African Methodism, 1861-1920”
Clergy in the African Methodist Episcopal Church who either fought in the military, served as Union chaplains, or expedited the freedom of slaves in conquered Confederate terrain used these experiences to inject fresh energies into African Methodism as an ecclesial fulcrum for African American liberation. In blending the libratory objectives of the Civil War with their denomination’s historic emancipationist ethos, these ministers, shaped in the crucible of the military manumission of black people, committed to protecting their freedom by developing a religious aegis for ex-slaves and others who suffered anti-black oppression. This ecclesial project reflected the denomination’s grounding in Wesleyan spiritual holiness operationalized in social holiness sensibilities.
Amanda Koch (Liberty University), “Saving Souls in the City: Holiness and Pentecostal Rescue Missions in the Twentieth-Century United States”
Pentecostals and Holiness Movement people operated rescue missions throughout the twentieth century in cities of all sizes around the United States. Like evangelicals involved in rescue missions more generally, Pentecostals and Holiness folks who ran rescue missions sought first and foremost to convert the homeless and poor. The social services that rescue missions offered, such as food, overnight shelter, clothing, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, or employment, were of secondary concern to the administers, but rather served to attract potential converts. Rescue mission workers were not exclusively focused on the spiritual realm though. They believed that individual conversion was the necessary prerequisite for ultimate societal change in this world, not simply in the next. A study of Pentecostal and Holiness rescue mission workers illustrates the extent of social engagement in these religious movements and the influence of religion on the American social welfare system.
Randall J. Stephens (University of Oslo), “‘Catholicism and Communism are swiftly advancing’: White Holiness-Pentecostal Politicization in the 20th Century United States”
This paper focuses on white holiness and Pentecostal anti-communism and anti-Catholicism in the 20th century and a particular kind of political engagement and public concern. These traditions developed robust arguments against communism and Catholicism. The latter posed, in the eyes of believers, serious threats to missions, national integrity, the American government, and personal morality. Such concerns placed believers in a wider context of a shared Cold War experience. The climate of fear anti-communism and anti-Catholicism generated is still a critical feature of 21st-century white evangelical politics. Yet decades before politicized white believers rallied to the Republican Party over abortion, gay marriage, school curriculum, immigration policy, and other culture war issues, many found communism and Catholicism to be the most pressing national and international problems of the day. This paper will look at the nature of such conflicts and campaigns, which culminated in the 1960 presidential candidacy of John F. Kennedy.
David D. Daniels III (McCormick Theological Seminary), “Black Holiness and Pentecostal Activism within the Civil Rights Movement, 1955-1968”
Leaders and sites of Black Holiness along with Black Pentecostal traditions have been pivotal to the Civil Rights Movement from the Pentecostal political funeral of Emmett Till in 1955 to the 1968 Mountaintop Speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Memphis Temple, a Pentecostal national edifice. While the Till funeral and King’s final speech were national events, this paper will argue that most Black Holiness and Black Pentecostal activism occurred in local civil rights campaigns in over twenty towns and cities across the United States from 1955 to 1968. In various locales, these activists constituted the leadership of the movement, such as the Black Holiness layperson, Fannie Lou Hamer, and the Black Pentecostal bishop, Smallwood Williams. This paper will shape the contours of this stream of activism.
The MWRC at the AAR 2021
The MWRC held two sessions at the AAR in 2021 in San Antonio. The first session was titled ’The Shaping of Early Methodist Identity and Holiness Ecclesiology’ and was held on Sunday 21 November.
Geordan Hammond, Manchester Wesley Research Centre, Presiding
This session highlights the research of scholars associated with the Manchester Wesley Research Centre. The first presentation will focus on John Wesley’s utilization of Catholic devotional materials and the relationship of this to the shaping of a catholic spirit as a mark of Methodism. The reformulation of Charles Wesley’s place in early Methodism during a time of turbulence is the subject of the second presentation. The final presentation will explore the ecclesiological contributions of Holiness Movement churches to the traditional marks of the church.
Papers:
Kelly Diehl Yates (Southern Nazarene University), A Catholic Spirit? John Wesley’s Use of Catholic Devotional Resources
Patrick A. Eby (Wesley Seminary), Charles Wesley at Bristol: Marriage and the Shape of Ministry (1749-1756)
Josh R. Sweeden (Nazarene Theological Seminary), Marks of a Holiness Ecclesiology
Abstracts:
Kelly Diehl Yates (Southern Nazarene University), A Catholic Spirit? John Wesley’s Use of Catholic Devotional Resources
This paper will explore Wesley’s use of Catholic devotional authors by examining his publications, recommendations, and critiques of Catholic devotional literature. On the one hand, he valued some Catholic contributions to devotional literature. For example, Wesley asserted in his 1782 document, Disavowal of Persecuting Papists: “I know that many of these [Catholics] in former ages were good men, (as Thomas á Kempis, Francis Sales, and the Marquis de Renty,) but that many of them are so at this day. I believe I know some Roman Catholics who sincerely love both God and their neighbour, and who steadily endeavour to do unto everyone as they wish him to do unto them.” On the other hand, Wesley criticized many Catholic devotional writings, even while abridging them for use of the Methodists. This paper argues that even though Wesley criticized the Catholic devotional resources he recommended, he showed a catholic spirit because he did use and recommend them.
Patrick A. Eby (Wesley Seminary), Charles Wesley at Bristol: Marriage and the Shape of Ministry (1749-1756)
In September of 1749, Charles and Sarah Wesley moved into their home in Bristol. This was a period of intense strife between John and Charles Wesley over their marriages and the role of lay preachers, a time of personal loss for Charles and Sarah as the mourned the loss of children, and a period of decline for the society at Bristol and the ministry at Kingswood. As a result, it was a time of doubt and deep pain for Charles. One result of this was that Charles looked to partner with others in the Bristol area, including the Countess of Huntington. This also began Charles’s transition from an itinerant ministry to a stationed ministry, although Charles was still traveling extensively at the beginning of this period. This paper will explore the ways Charles navigated these difficulties, the people he worked with, and the shape of his ministry in Bristol.
Josh R. Sweeden (Nazarene Theological Seminary), Marks of a Holiness Ecclesiology
In Church in the Power of the Spirit (1975), Jürgen Moltmann posited that the marks of the church are best understood as pointers to essentials rather than restrictions. He argues for “the liberty to move other marks of the true church into the foreground in a changed world situation, and to link these with the traditional ones.” Doing so “extends the ecclesiology of tradition” whose marks tend in an “inward direction” and gives them an “outward direction” in reference to the world. His own extension of the marks includes “unity in freedom,” “catholicity in partisanship,” “holiness in poverty,” and “apostolicity in suffering.” This paper considers the applicability of Moltmann’s proposal for the Holiness Movement (broadly engaged). Do Holiness churches offer sufficiently unique ecclesiological contributions to also extend the traditional marks? If so, how might those contributions be appropriately summarized and correlated with the creedal marks in light of the history, practices, and theological emphases of the Holiness Movement. The paper is intended to be explorative and conversational—a precursor for a larger project.
The second session was titled ‘Social Engagement in the Holiness and Pentecostal Traditions’ and was held on Sunday 21 November.
Presiding: David Han, Pentecostal Theological Seminary
The Holiness and Pentecostal traditions have complicated relationships with wider society but have historically and are presently engaging with it in conventional and creative ways. The concept of “social engagement” as developed in the social sciences provides a considered framework for this session. This AAR session will examine these engagements using specific cases and comparative analysis.
Papers:
Priscilla Pope-Levison (Perkins School of Theology), “Fallen Women, Fallen Society: The Social Engagement of Holiness and Pentecostal Rescue Homes”
Daniel Ramírez (Claremont Graduate University), “‘The Spirit Bade Us Go’: Toward a Pentecostal Social Doctrine on Migration”
Dale M. Coulter (Pentecostal Theological Seminary), “Sanctified Music: Identity and the Development of Blues, Jazz, and Gospel Among the Sanctified Churches”
Rebecca Carter-Chand (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), “Transnational Perspectives on The Salvation Army’s Response to War and State Conflict during the Twentieth Century”
Abstracts:
Priscilla Pope-Levison (Perkins School of Theology), “Fallen Women, Fallen Society: The Social Engagement of Holiness and Pentecostal Rescue Homes”
Rescue homes for “the fallen and the falling” women proliferated across the United States in the 1880s. In 1886 alone, the Salvation Army, soon to operate the second largest network of rescue homes, opened its first one, Morris Cottage, and Emma Whittemore launched Door of Hope, the first of her 100 rescue homes. These institutions provided a home-like atmosphere for residents in order to foster their permanent reform through conversion. While spiritual engagement remained the primary focus of Holiness and Pentecostal rescue home founders and funders into the first decades of the twentieth century, they also crossed over into social engagement by raising awareness among their evangelical constituencies of human trafficking and starvation wages. Still, rescue home personnel fell short of joining political forces to strike at the root cause of these injustices.
Daniel Ramírez (Claremont Graduate University), “‘The Spirit Bade Us Go’: Toward a Pentecostal Social Doctrine on Migration”
Latino Pentecostals are no strangers to forced and voluntary migration. Their class location subjects them to the same vicissitudes that uproot their fellow countrymen and women; this is evident in numerous press interviews and reports from migrant shelters along the border. A close reading of the older Pentecostal testimonial and hymnodic record reveals a notable hermeneutic at play in their view of themselves as Christ followers in globalizing contexts and in their notion of a God and/in Christ who migrates before and with them. As primitivists, Pentecostals view their experience through the prism of Luke-Acts; in particular, they have availed themselves of biblical accounts a of Spirit-driven movement (e.g., Jesus in the wilderness; Phillip’s meeting with the Ethiopian eunuch; Paul’s Macedonian Call; the Jericho and Emmaus Roads, etc.) and teleological understandings of other accounts (e.g., Joseph in Egypt, Naomi in Moab, and Ruth in Bethlehem) to understand and interpret the cosmic significance of their own displacement and settlement and their contingent status as citizens and maligned denizens of the nation-state. This paper queries the resonance and reception of resonant Scripture in the practice and discourse of subaltern migrating Pentecostals, e.g., in testimonial discourse and in music. It will also consider parallel experience and expression in Nazarene and other Holiness traditions throughout the Americas as well as grounding in principles laid down by John Wesley and later interpreters of Wesleyan social engagement.
Dale M. Coulter (Pentecostal Theological Seminary), “Sanctified Music: Identity and the Development of Blues, Jazz, and Gospel Among the Sanctified Churches”
This paper examines the way in which members of the Sanctified churches were part of the development of blues, jazz, and gospel. Musicians and singers from these churches brought guitars and jugs into the church house to cultivate new musical forms in the service of a Pentecostal message of power. They took these new forms with them during the great migration to places like Chicago and Harlem. This sanctified music became part of a larger program that sought to preserve black identity in the midst of Jim Crow.
Rebecca Carter-Chand (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), “Transnational Perspectives on The Salvation Army’s Response to War and State Conflict during the Twentieth Century”
Ever since its international expansion in the late nineteenth century, The Salvation Army has had to contend with the international nature of the movement and its organizational structure along national lines. Beginning with the Boer War and continuing through the two world wars, colonial conflicts, and the Cold War, it has striven to uphold the principles of political neutrality, compassionate social action in response to material exigencies on the home front and battle front, and Christian internationalism (the idea that spiritual bonds supersede national identities). On a practical level, The Salvation Army engaged in patriotic activities, evangelism and spiritual ministry, humanitarian relief work, and practical support for military personnel.
This paper will discuss the theological and social influences on the first generation of Salvation Army leaders, the various way that Salvationists have tried to uphold the principles of political neutrality and internationalism, as well as the ways in which war challenged these efforts. Particular attention will be paid to the German branch of The Salvation Army during World War I and II and the changing role of the United States in global politics during the twentieth century.
This paper will demonstrate that social engagement during wartime provided powerful national symbols of civilian engagement. In the American context, it allowed The Salvation Army to claim a firmer place in society and resulted in unprecedented levels of support and positive publicity for the organization.
The MWRC at the AAR 2020
The MWRC held two sessions online at the AAR in 2020. The first session was titled ’Global British Methodism and Nonconformity in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries’ and was held on Monday 30 November.
Geordan Hammond and David Bundy, Manchester Wesley Research Centre, Presiding
This session highlights the research of recent Visiting Research Fellows of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre. The first presentation will focus on increasing global awareness in British Methodist hymnbooks published in the 19th century. A case study of the theological convictions on liberty and justice of six persecuted Methodist agricultural labourers who founded one of the first British trade unions in 1833 is the subject of the second presentation. The final presentation will explore Methodist and wider Nonconformist efforts to offer aid to persecuted Ottoman Armenians in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. Collectively the presentations serve as examples of the wide-range of research possibilities on Methodism that may be undertaken utilizing resources in the UK (particularly in Manchester).
Papers:
Alan M. Guenther (Briercrest College), ‘"Desarts shall rejoice with singing": Global Awareness in British Methodist Hymnody’
Ulrike Schuler (Reutlingen School of Theology), ‘Liberty and Responsibility in the Spirit of Wesley: A Case Study of Methodist Agricultural Labourers in the 19th Century‘
Stéphanie Prévost (Université Paris Diderot), ‘“Not being past feeling": Practical Christianity for Ottoman Armenians and International Conciliation (1894-1915)’
Abstracts:
Alan M. Guenther (Briercrest College), ‘"Desarts shall rejoice with singing": Global Awareness in British Methodist Hymnody’
The major changes occurring in the Wesleyan movement shortly after the deaths of Charles and John Wesley are reflected in the hymn books published in the 19th century. One of those changes was the increasing global awareness stimulated by greater participation in the Protestant missionary movement with the establishment of the Wesleyan Missionary Society. Correspondingly, the supplements and changes introduced into John Wesley’s 1780 hymn book show an increase in songs devoted to the theme of missionary work around the world. Another significant change was the fragmentation of the movement and the rise of new groups such as the Methodist New Connexion, the Primitive Methodists, the Bible Christian Church, and other groups. All these published their own hymn books and also included sections devoted to the topic of global missions. An examination of the hymns included shows an increasing willingness to include songs not written by Charles Wesley and a shift in theology from a focus on intercession and millennial expectations to exhortations to use human agency and other means to accomplish the evangelization of all nations.
Ulrike Schuler (Reutlingen School of Theology), ‘Liberty and Responsibility in the Spirit of Wesley: A Case Study of Methodist Agricultural Labourers in the 19th Century‘
This paper focuses on Methodist agricultural labourers who founded one of the first British trade unions in 1833. Six of them—including three Methodist local preachers—were convicted of taking an unlawful oath on joining the union. In consequence, they were sentenced to seven years’ transportation to Australia. The public outcry was immediate, and this led to a full pardon being granted to them three years later. Drawing especially on writings of the group’s spokesman, George Loveless, the presentation will demonstrate the labourers’ Wesleyan understanding of God’s liberating grace that motivated their actions and commitment to social and religious liberty and justice.
Stéphanie Prévost (Université Paris Diderot), ‘“Not being past feeling": Practical Christianity for Ottoman Armenians and International Conciliation (1894-1915)’
While relief efforts initiated by the American missionaries (through the Near East Relief fund) in the wake of the 1915 Armenian Genocide have long been written about, Christian aid to Ottoman Armenians in the previous episode of mass violence, the Hamidian massacres of 1894-1896, remains less well-known, in particular, the British contribution. This paper seeks to redress this. Building on insights by David Bebbington, Stewart J. Brown and late Michael Watts, it will address how the 1894-1896 Armenian massacres spurred a long-lasting ethical turn that further sanctified practical Christianity in the most socially-aware section of British Non-Conformity, especially amongst those who gravitated in Radical Holiness circles, Methodist or otherwise. The paper will contend that no matter how widespread some key Nonconformist figures wanted it to be in the long term, support to Ottoman Armenians remained a focal issue mainly to those who had mobilised in 1894-1896. However, to these, the legacy of the 1890s Armenophile mobilisation was a long-lasting one which spurred transnational exchanges with Protestant figures of a similar mind (especially German missionary Johannes Lepsius), especially with a view to explore a more ethical form of world governance (underpinned by conciliation) in which ‘the Church’ would play a leading role thanks to inter-religious/inter-denominational/ inter-national dialogue.
The second session was titled ‘Social Engagement in the American Holiness and Pentecostal Traditions’ and was held on 1 December.
Presiding: Geordan Hammond, Manchester Wesley Research Centre; and, David Han, Pentecostal Theological Seminary
The Holiness and Pentecostal traditions have complicated relationships with American society; however, both historically and presently, they have been engaging with it in conventional and creative ways. The concept of “social engagement” as developed in the social sciences provides a considered framework for this session. This session will examine these engagements using specific cases and comparative analysis.
Papers:
Daniel Alvarez (Pentecostal Theological Seminary) ‘Social Engagement of the Holiness Movement among Immigrants and the Urban Poor of New York City at Five Points’
Dara Delgado (University of Dayton) ‘All in the Name: A Social-Historical Examination of the Civic Engagement of Bishop Arthur M. Brazier, an Apostolic Pentecostal Bishop on Chicago’s Southside’
John Maiden (Open University) ‘Charismatic Renewal, Communitarianism and Reconciliation, c. 1965-1980’
Abstracts:
Daniel Alvarez (Pentecostal Theological Seminary) ‘Social Engagement of the Holiness Movement among Immigrants and the Urban Poor of New York City at Five Points’
This paper describes the nature of the Five Points neighborhood of New York. Second, it examines the work of Phoebe Palmer in establishing the Mission at Five Points. Third, it examines the ministry of A. B. Simpson in this same neighborhood. Palmer and Simpson were important leaders in the Holiness Movement and forerunners of the Pentecostal movement. They reached across socio-cultural and economic barriers to minister among the poor and marginalized. Their notion of sanctification led to social engagement reaching the community of Five Points in New York City.
Dara Delgado (University of Dayton) ‘All in the Name: A Social-Historical Examination of the Civic Engagement of Bishop Arthur M. Brazier, an Apostolic Pentecostal Bishop on Chicago’s Southside’
Bishop Arthur M. Brazier (1921-2010), the former pastor of the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago and former bishop with the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW), was a well-known and respected socio-political figure and civic leader. Although Brazier severed ties with the PAW in 200Tr7, the indelible mark of his ministerial life and career remain. During his tenure, Brazier was a leader and an innovator, who is credited for helping to move the PAW forward. Through programs like the Woodlawn Organization, Brazier modeled for other PAW pastors and leaders what was possible when ministries worked to become more civic-minded and culturally-relevant. Moreover, through his commitment to taking ministry beyond the confines of the church, and into the communities of Chicago’s Southside, Brazier exemplified a ministerial form of prophetic social consciousness that prioritized economic opportunity, education, and political involvement. In doing so, he made agentive activism an essential aspect of Apostolic Pentecostalism’s notion of holiness, e.g., a life consecrated to God. Therefore, this paper will examine (1) the PAW’s history of civic engagement beginning with its first bishop, Garfield T. Haywood, (2) the socio-historical context of Chicago’s Southside during the mid-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, (3) Brazier’s life and work (with particular attention to his understanding of how the Apostolic definition of the New Birth prescribes a commitment to civic engagement and social justice), and (4) how Brazier’s religio-racial social politics continue to inform Holiness and Pentecostal traditions in general and the PAW in particular.
John Maiden (Open University) ‘Charismatic Renewal, Communitarianism and Reconciliation, c. 1965-1980’
This paper examines the origins and development of charismatic communities from the mid-1960s, looking at various models of communitarianism and reconciliation. The charismatic renewal in the Angloworld has often been critiqued for a lack of social concern and engagement. This will discuss this criticism of the renewal and suggest that in fact charismatic communities displayed a variety of attitudes and priorities. It draws upon case studies of community living in the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa.
The MWRC at the AAR: 23-26 November 2019
The MWRC will host two sessions at the AAR in San Diego. The first session was titled ’New Research on John Wesley, Methodist Missions, and the Wesleyan Roots of British Pentecostalism’ and was held on Sunday 24 November.
Geordan Hammond and David Bundy, Manchester Wesley Research Centre, Presiding
This session highlights the research of recent Visiting Research Fellows of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre. The first presentation will focus on John Wesley’s publications against his perception of this Moravians’ antinimonian tendencies. Two papers focus on 19th and early 20th century Methodist missions. One presentation will analyse the missionary work of “Elliott of Faizabad” in 19th century India, while the other paper will examine the “home mission” of Wesleyan Methodist deaconesses and their role in the rise of “social Christianity” in Britain. The final presentation will explore the Wesleyan Roots of British Pentecostalism though elucidating the connection between the Rev. A. A. Boddy and The Pentecostal League of Prayer. Collectively the presentations serve as examples of the wide-range of research possibilities on Methodism that may be undertaken utilizing resources in the UK (particularly in Manchester).
Papers:
Sarah Heaner Lancaster (Methodist Theological School in Ohio), “Sin and Duty: Methodists, Moravians, and Antinomianism” (Chair: K. Steve McCormick, Nazarene Theological Seminary)
William Wood (Point Loma Nazarene University), “‘Elliott of Faizabad’ and British Wesleyan-Methodist Missions in 19th century India” (Chair: Lalsangkima Pachuau, Asbury Theological Seminary)
Christopher Evans (Boston University), “‘Lady Workers’ and the Methodist Forward Movement: Reassessing the Historiography of Transatlantic Social Christianity, 1885-1914”(Chair: Priscilla Pope-Levison, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University)
Kimberly Ervin Alexander (School of Divinity, Regent University), ‘“A Larger World of Spirit-Filled Brothers and Sisters”—Rev. A. A. Boddy, The Pentecostal League of Prayer, and the Wesleyan Roots of British Pentecostalism’ (Chair: Dale T. Irvin, New York Theological Seminary)
Abstracts:
Sarah Heaner Lancaster (Methodist Theological School in Ohio), “Sin and Duty: Methodists, Moravians, and Antinomianism”
Wesley’s relationship with the Moravians in England was both affectionate and strained. Between 1745 and 1762 Wesley published materials that had the Moravians in mind and specifically addressed the antinomian tendencies in Moravian theology. Although Wesley appreciated the religion of the heart that he had learned from the Moravians, he sought to correct their antinomian theology with a theology of holiness. Toward the end of this period, Wesley begins to realize that even holiness can be understood in an antinomian way. The issues Wesley engaged might be useful for thinking about holiness today.
William Wood (Point Loma Nazarene University), “‘Elliott of Faizabad’ and British Wesleyan-Methodist Missions in 19th century India”
This paper will explore the career of J.A. Elliott, better known in contemporary Methodist circles as ‘Elliott of Faizabad’ due to his fame as a missionary to Hindus and Muslims in Faizabad and nearby Ayodhya in northern India. Born and raised in India, Elliott earned renown both for his linguistic skills, especially demonstrated in open-air preaching in Urdu/Hindustani in the market place, as well as his ability to garner the respect and friendship of Hindu and Muslim religious leaders. Drawing on both published and archival materials, this paper aims to elucidate the distinctive approach of Elliott that allowed him as a Christian missionary to navigate the religiously charged atmosphere of Ayodhya.
Christopher Evans (Boston University), “‘Lady Workers’ and the Methodist Forward Movement: Reassessing the Historiography of Transatlantic Social Christianity, 1885-1914”
The Forward Movement that emerged in the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Great Britain in the mid-1880s played a major role in the rise of social Christianity in transatlantic Methodism. An unexplored dimension of this history was the role played by the women’s deaconess movement. Through examining deaconess women in the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the paper challenges predominant themes in the historiography of social Christianity in Britain that often focus exclusively on the role of clergy—especially in the Anglican Church. In studying the contributions of these “Lady Workers,” one develops an important lens for understanding the emergence of late 19th-century social Christianity in Great Britain and North America. These Methodist women embodied a template of “applied Christianity” that shaped Methodism’s social witness on issues of economic justice, industrialization, urban poverty, and temperance reform.
Kimberly Ervin Alexander (School of Divinity, Regent University), ‘“A Larger World of Spirit-Filled Brothers and Sisters”—Rev. A. A. Boddy, The Pentecostal League of Prayer, and the Wesleyan Roots of British Pentecostalism’
Thomas Ball Barratt, an English-born Methodist minister from Norway, visited the United States after hearing of the Pentecostal revival at Azusa St. in Los Angeles. After Lucy Leatherman laid hands on him and prayed for him at a Pentecostal meeting in New York City, he returned to Christiana (now Oslo) and began preaching the Pentecostal message there. A revival soon followed. When Rev. Alexander A. Boddy, vicar of All Saints Church, Sunderland heard of the revival in Christiana he visited it and urged Barratt to come to England for a series of meetings in the North. Barratt finally obliged in the late summer of 1907. In those meetings, Boddy’s wife, Mary, an able teacher known for her prayers of healing for the sick, received the Pentecostal experience. Boddy’s own experience followed in December. The Boddys quickly took on the role of leadership of the movement in England, with influence all over the continent, as well as the US, as a result of their annual meetings and monthly periodical,Confidence.
Historians have long noted Boddy’s role in the beginnings of British Pentecostalism and have assumed a Keswick influence on the Anglican vicar, and, therefore the early Pentecostal movement. But this assumption is based on scant evidence and, it seems, ignores the more probable influences on the Boddys: Reader and Mary Harris and their Pentecostal League of Prayer (PLP). This paper explores the evidence for this claim as well as the parallels between the PLP and the nascent Pentecostalism of Sunderland.
The second session was titled ‘Holiness and Pentecostal Movements: Intertwined Pasts, Presents, and Futures?’ and was held on Monday 25 November.
Presiding: Geordan Hammond, Manchester Wesley Research Centre; and, David Han, Pentecostal Theological Seminary
The Holiness and Pentecostal movements are intertwined and competitive traditions and spiritualities. These movements have been harmonized in the Church of God, Cleveland, as well as the Sanctified Churches, including, for example, the Church of God in Christ. Historiographical, cultural, and theological issues of these traditions have been explored. However, there is data as well as interpretative points of view that have not been examined. This session aims to open up new discussions, drawing attention to possible ways to enhance our understanding of the two movements and their relationship with one another. The project also seeks to drawn on previous historiographies, definitions, theological and spiritual traditions in a multi-disciplinary examination of the Holiness and Pentecostal traditions.
Papers:
Cheryl J. Sanders (Howard University), “Black Radical Holiness: Intersections of Christian Unity and Social Justice”
Insik Choi (Seoul Theological University) “Ecumenical Relations of the Korean Methodist, Holiness, and Pentecostal Traditions with attention to Pneumatology”
Henry H. Knight III (Hal) (Saint Paul School of Theology), “The Presence of the Kingdom: Optimism of Grace in the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements”
Frank D. Macchia (Vanguard University), “Jesus’ Baptism in Fire: The Atonement in Holiness and Pentecostal Conversation”
Respondent:
Candy Gunther Brown (Indiana University)
Abstracts:
Cheryl J. Sanders (Howard University), “Black Radical Holiness: Intersections of Christian Unity and Social Justice”
This paper explores the contributions of four key figures whose social witness influenced the emergence of the Holiness movement in 19th century and Pentecostalism in the 20th century: Harriet Tubman, Amanda Berry Smith, William J. Seymour and Charles Harrison Mason. All four were attentive to the relationship between the spirituality and social condition of African Americans during the period of slavery and its aftermath. Together they represent four corresponding types or models of Christian vocation: activism, evangelism, revivalism and restorationism. This analysis of their speeches, biographies and [in some cases] writings seeks to highlight significant intersections of Holiness and Pentecostal interpretations of Christian unity from the vantage point of social ethics.
Insik Choi (Seoul Theological University) “Ecumenical Relations of the Korean Methodist, Holiness, and Pentecostal Traditions with attention to Pneumatology”
This presentation will describe the theological conversations related to pneumatology in three strands of the Wesleyan/Holiness traditions in Korea which arrived on the Korean Peninsula at different times: Methodism (1885), the Holiness Movements (1907), and Pentecostalism (1928). Pneumatology has long been a source of contention between Korean Christian traditions. The pneumatologies of Holiness and Pentecostal traditions have been severely criticized by the older Reformed and Wesleyan traditions. These disputes have been discussed by theologians of the third generation. Therefore, this presentation will focus on the theological, especially pneumatological, tensions within the traditions that claim, to differing degrees, Wesleyan roots. Attention will be given to the evolution of their mutual historical understanding as well as elements that might contribute to the possibility of a more holistic approach. On the basis of that analysis, a holistic pneumatology from perspective of the Fourfold Gospel theology will be proposed.
Henry H. Knight III (Hal) (Saint Paul School of Theology), “The Presence of the Kingdom: Optimism of Grace in the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements”
The Holiness and Pentecostal movements, consistent with their Wesleyan roots, are shaped and motivated by the promise that through the power of the Holy Spirit, the life of the coming kingdom of heaven is already being realized in this age. This optimism of grace, centered in the presence and power of God, encourages a way of salvation that emphasizes new life in Christ and aims toward holiness as perfection in love. Theirs is a spirituality of openness to God and expectant faith and hope. The reception of new life in turn provides the motivation for mission, enabled by the reception of power from the Spirit, in which the good news of Jesus Christ is proclaimed through word and deed, the church is renewed, and there is ministry to bodies as well as souls. This is all grounded in a dynamic trinitarianism in which Christ is the foundation and content of salvation and the Spirit is the power of salvation and mission.
Frank D. Macchia (Vanguard University), “Jesus’ Baptism in Fire: The Atonement in Holiness and Pentecostal Conversation”
The Pentecostal tradition has typically viewed the atonement as the place where healing is provided for both body and soul. And there is some recognition in the Holiness tradition that the atonement is the place where Jesus is sanctified for the sanctification of others. Both traditions provide insights useful for a pneumatological (and thus trinitarian) understanding of the atonement. Most helpful for a pneumatological theology of atonement is the Pentecostal and Holiness focus on the category of Spirit baptism. Following this lead, I will reflecting on Jesus’ death as a “baptism in fire,” in which Jesus provides passage through judgmental fire for us, transforming it into a healing and sanctifying force. He is baptized in fire so that we could in him be baptized in the sanctifying and healing presence of the Spirit.
The MWRC at the AAR: November 2018
The MWRC hosted two sessions at AAR in Denver. The first session—‘Holiness and Pentecostal Movements: Intertwined Pasts, Presents, and Futures’—was on Saturday 17 November from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM in the Capitol Room on the Terrace Level of the I.M. Pei Tower - 1 level below Lobby of the Sheraton Downtown.
The Holiness and Pentecostal movements are intertwined and competitive traditions and spiritualities. These have been harmonized in the Church of God, Cleveland, as well as the Sanctified Churches, including, for example, the Church of God in Christ. Historiographical, cultural and theological issues of these traditions have been explored. However, there is data as well as interpretative points of view that have not been examined. This session aims to open up new discussions, drawing attention to possible ways to enhance our understanding of the two movements and their relationship with one another. The project also seeks to drawn on previous historiographies, definitions, theological and spiritual traditions in a multi-disciplinary examination of the Holiness and Pentecostal traditions.
Presiding: Geordan Hammond, Manchester Wesley Research Centre; and, David Han, Pentecostal Theological Seminary
Papers:
David Bundy: “The Preachers and their Students: God's Bible School as a Seedbed of Radical Holiness and Pentecostal Leaders, 1891-1910” Youtube Audio
Luther Oconer: “A World Tour of Evangelism: Henry Clay Morrison and the Overseas Networks of the Radical Holiness Movement, 1909-1910” Youtube Audio
Chris Green: “Fulfilling the Full Gospel: the Promise of the Theology of the Cleveland School” Youtube Audio
Respondent: Andrea Johnson, California State University, Dominguez Hills Youtube Audio
Abstracts:
The Preachers and their Students: God's Bible School as a Seedbed of Radical Holiness and Pentecostal Leaders, 1891-1910
A small unpretentious educational institution in Cincinnati, God’s Bible School provided a generation of leaders of both the Pentecostal Movement and the Radical Holiness Movement. Among the faculty, all holiness preachers, were Martin Wells Knapp, Abbie C. Morrow, G. D. Watson, Mary Story, and Seth Cook Rees. Among the students who became Pentecostal were William Seymour (Azusa Street), R. J. Tomlinson (Church of God), Abbie C. Morrow Brown (evangelist, writer), Lillian Hunt Trasher (Radical Holiness, then Assemblies of God). Among those who remained Radical Holiness were Charles and Lettie Cowman (OMS, Japan, Korea, China), Charles L. Slater (Pilgrim Holiness), Lula Schmelzenbach (Nazarene), J. S. Simpson (Wesleyan), C. B. Widmeyer (Pilgrim Holiness, later Nazarene), U. E. Harding (Free Methodist, later Nazarene). These two traditions have normally been seen only as competitors. Building on the work of Wood (2002), Kostlevy (2012), Thornton (2014) and Bundy (2015), this presentation argues that the commonalities were significant between the two traditions at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, the competition was because they were so similar. The presentation examines what students were taught at God’s Bible School and what was accepted or rejected as the two movements differentiated. The presentation discusses issues of power, race, gender, social location and generational shifts, as well as the diverse the networks in which the younger leaders participated. The common theological methodologies, sources, social commitments and praxis are discussed. Despite the intellectual commonalities, the other factors led to a process of differentiation of the two traditions, ecclesiastically but also with regard to revivalism, glossolalia, and theological sources.
David Bundy, Associate Director, Manchester Wesley Research Centre; Research Professor of World Christian Studies, New York Theological Seminary
A World Tour of Evangelism: Henry Clay Morrison and the Overseas Networks of the Radical Holiness Movement, 1909-1910
In the fall of 1909, Henry Clay Morrison, future president of Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, embarked on an eleven-month “world tour of evangelism” by conducting a series of “Pentecostal meetings” in India, Myanmar, Singapore, Philippines, China, Korea, and Japan. Primarily funded by the Board of Missions of the Holiness Union, Morrison’s tour demonstrates the vitality of the Radical Holiness Movement which though its revival impulses had given rise to the Pentecostal Movement in the United States. Hence, the essay argues that the impact of Morrison’s revival work and the complementary revivalistic impulses in the countries he visited, provide not only interesting insights to the existing networks of missionaries influenced by the Radical Holiness Movements, but also to the ways these movements developed in the years following the birth of the Pentecostal Movement (1906). Given the movement’s similarity with Pentecostalism, the paper also demonstrates that reception to Morrison’s work in countries where he found great success serve as barometers to understanding why Pentecostalism would take root in these countries decades later. It establishes that the rise and growth of global Pentecostalism decades later did not emerge from a vacuum but was aided by the revival culture perpetuated by missionaries and indigenous workers influenced by the Radical Holiness Movement and other revivalist movements.
Luther Oconer, Associate Professor of United Methodist Studies and Director of the Center for Evangelical United Brethren Heritage, United Theological Seminary
The Cleveland School and the (Im)Possiblity of a Wesleyan-Holiness Pentecostalism
Steven J. Land’s Pentecostal Spirituality, published in 1993, launched what has come to be called (by Mark Cartledge and Amos Yong, among others) “the Cleveland School.” In the book, Land puts forward a radical “revisioning” of Pentecostal tradition, one that attempts to (re)imagine Pentecostalism as a fulfillment of Wesleyan spirituality and theology. Land’s vision was shared by many of his colleagues at Pentecostal Theological Seminary, of course, including Cheryl Bridges Johns, John Christopher Thomas, Rickie Moore, and (later) Kim Alexander, and Kenneth J. Archer. But scholars from other institutions took it seriously as well, and considered themselves allies, if not members, of the emerging Cleveland School. Now, twenty-five years later, it is possible step back and assess what has come of Land’s revisioning. What affect has the Cleveland School had on Wesleyan and Pentecostal scholarship? In retrospect, where has it failed to fulfill its promise? Are there rising scholars, within or without the Wesleyan and Pentecostal movements, who see Land’s revisioning project as having continuing relevance? In this paper, after having first described Land’s account of Pentecostal spirituality and theology, as well as the work of others in the Cleveland School, I will attempt to raise these questions and others like them and offer at least the beginnings of a response to them.
Chris E. W. Green, Professor of Theology, Southeastern University
The second session—‘New Research on John Wesley and Methodism in 18th and 19th Century Britain’— was on Monday 19 November from 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM in the Colorado Room (in the I.M. Pei Tower) at the Sheraton Downtown.
This session highlights the research of recent Visiting Research Fellows of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre. The first presentation will focus on John Wesley’s political thought through an analysis of his political and social tracts. Three papers focus on developments in early 19th century-Methodism. One presentation will consider the struggle for theological coherence in early 19th century-Methodism through evaluating controversy involving two doctrines central to Methodism: justification by faith and the witness of the Spirit. Two papers examine attitudes to women in ministry in Wesleyan and Primitive Methodism by analysing Henry More’s biography of Methodist preacher Mary Fletcher and Hugh Borne’s defense of women preachers. Collectively the presentations serve as examples of the wide-range of research possibilities on Methodism that may be undertaken utilizing resources in the UK (particularly in Manchester).
Geordan Hammond and David Bundy, Manchester Wesley Research Centre, Presiding
Papers:
Glen O’Brien, Eva Burrows College, University of Divinity, “Liberty and Loyalty: The Political World of John Wesley” (Chair: Douglas M. Strong, Seattle Pacific University) Youtube Audio
Stanley J. Rodes, Global Education and Clergy Development, Church of the Nazarene, “A Tale of Two Sermons: The Quest for Theological Coherence in Early Nineteenth Century-English Methodism” (Chair: Josh Sweeden, Nazarene Theological Seminary) Youtube Audio
Carol Blessing, Point Loma Nazarene University, “Disappearing Women: The Gendered Politics of Publication of Mary Fletcher’s Auto/Biography” (Chair: Gareth Lloyd, John Rylands Library) Youtube Audio
James Pedlar, Tyndale University College & Seminary, “A Sign of the ‘Latter Day Glory’: Hugh Bourne on Women Preachers” (Chair: Kimberly Ervin Alexander, Regent University School of Divinity) Youtube Audio
Abstracts:
Glen O’Brien, Eva Burrows College, University of Divinity, “Liberty and Loyalty: The Political World of John Wesley”
This paper employs a global history approach to John Wesley’s political and social tracts. It stresses the personal element in Wesley’s political thought, arguing that it is around the twin themes of ‘liberty and loyalty’ that Wesley’s thought revolved. While social order was highly prized by Wesley ‘order’ itself is an abstract term, where loyalty is deeply personal, whether expressed in affection for the king, love for the people, or aversion to any kind of public protest against the crown. The organic constitutionalism of Wesley was founded on an understanding of the contractual arrangement between king and people embedded in ‘the ancient constitution’ which came under threat in the eighteenth century by radical elements. Wesley shared with George III a view of the monarchy as a kind of sacred responsibility imposed by a just Providence. For him the monarchy was more than an ideal or an institution (though it was both of those). He considered the king as a person, a Christian monarch, and a loving father to the nation. The importance of loyalty to such a person seemed self-evident to Wesley and his political tracts are profoundly social and personal in delineating the obligation of trust that is to exist between the king, the parliament, and the people.
Stanley J. Rodes, Global Education and Clergy Development, Church of the Nazarene, “A Tale of Two Sermons: The Quest for Theological Coherence in Early Nineteenth Century English Methodism”
This presentation explores developments surrounding an early 19th century controversy involving two doctrines central to Methodism: justification by faith and the witness of the Spirit. Contesting the prevailing Methodist articulation of these doctrines, Joseph Cooke—a young travelling preacher stationed in Rochdale on the Manchester circuit—preached, then published, two sermons expressing his views on each doctrine. These actions led to him being the first Methodist minister expelled by the General Conference over a doctrinal matter and to him becoming the progenitor of the Methodist Unitarian Movement. Cooke’s challenge also launched Edward Hare, the primary respondent to Cooke and his replacement in Rochdale, on his career as one of Methodism’s “ablest controversialists” during the period. The engagement of these two rank and file Methodist preachers is explored with respect to the light it sheds on the struggle for theological coherence in early 19th century-English Methodism.
Carol Blessing, Point Loma Nazarene University, “Disappearing Women: The Gendered Politics of Publication of Mary Fletcher’s Auto/Biography”
This paper covers the representation of Methodist preacher Mary Fletcher in her biography published by the Rev. Henry Moore. His omissions and commentary served to neutralize some of her more radical ideas and feminism, and can be discovered by reading her manuscript journals, as well as the manuscript correspondence between Mary Tooth, the keeper of Mary Fletcher’s papers, and Henry Moore. Most notably, Mary Fletcher's apologia for women’s preaching is represented by a small excerpt in Moore’s published biography, while archival material from the Methodist Archives at the John Rylands Library reveals the lengthy, detailed, and contextualized treatise which Mary Fletcher and Mary Tooth wanted communicated, exemplifying the gendered politics of representing women in early Methodism.
James Pedlar, Tyndale University College & Seminary, “A Sign of the ‘Latter Day Glory’: Hugh Bourne on Women Preachers”
The Wesleyan Methodist Connexion curtailed the preaching ministry of women early in the nineteenth century, but women continued to serve as local and itinerant preachers in the revivalistic strands of English Methodism. Hugh Bourne (1772-1852), the co-founder and chief literary figure of early Primitive Methodism, supported and defended the preaching ministry of women. This paper examines Bourne’s defense of women preachers in the context of his theological commitments and the ongoing Methodist debates about the ministry of women. Along with Wesleyan Methodist sources, Bourne was influenced by his contact with the Quaker Methodists, American revivalist Lorenzo Dow, and fellow English revivalist William O’Bryan. Bourne’s position on this matter provides a helpful window into his Spirit-driven, experiential, participatory theology, which contrasts with the clericalizing trajectory of Wesleyan Methodism.
The MWRC at the AAR: November 2017
New Research on Methodism and the Holiness Movements in Britain
This session highlighted the research of recent Visiting Research Fellows of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre. Two presentations will focus on early Methodism based on research done at the Methodist Archives and Research Centre at the John Rylands Library in Manchester. The other two presentations stem from research in the Church of the Nazarene in the UK archives at Nazarene Theological College and other little-known collections relating to the Holiness Movements in the UK. Collectively the presentations serve as examples of the wide-range of research possibilities on Methodism and the Holiness Movements that may be undertaken utilizing resources in the UK (particularly in Manchester).
Papers:
“Reading John Wesley through Wits, Turretin, and Spanheim: Augustus Toplady’s University Student Annotations”, Andrew Kloes, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“The Methodist Child in Georgian England”, Cindy Aalders, Regent College
“Sophia Chambers, Founder of the Holiness Church: A Case Study of Victorian Entrepreneurial Religious Leadership”, David Bundy, Manchester Wesley Research Centre
“Pentecost in the Churches: Women in the Pentecostal League of Prayer”, Priscilla Pope-Levison, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University