Populist Saints

'Populist Saints' tells the story of B.T. and Ellen Roberts' lives, recounting their critique of powerful elites and illuminating the 'crisis of Methodism' that gave rise to the Free Methodist Church.

On September 7, 1881, Matthew Simpson, Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in a London sermon asserted that, "As to the divisions in the Methodist family, there is little to mar the family likeness." Nearly a quarter-century earlier, Benjamin Titus (B.T.) Roberts, a minister in the same branch of Methodism as Simpson, had published an article titled in the Northern Independent in which he argued that Methodism had split into an "Old School" and "New School." He warned that if the new school were to "generally prevail," then "the glory will depart from Methodism." As a result, Roberts was charged with "unchristian and immoral conduct" and expelled from the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Old or New School Methodism? examines how less than three decades later Matthew Simpson could claim that the basic beliefs and practices that Roberts had seen as threatened were in fact a source of persisting unity across all branches of Methodism. Kevin M. Watson argues that B. T. Roberts's expulsion from the MEC and the subsequent formation of the Free Methodist Church represent a crucial moment of transition in American Methodism. This book challenges understandings of American Methodism that emphasize its breadth and openness to a variety of theological commitments and underemphasize the particular theological commitments that have made it distinctive and have been the cause of divisions over the past century and a half. Old or New School Methodism? fills a major gap in the study of American Methodism from the 1850s to 1950s through a detailed study of two of the key figures of the period and their influence on the denomination.

B. T. Roberts was born in a small farming community in western New York, on July 25, 1823. By the time of his death in 1893, he had made a profound impact on church and society. Roberts's writing, preaching, and ministry focused on true conversion, the disciplines of the Christian life, and holiness. Rejecting "prosperity theology," he argued for simplicity, generosity, and mission. A prophet of dissent, he vigorously promoted abolition, prohibition, economic justice, and the equality of women. Along the way, he founded Free Methodism and an educational institution that is thriving 150 years later. Roberts exhibited rare and impeccably balanced traits. He displayed the courage and boldness to dissent, as well as the political savvy and communication skills to bring people together. He was a visionary who displayed patience, tact, and pragmatism. His idealism did not obliterate his attention to details and crucial distinctions. He made people feel loved, respected, and challenged; he was authentic. In his dealings in church and world, we see creativity and flexibility grounded in integrity. Earnest settles in to the particularities of this life well lived, showing the human spirit, divine power, and practicalities of progress.

The definitive history of the Wesleyan movement in the United States. An expansive, substantive history of the Wesleyan tradition in the United States, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline offers a broad survey of the Methodist movement as it developed and spread throughout America, from the colonial era to the present day. It also provides an theological appraisal of these developments in light of John Wesley's foundational vision. Beginning with Wesley himself, Watson describes the distinctiveness of the tradition at the outset. Then, as history unfolds, he identifies the common set of beliefs and practices which have unified a diverse group of people across the centuries, providing them a common identity through a number of divisions and mergers. In the midst of the sweeping changes happening in Methodism and the pan-Wesleyan movement today, Watson shows that the heart of the Wesleyan theological tradition is both more expansive and substantive than any singular denominational identity. "A fresh, panoramic overview of the history of the Methodist movement. . . Promises to be a standard textbook on the history of Methodism for years to come." —TIMOTHY C. TENNENT, Asbury Theological Seminary

A detailed look at the history of Christian fundamentalism in the United Kingdom during the twentieth-century, examining the inter-relation between fundamentalism and evangelical theology. Using detailed empirical evidence the authors challenge generalisations and enable a more nuanced understanding of the roots of fundamentalism today.

From inside the Vatican, the book that became a modern classic on sainthood in the Catholic Church. Working from church documents, Kenneth Woodward shows how saint-makers decide who is worthy of the church's highest honor. He describes the investigations into lives of candidates, explains how claims for miracles are approved or rejected, and reveals the role politics -- papal and secular -- plays in the ultimate decision. From his examination of such controversial candidates as Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador and Edith Stein, a Jewish philosopher who became a nun and was gassed at Auschwitz, to his insights into the changes Pope John Paul II has instituted, Woodward opens the door on a 2,000-year-old tradition.

Wesleyanism is a movement of hope. Wesleyans and their Holiness and Pentecostal offspring pray and work with the expectancy that the love and power of God will transform hearts and lives, renew the church, and bring compassion, healing, and justice to a suffering world. In a variety of ways, from holiness of heart and life to bodily healing to the abolition of slavery, they anticipated the life of the coming kingdom of heaven to already be breaking into the present through the power of the Holy Spirit. Anticipating Heaven Below explores their optimism of grace, examining its pitfalls as well as its promise. Henry H. Knight seeks to enable and inspire present generations within Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal movements to proclaim with confidence the promise of heaven below, and to do so with passion and integrity.

For centuries, Christians have wrestled with how to witness faithfully to the peaceable kingdom of God, while also living as citizens within an earthly nation-state. Differing theological traditions have offered wide-ranging contributions to the field of political theology, yet the Wesleyan tradition has too often remained largely silent. In this volume, Coates turns to two key figures within his own Wesleyan tradition--John Wesley and B. T. Roberts--in order to construct a distinctively Wesleyan political theology. He argues that embedded within Wesley's theology were the seeds of a radically people-centered, egalitarian politic, despite the fact that Wesley himself never fully realized these implications himself. Ultimately, however, the populism of B. T. Roberts and his work to organize the Farmer's Alliance of the late-nineteenth century would come to represent one concrete, historical manifestation of Wesley's theology in the public sphere. Here is a book not merely for academics interested in the Wesleyan tradition or political theology, but also for all followers of Christ who desire to see the church model the ethic of Christ before the worldly powers in the midst of this saeculum.