...._------------- " d r,,! ",! ;! ; ~ ; ; 1, ',, 1\1ETHODST HSTORV AT TH1~ BCENTENNAl,: THE STATE OF THE AnT ' KENNETH E. ROWE ' Amercan.Methodsm's belef n God actng n and through hstory endows the past wth momentous mportance. t becomes a potent force for the hstoran. Each successve generaton of Methodsts, and each successve schsm or reunon of the Methodst famly of churches, t! demanded a fresh tellng of the story from ts own perspectve and fo,r ts 1( own purposes. Church hstory for 1110st of the church's two hundred years was no mere avocaton for retred folks or a scholarly luxury. t was cen tral to the church's task. John Wesley's own Short Hstory (~la1('(h()dsm (1765) and a much fuller Hshort" hstory n volume four of hs Concse Ecclesastcal HL\'tory (178]) were produced partly n defense of hs evangelcal movement, partly as examples of hs favorte theme: "What hath God wroughtl" Thrown on the defensve n face of external charges of an nvald mnstry and nternal demands for democratc reform, Francs Asbury also found hstory a powerful ally. t s not surprsng that succeedng g.eneratons of Methodst hstor.ans fohowed the lead of Wesley and Asbury and offered apologetcs and progress report.s as church hstory.!, -! : ' (,,, "! ', J :!! j: ~ : ~,,, 1,! : ' Progress neport's and Apologetcs ns Church Hstory Church leaders and layfolk alke found hstory handy n defendl1g the dscplne and doctrne of ther partcular branch of the famly tree. By countng the converts year by year the largest especally could also show God's favor for ther 'verson of Methodsl11. The ncontestable senor hstorcal growth n numbers and geographcal spread announced God's chosen standard~bearers. Armed wth these sgns of dvne judgment, Methodst hstorans took the offensve, confdently ssung verdcts on past ssues and movements wthout hestaton. n the early 20th century hstorcal wrtngs became professonal l'nd turned academc. The new "scence" of church hstory taught that hstory emerges out of the envronmental context and that hstorcal analyses must rest upon a verf1able base. So the church's hstorans placed ther stores wthn the contextof Amercan hstory Hnd sought the explanatons for ts development n the cultural and hstorcal forces of the tme. Despte new sklls, Methodsm's modern hstorans faled to avod the twn ptfalls of parochalsm and tdumphalsm. Methodsm's best known 2,Oth century church hstoran, Wllam Warren Sweet, used hs upbeat 87
Methodst Hstory denomnatonal hstory of 1933 to further nsttutonal goals by pushng unfcaton. "Unted" Methodsm's large sze and natonal dstrbuton also determned for hm ts God-blessed and "typcally Amercan" status. l :' Chroncles of God's Elte An even more fatal flaw than the persstent tendency to use hstory to defend the establshment and count the converts has been the exclusvst, f not 61tst, stance of much of Methodsm's hstorcal wrtng. Untl recently the church's hstores have suggested that clergy were God's prncpal agents among the Methodsts. Most of the church's hstores have been wrtten by clergy, about clergy, from clergy records. And specal clergy have been largely n focus-bshops and bureaucrats, General and Jursdctonal Conference delegates, board and agency staff and members. The doman of these specal clergy has provded the stage on whch the church's hstory unfolded and the rhythm by whch t has been punctuated-as f the church's hstory was made prncpally n offce buldngs or cvc arenas rather than sanctuares and Sunday school rooms, as f t unfolded quandrennally General Conference by General Conference rather than annually and weekly as countless ordnary pastors and layfolk gathered at the regonal and local level to hear and respond to God's word. All ths occurred despte the fact that Methodsm's theology never dentfed the church wth clergy, let alone bshops or bureaucrats! Wesley and Asbury, Otterben and Albrght developed the dea of a partnershp n mnstry between clergy and layfolk. They gave ordnary people extraordnary responsbltes for leadershp and pastoral care. The Methodst and Evangelcal and Unted Brethren movements would have flopped f t were not for ths network of commtted lay leadershp. Yet the standard hstores of Methodsm from Jesse Lee's frst (1810)2 to Frederck Norwood's last (1974)3 are strangely weak when t comes to vews from the pew. The two-hundred-year focus on clergy n Methodsm's hstores has also meant that whte, mddle-class, mddle-aged males were the church's chef heroes. All of ths happened despte the fact that the people called Methodst through the years have been a very dverse lot. ts membershp has always been-and s now-more dverse than any other Amercan Protestant body-more dverse n terms of race, regon, ethnc orentaton, soco-economc level, theologcal mnd-set, poltcal convcton and lfestyle. Yet untl very recently the almost unversal trend was to submerge ljames L. Ash, Protestantsm and the Amercan Unversty: An ntellectual Bography of Wllam Warren Sweet (Dallas: SMU Press, 1982). 2Jesse Lee, A Short Hstory of the Methodsts (Rutland, Vt.: Academy Books, 1974). Ths facsmle reprnt of the 1810 prntng wth a new ndex s regrettably now out of prnt. 8Frederck A. Norwood, The Story of Amercan Methodsm (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1974). 88
; n r!, y J : ; ;1' ; l J [ ' J., ;j :' ::! ) ) f 1 Methodst Hstory at the Bcentennal dstnctve tradtons n the stll bolng meltng pot. The nevtable result was that all Methodsm was seen through whte Anglo-Saxon eyes. German, Swedsh, Norwegan, Dansh, and talan Methodsts, as well as Chnese, Japanese, Korean and Flpno Methodsts were merged nto the man lne and almost lost to vew. The same fate was n prospect for black, Hspanc and Natve Amercan Methodsts untl recently. A sad commentary on the male bas of most Methodst hstorans s the fact that about half of the story-,that part dealng wth the women of Methodsm-has been largely gnored and s only wth great dffculty beng redscovered. Somethng of the same could be sad for youth and chldren. The study of the hstorography of Amercan Mefhodsn whch have hnted 'at here and reported on more fully n a soon-to-be publshed essay are only ntal exploratons. Much more work needs to be done f we are to fully understand the art of Methodst hstory, then and no\v;, Fndng the Resources ( On the eve of the Church's bcentennal many surveys, conference,',,j' hstores, and studes of major perods and movements may stll be faulted 1 for ther tendency to defend the record, count the converts and focus on,.,',1', w' hd te rna e lea ersh' p. However, d'.urmg thd east,ecade te h ' Ch " ure h' ' s j hstorcal enterprse has become less happy and more honest, less defensve and more attentve to the "undersde" of Methodsm's hstory. But we j have only begun to scratch the surface. The dscusson and documentaton \ of the majorty forces of lay women and men and the mnorty forces of 1 racal, ethnc and dssentng Methodsts n even the best new studes s stll j thn and scanty. A fully nclusve story wll have to awat another decade,or so of sold monographc studes on a host of problems and themes, at ' the several levels of the Church's lfe, n wdely varyng contexts, and employng fresh methodologes. To wrte the "new" Methodst hstory, we wll have to look to new! sources. We wll havt? to read more dares ~nd autobographes of lay 1 women and men than we have. We wll have to tape and lsten to more oral j ntervews. We wll have to comb local church records as well as general.j. church records. We wll need to search for prnted texts and unprnted notes and recordngs of the sermons Methodsts lstened to. We wll have r! to examne the Sunday school currculum they studed and the pop~lar newspapers and magaznes theyread.' Our efforts 'to ths end are hampered by a scarcty of prmary materals. For ths reason we need proper archves at every level of the j, ~! Church's lfe. A defntve, or even adequate nclusve bottom-up hstory of Methodsm has yet to be wrtten, partly because an approprate collecton of the prmary sources s not yet avalable, so we go on gettng tertary accounts based on secondary sources. The Unted Methodst Church has only begun to mplement a decent archval polcy and program to match " 89
Methodst Hstory ts new home on the campus of Drew Unversty n Madson, New Jersey. Ambtous projects to gather the records of women and ethnc mnortes are under way and substantal progress has been made n the Church's natonal archves and n the larger Methodst research collectons n the Church's several semnary and unversty lbrares. Much remans to be accomplshed, especally n gatherng, catalogng, and preservng the basc hstorcal records of the out-groups-women, ethnc mnortes, and reform caucuses-whch belong to the Unted Methodst tradton. The desperate struggle for survval and self-affrmaton through whch they have gone has left a tragc scar on the dsappearance of so many mportant orgnal records. n the realm of bblographes and gudes to the lterature, Methodst hstorans have never had t so good. Books, pamphlets and theses are exhaustvely descrbed and located n the author's Methodst Unon Catalog: Pre-1976 mprnts. 4 Although only fve of the projected twenty volumes have been publshed, coverng ttles wth man entres A through H, the edtor plans to publsh one volume a year untl the project s completed. The MUC s a record of the cataloged holdngs on Methodst subjects of more than 200 lbrares, ncludng the major Methodst research collectons n the Unted States, Canada, Great Brtan and several other European and non-western countres. Unted Methodsm's perodcal output has been defntvely descrbed and located n John and Lyda Batsel's Unon Lst of Unted Methodst Serals 1773-1973. 6 More than two thousand perodcal ttles were dentfed and located; less than a dozen have been even modestly mned by the Church's hstorans. Phase two of the serals project, coverng the perodcal publcatons of non-unted Methodst denomnatons n Amerca (the three ndependent black Methodst churches, the Free Methodsts, Wesleyan Methodsts and others) s underway under the edtorshp of Mchael Boddy of the Drew Unversty Lbrary. A prelmnary checklst wll be ssued n 1984. The frst of several sectons of the Catalog of Methodst A rchval and Manuscrpt Collectons, compled by Homer L. Calkn, has been publshed. 6 Upon completon that catalog wll help Methodsm's future hstorans tap ncredbly rch resources n wdely scattered depostores. Taken together the speedy completon of Methodsm's three major bblographcal projects may spark a genune renassance n Methodst hstorcal studes. (Kenneth E. Rowe, ed., Methodst Unon Catalog: Pre-1976 mprnts (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1975 and contnung). 6John and Lyda Batsel, Unon Lst of Unted Methodst Serals 1773-1973 (Evanston, L: Garrett Theologcal Semnary, 1974). Copes are stll avalable from the olke of the General Commsson on Archves and Hstory of The Unted Methodst Church. P.O. Box 127, Madson, NJ 07940. 6Homer L. Calkn, Catalog of Methodst Archval and A1anuscrpt Collecto!ls (Arlngton, VA: World Methodst Hstorcal Socety, 1982 and contnung). Part 2-Asa and Pan 3-Australa and the South Pacfc slands wve been publshed to dale. 90
----------"""--- 1 Methodst Hstory at the Bcentennal The author's 1982 Unted Methodst Studes: Basc Bblographes serves as the best ntroductory gude to the most mportant current resources n book form. 7 The ndex to Methodst perodcals whch, scholars reled upon for twenty years, The Unted Methodst Perodcal ndex, regrettably has been dscontnued by the Church's publshng house. But for the years 1960 through 1980 t taps a large body of materal! bured n the Church's volumnous offcal perodcals and Sunday SGhool.; currculum. The Church's General Commsson on Archves and Hstory ;, has publshed two ttles of a projected fve n ts "Unted Methodst, Bblography Seres": basc readng lsts on Natve Amercan Methodsts and Methodst Women. 8 A thrd gude coverng the lterature of black Methodsm wll be ssued n 1984. 9 A bblography of newly-publshed Methodst hstorcal lterature s publshed annually n the Proceedngs of the Wesley Hstorcal Socety (London), whch ncludes works on ;, Amercan topcs. Both Methodst Hstory (snce 1970) and the Proceedngs ofthe Wesley Hstorcal Socety (snce 1963) have publshed regularly useful lsts of doctoral dssertatons on Methodst themes. Two encyclopedas of Methodsm are stll n prnt and hghly useful..: Nolan B. Harmon's 1974 Encyclopeda of World Methodsm n two large volumes has become a standard reference too1. 10 A supplemental volume!. to fll n gaps, especally on women and ethnc mnorty subjects, has not gone beyond the talkng stage but would greatly extend the encyclopeda's ;! usefulness. Matthew Smpson's century-old Cyclopeda of Methodsm recently has been reprnted and s stll standard for the nneteenth cen,; tury.ll " Frederck Norwood's 1974 replacement for Wllam Warren Sweet's 50-year-old standard survey, The Story ofmethodsm n Amerca, and the,. bref but tantalzng Bcentennal studybook, Proclamng Grace and Freedom, wrtten by Frederck Maser, Charles Yrgoyen, Jr. and Kenneth Rowe and edted by John McEllhenney, have become the basc surveys.12,, 7Kenneth E. Rowe, Unted Methodst Studes: Basc Bblographes (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1982). 8Thomas E. Lenhart, Natve Amercan Methodsts: A Readng Lst (Lake Junaluska, NC: General Commsson on Archves and Hstory, The Unted Methodst Church, 1979) and Kenneth E. Rowe, Methodst Women: A Gude to the Lterature (Lake Junaluska, NC: General Commsson on Archves and Hstory, The Unted Methodst Church, 1980). Copes are stll avalable from the General Commsson at ts new offce n Madson, NJ. 9Jonathan A. Carlsen, Larry G. Murphy and J. Gordon Melton, A Bblography of Black Methodsm (Madson, NJ: General Commsson on Archves and Hstory, The Unted Methodst Church, 1984). Nolan B. Harmon, ed., Encyclopeda of World Methodsm (Nashvlle: Unted Methodst Publshng House, 1974). 2 vols. 11 Matthew Smpson, Cyclopeda ofmethodsm (New York: Gordon Press, 1977). Reprnt of the 1876 edton. 12Norwood, op.ct.; John G. McEllhenney, ed., Proclamng Grace and Freedom: The Story of Unted Methodsm n A merca (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1982). 91
Methodst Hstory Ten years after ts publcaton, Norwood's hstory contnues to serve well as the standard textbook. Hs 1982 Sourcebook ofamercan Methodsm, wth bref selectons arranged topcally wthn four chronologcal perods, s a splendd companon to hs basc text. 13 The recent reprntng of Charles W. Ferguson's 1971 Organzng to Beat the Devl: Methodsts and the Makng ofa merca provdes a snapply wrtten but less nclusve and crtcal survey as Norwood and McEllhenney.14 Wllam Warren Sweet's 1953 revson of hs 1933 classc, Methodsn1 n Amercan Hstory, remans n prnt but ought not to be. 15 Behney and Eller's 1979 conventonal but competent hstory of the Evangelcal Unted Brethren famly of churches functons best as an encyclopeda for reference rather than an nsghtful and connected narratve. 16 On the shelf of recently reprnted Methodst classcs, the facsmle reprnt of Jesse Lee's frst hstory17 and Bshops Asbury and Coke's annotated edton of the Church's dscplne of 1798 18 have been joned by several mportant reprnts of early conference mnutes,19 and scarce autobographes of Rchard Allen and Henry Boehm, Phoebe Palmer and Anna Howard Shaw. 20 A complete transcrpton of the journals of one of Asbury's chef assstants, Freeborn Garrettson, has just been publshed for the frst tme by Drew Unversty.21 A facsmle reprnt of John Wesley's l3frederck A. Norwood, ed., Sourcebook of Amercan Methodsm (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1982). 14Charles W. Ferguson, Methodsts and the Makng of Amerca (Austn, TX: Eakn Press, 1983). Reprnt of the 1971 edton. 15Wllam W. Sweet, Methodsm n Amercan Hstory. Revsed edton. (Nashvlle: Abngdon Press, 1953). 16J. Bruce Behney and Paul H. Eller, The Hstory ofthe Evangelcal Unted Brethren Church (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1979). 17Jesse Lee, op.ct. l8the Methodst Dscplne of1798, ncludng the A nnotatons of Thomas Coke and Francs Asbury, edted by Frederck A. Norwood (Rutland, VT: Academy Books, 1979). 19Mnutes of the Methodst Conferences Annually Held n Amerca from 1773 to 18/3 nclusve (Swansboro, GA: Magnola Press, 1983). Facsmle reprnt of the New York, 1813 collected edton of the mnutes. Academy Books of Rutland, VT has announced the forthcomng publcaton n facsmle of the Methodst Conference mnutes 1773-1794 wth ntroducton and annotatons by the Rev. Edwn Schell. 2 Rchard Allen, Lfe Experences and Gospel Labors (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1983). Reprnt of the 1960 bcentennal edton. Henry Boehm, Remnscences (\Vllow Street, PA: Boehm's Chapel Socety, 1983), facsmle reprnt of the 1875 edton wth new ndex by Abram W. Sangrey. Several of Phoebe Palmer's now rare publcatons are avalable n reprnt from Schmul Publshers, Salem, Oho: The Promse ofthe Father (1859), Entre Devotoll to God (1849) and Full Salvaton (1855). Anna Howard Shaw, The Story ofa Poneer (New York: Kraus Reprnt Co., 1972), reprnt of the 1915 edton. L. C. Rudolph's 1966 bography of Francs Asbury was brought back nto prnt n 1983 by Abngdon Press. 21Amercan Methodst Poneer: The Lfe and Journals o./the Re\'. Freeborn Garrettsoll 1752 /827, wth ntroducton and commentary by Robert D. Smpson. (Madson, NJ: Drew Unversty Lhrary, 1983). 92
Methodst Hstory at the Bcentennal Sunday Servce of the Methodsts n North Amerca, wth ntroducton and commentary by James F. Whte, wll appear n a specal ssue of the Church's clergy magazne, Quarterly Revew, n 1984. Facsmle reprnts of other foundng documents-the Church's frst book of dscplne and ts frst hymnbook of 1784-may appear n tme for the bcentennal. Expandng the Horzons Buddng Methodst hstorans n the past decade have been busy expandng the horzon of Methodsm's hstorcal vson to nclude ethnc mnortes and women. Although stll n the "bts and peces" stage, black hstory came frst and s most advanced of all. A rch lterature of monographc studes has begun to appear, but a full-scale hstory stll awats wrtng. 22 Stll there are gaps. No competent hstory of the Central Jursdcton, Methodsm's segregated admnstratve unt for blacks between 1939 and 1968, exsts. Nor do we have adequate hstores of the several hstorc black annual conferences from ther foundng shortly after the Cvl War to ther dssoluton n the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Church's hstorc commtment to black educaton and the mportant work of the Freedmen's Ad Socety awat further study. Frederck Norwood and Walter Vernon have produced several mportant artcles on Methodsm's mnstry to the Natve Amercans, but we have only begun to uncover that part of the Church's hertage. 23 Hyungchan Km and llsoo Km.nclude chapters on Methodsm's mnstry to the rapdly expandng Korean Amercans n the post World War perod. 24 Lester E. Suzuk's study of Methodsm's Mnstry n the Assembly and Relocaton Centers of World War s a notable contrbuton to the Japanese story.25 No notable recent book or artcle tackles Methodsm's mnstry to the Chnese or Flpno communtes. Much work needs to be done before the defntve hstory of Asan-Amercan Methodsm can be fully told. Alfredo Nanez's 1981 Hstora de la Conferenca Ro Grande de la glesa M etodsta Unda marks a major contrbuton to Hspanc Amercan Methodst studes,26 but lttle else has appeared coverng the story of Methodsm's mnstry to Hspanc Amercans n the urban areas of the east and west coasts and mdland ctes. 22See Carlsen, et. al., op. ct. See note 9. 23See Lenhart, op. ct. See note 8. HHyung-chan Km, The Korean Daspora (Santa Rosa, CA: Clo Publcatons, 1977), especally "Hstory and Role of the Church n the Korean Amercan Communty," pp. 47-64; and llsoo Km, New Urban mmgrants: The Korean Communty n New York (Prnceton, NJ: Prnceton Unversty Press, 1981). 2~Lestcr E. Suzuk, Mnstry n the Assembly and Relocaton Centers of World War (Berkeley, CA: Yardbrd Publshng Co., 1979). 26Alfredo Nanez, Hsrora de la Conferenca Ro Grande de la glesa!l1erodsta Unda (Dallas, TX: Brdwell Lbrary, Southern Methodst Unversty, 1981). Also avalable n Englsh. 93
Methodst Hstory A promsmg new study of Methodsm's mnstry to Scandnavan Amercans n the 19th century has been wrtten by Henry C. Whyman and the late Wesley M. Westerberg. Ttled The Hedstroms and the Bethel ShP. Saga, t wll be publshed n 1984 by the Amercan Swedsh Hstorcal Socety. One of the most actve and frutful areas of research on the eve of the Church's bcentennal s Methodst women's hstory. Ably and well funded, the Unted Methodst Women's Hstory Project, begun n 1978, blossomed three years later when a major scholar's conference was held n Cncnnat, the frst such conference on church women's hstory by an Amercan denomnaton. Forty of the best papers were chosen for publcaton n two hefty volumes enttled Women n New Worlds. 27 The conference and ts publshed papers have gven Unted Methodst women's hstory a hearty send-off. n the meantme Elane Magals' 1973 ntroductory survey, Conduct Becomng to a Woman,28 s out of prnt and no replacement appears on the horzon. A growng number of dssertatons are beng wrtten and essays and monographs are beng publshed documentng aspects of women's hstory. n tme they wll become the bass for a full-scale hstory of Methodst women. Rethnkng Methodst Hstory Much promsng but largely uncharted terran s open to those who would take up the challenge of rethnkng Methodst hstory. Major nterpretatons need to be reexamned and revsed; schemes for ncluson of blacks, Asans, Hspancs, Natve Amercans, and non-unted Methodst denomnatons, n addton to women, need to be desgned and mplemented. The story needs to be seen n the lght of the larger Protestant and Amercan experence as well. New approaches and methodologes need to be modeled and tested. Prevously unexamned sources must be dscovered and studed. Uncharted aspects of the tradton need to be descrbed and nterpreted. Popular pety s one area worth explorng. Th~ story of how Methodsm's local churches were desgned, bult and pad for, and what went on nsde them on countless Sundays has been largely untold. roncally, the popularty of Methodsm's pety was regularly tabulated and celebrated by ts hstorans, but the shape and power of ts pety has been undescrbed and unassessed. A competent hstory of publc worshp and the sacraments n Amercan Methodsm has not been attempted. Wllam Wade has taken a frst step wth hs excellent Notre Dame dsser- 27 Women n New Worlds, edted by Rosemary Sknner Keller, Louse L. Queen and Hlah F. Thomas (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1981-1982).2 vols. 28Elane Magals, Conduct Becomng to a Woman: Bolted Doors and Burgeonng Mssons (New York: Women's Dvson, Board of Global Mnstres, The Unted Methodst Church, 1973). 94
.,..,---------~---!; Methodst Hstory at the Bcentennal.,, ',, taton on publc worshp n the Methodst Epscopal Church and the Methodst Epscopal Church, South from 1784 to the jont hymnal of 1905, but t remans unpublshed. 29 No adequate new studes of Baptsm and the' Lord's Supper have appeared. The hymnody of the several tradtons of Unted Methodsm has receved lttle scholarly attenton. Carlton R. Young charted the prncpal Amercan Methodst hymnbooks n the 1970 "companon" to the 1964 hymnal, but no one has taken the tme to examne them crtcally.30 An extensve collecton of them awats eager students n the Church's natonal archves. J. Jefferson Cleveland provded a bref hstorcal ntroducton to black hymnody n Songs o/zon (1981) whch needs to be fleshed out. 31 Happly a competent bography of one of Methodsm's prncpal black hymn wrters-charles A. Tndley of Phladelpha-has been wrtten. 32 Methodsm's dstnctve tradtons of class meetngs and prayer meetngs are unchroncled, although several fne, though unpublshed, doctoral dssertatons on the subjects have recently appeared. 33 No adequate hstory of the Church's educatonal enterprse from the Sunday school through the colleges and unverstes s avalable. When wll someone tackle the Methodst Youth Fellowshp and ts Epworth League antecedent or the Men's Brotherhood? One potentally rch source for recoverng Methodsm's popular pety s hstorcal fcton, partcularly novels. Numerous popular relgous novels have been wrtten by and about the Methodsts through the years. 34 Although a few have become recognzed classcs of Amercan lterature, n the hands of senstve hstorans they can become revealng documents. Anchored n patterns of church lfe whch the authors knew frst hand, novels could be more frank and open, more belevable, even crtcal of what lfe as a card-carryng Methodst was really lke n bygone eras. 35 29Wllam N. Wade, A Hstory ofpublc Worshp n the Methodst Epscopal Church and the Methodst Epscopal Church. South from 1784 to 1905 (Notre Dame, N: Unversty of Notre Dame, 1981). Mcroflm and xerographc copes avalable from Unversty Mcroflms nternatonal, Ann Arbor, M. 30Carlton R. Young, "Amercan Methodst Hymnbooks," n Companon to the Hymnal (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1970), pp. 54-61. 31J. Jefferson Cleveland, "Hstorcal Accounts of Hymns, Sprtuals and Black Gospel Songs," n Songs of Zon (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1981). 32Ralph H. Jones, Charles Albert Tndley. Prnce ofpreachers (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1983). 33Davd F. Holsclaw, "The Demse of Dscplned Chrstan Fellowshp: The Methodst Class Meetng n 19th Century Amerca," unpublshed doctoral dssertaton, Unversty of Calforna, Davs, 1979; Davd L. Watson, "The Orgns and Sgnfcance of the Early Methodst Class Meetng," unpublshed doctoral dssertaton, Duke Unversty, 1978. ufor example, Edward Eggleston's 1874 novel, The Crcut Rder; Harold Frederck's 1896, The Damnaton of Theron Ware; and the seres of novels by Corra Harrs on The Crcut Rder's Wfe. The Crcut Rder's Wdow. and The Crcut Rder's Son. publshed 1910-1921. 35Kcnncth E. Rowe's "mages of Methodsm n Amercan Lterature," unpublshed Ryan Lectures at Asbury Theologcal Semnary n the fall of 1982, took some frst steps n ths drecton. 95
Methodst Hstory The Church's consttutonal hstory, along wth the story of ts developng and shftng authorty centers and governance patterns, s another feld rpe for study. Studes of dssent and reform would be a tmely topc n these days of the flowerng of caucus Methodsm. The Church's waverng commtment to the ecumencal movement from the famly-style ecumensm of the late Vctoran era through ts partcpaton n the conclar movement of the early twenteth century down to ts mdcentury partcpaton n the Consultaton on Church Unon and the conversatons wth Catholcs and Lutherans and dalogues wth Jews and other world relgons ought to be studed soon. The twenty-year-old studes by Cameron and Muelder of Methodsm and Socety and Dudley Ward's 1965 study of The Socal Creed are now long out of prnt and need fresh updatng. 36 Detaled studes of both Methodst and E.U.B. response to such socal ssues as slavery and racsm, war and peace, poltcs and government, the search for economc justce and the concern for alcohol and drug abuse through the years would make a major contrbuton to the wrtng of a full-scale hstory of Unted Methodsm's socal thought and acton. Wade Barclay's landmark hstory of Methodst mssons, begun n 1949 and contnued by J. Tremayne Copplestone n 1973, covers only the Methodst Epscopal story through 1939. 37 Volumes coverng the mssons of the Methodst Epscopal Church, South, the Methodst Protestant Church and the Evangelcal and Unted Brethren Churches are n preparaton. Other more focused studes of Unted Methodsm's mssonary enterprse at home and abroad are also needed to complete the story. Wth regard to the church's theologcal hstory, Thomas Langford's 1983 Practcal Dvnty: Theology n the Wesleyan Tradton provdes the.frst attempt at a comprehensve hstory.38 An older classc n the feld, Robert E. Chles' 1965 Theologcal Transton n Amercan Methodsm 1790-1935, s now happly reprnted. 39 Gerald O. McCulloh's Mnsteral Educaton n the Amercan Methodst Movement (1980) provdes a good ntroducton to the topc but breaks no new ground. 40 Of the church's ' S6Rchard M. Cameron, Methodsm and Socety n Hstorcal Perspectve (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1961); Walter G. Muelder, Methodsm and Socety n the Twenteth Century (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1961); A. Dudley Ward, The Socal Creed of the Methodst Church (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1961; revsed edton, 1965). s7wade C. Barclay, Hstory of Methodst Mssons (New York: Board of Mssons, The Methodst Church, 1949-1973). Volume 4 by J. Tremayne Copplestone. s8thomas A. Langford, Practcal Dvnty: Theology n the Wesleyan Tradton (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1983). s9robert E. Chles, Theologcal Transton n Amercan Methodsm: 1790-1935 (Lanham, MD: Unversty Press of Amerca, 1983). Reprnt of the 1965 edton. ~ogerald O. McCulloh, Mnsteral Educaton n the Amercan Methodst Movement (Nashvlle: Board of Hgher Educaton and Mnstry, The Unted Methodst Church, 1980). 96
: ~ ~ 1 ~ [, t. ' ",,,, 1: 11 H,, ; H,l U f H, ' :: + ; j ~ t, :- ~:'j ':) 11 L, ~ j 1'] Methodst Hstory at the Bcentennal semnares only Boston and Garrett have hgh qualty publshed hstores. 41 Douglas Chandler and Clarence Goen have wrtten a new hstory of Wesley Theologcal Semnary but t s as yet unpublshed. Hstorcal studes of the ordaned mnstry have advanced lttle from Gerald McCulloh's 1960 collecton of essays on The Mnstry n the Methodst Hertage. 42 Nothng comparable to John Bowmer's mpressve study of the ordaned mnstry n Brtsh Methodsm has appeared for the Amercan scene. 43 Epscopacy studes have advanced lttle beyond Gerald Moede's The Offce of Bshop n Methodsm (1964)44 and the unpublshed dssertatons by Barton and Spelman,46 apart from Joseph Mtchell's recent study of epscopal electons. 46 Bshop Roy Short's recenthstory of the Councl of Bshops 1939-1979 s regrettably lttle more than an nsder's summary of the agenda orcouncl meetngs and bref bographes of each new bshop.47 The status and role of the beloved "D.s." s evepless well known and studed. For those latter-day Methodsts orented to the vsual and pctoral, the feld of Methodst hstorcal studes has lttle to offer. Most flms or flmstrps on the hstory of Methodsm n Amerca are dsmal. One major breakthrough nto the world of hgh qualty audo-vsual presentatons of the tradton s a recent vdeo-tape on the role of the deaconess. "The Deaconess Story," prepared by Mary Agnes Dougherty and based on her splendd 1978 Unversty of Calforna at Davs doctoral dssertaton on the Amercan deaconess movement, s hope the frst of a new genre. 48 Drew Unversty s plannng to publsh n 1984 a hgh-qualty llustrated hstory, Two Hundred Years of Unted Methodsm, usng the superb graphcs collecton of the General Commsson on Archves and Hstory and the Drew Unversty Lbrary, The volume should be a welcome '. t,! 41Rchard M. Cameron, Boston Unversty School of Theology 1839-1968 (Boston:,Boston Unversty School of Theology, 1968); Frederck A. Norwood, From Dawn to Mdday at Garrett (Evanston, L: Garrett-Evangelcal Theologcal Semnary, 1978). 42Gerald O. McCulloh, ed., The Mnstry n the Methodst Hertage (Nashvlle: Department of Mnsteral Educaton, The Board of Educaton, The Methodst Church, 1960). 4sJohn C. Bowmer, Pastor and People: A Study of Church and Mnstry n Wesleyan Methodsm (London: Epworth Press, 1975). HGerald F. Moede, The Offce ofbshop n Methodsm: ts Hstory and Development (New York: Abngdon Press, 1964). 45Joseph Mtchell, There s an Electon! Epscopal Electons n the Southeastern JurSdfton oj The Unted Methodst Church (Troy, AL: Leader Press.. 1980).' 46Jesse Hamby Barton, The Defnton of the Epscopal Offce n Amercan Methodsm (Madson, NJ: Drew Unversty, 1960) and Norman W. Spellman, The General Superntendency n Amercan Methocfsm 1784-1870 (New Haven, CT: Yale Unversty, 1961 ). 47Roy H. Short, Hstory of the Councl ofbshops of The Unted Methodst Church 1939 1979 (Nashvlle: Abngdon, 1980). 48Mary Agnes Dougherty, "The Deaconess Story" n Churchwomen ofthe Past, adoeumentary seres. Address nqures to Hstory Meda, 909 Carmel Avenue, Albany, CA 94706.
Methodst Hstory replacement for Elmer T. Clark's agng Album of Methodst Hstory. Drew Unversty also publshed n 1982 an magnatve "Archves Kt" featurng more than two dozen representatve documents or artfacts reproduced on card stock for dsplay or "show and tell. "49 To compare notes and map strategy for the "new" Methodst hstory, several hundred scholars and teachers, pastors and layfolk, gathered at Drew Unversty n the Sprng of 1983. Jontly sponsored by the Unversty's Theologcal and Graduate Schools, the Dvson of Ordaned Mnstry of the Board of Hgher Educaton and Mnstry and the General Commsson on Archves and Hstory of The Unted Methodst Church, the consultaton sought fresh apprasals by scholars actvely engaged n examnng the Methodst past. Ffty persons were selected to present papers whch explored new themes or reapprased older ones, expermented wth new methods borrowed from other dscplnes, and explored unused or under-utlzed research collectons. Two dozen of the best papers have been chosen for publcaton n a volume tentatvely ttled Rethnkng Methodst Hstory. When publshed t wll exhbt the growng edge of Amercan Methodst hstorcal studes. On the eve of the bcentennal Unted Methodsts fnd themselves strugglng to understand what t means to be a pluralstc as well as a unted church. Ecumencal yearnngs toward unty are matched by nternal yearnngs toward schsm. A truly competent and nclusve hstory could make a very real contrbuton to the Church's self-understandng. A full record must be carefully kept and updated, landmarks need to be sought out and celebrated, and a new generaton deserves to be lberated from the msconceptons of the past, f the Church s to move wth understandng and freedom nto the future. That means a candd acknowledgement of the comng of age of Methodsm's several caucuses-asans, blacks, Hspancs and Natve Amercans,.and not least women-the only mnorty group whch has always been a majorty. Above all ths means a more layorented, locally-rooted approach to all our hstory wrtng. The tme has come to redress the balance and redscover and celebrate the rch dversty of the Methodst famly-then and now. ~9Drew Unversty Archves Campagn, Archves Kt. Avalable from Dean Stanley J. Menkng, Drew Unversty.,. Madson, NJ 07940. 98