Posted on 1 May 2012
An illuminating and comprehensive study of Calvinistic Methodism is this month published by the University of Wales Press.
The Elect Methodists: Calvinistic Methodism in England and Wales, 1735-1811 by David Ceri Jones, Eryn Mant White and Boyd Stanley Schlenther, is the first full-length academic study of Calvinistic Methodism, a movement that emerged in the eighteenth century as an alternative to the better known Wesleyan grouping.
The book charts the sources of the eighteenth-century Methodist revival in the context of Protestant evangelicalism emerging in continental Europe and colonial North America, and then proceeds to follow the fortunes in both England and Wales of the Calvinistic branch, to the establishing of formal denominations in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
While the branch of Methodism led by John Wesley has received significant historical attention, Calvinistic Methodism, especially in England, has not.
There has been no available academic study of Calvinistic Methodism in England for this period, nor is there a standard single volume in English which deals with the subject matter. The importance of this study therefore, to all things related to Methodism, both historical and theological, is very significant as it is the first to deal with the development of the movement in Wales throughout this crucial formative period.
Speaking of the book, Mark A. Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame said:
“This much-needed volume opens up the history of eighteenth-century Calvinistic Methodism as a single narrative embracing both England and Wales. It offers superb treatment of the larger-than-life individuals who made this Calvinistic movement nearly the equal of its Wesleyan counterpart. The book also succeeds in explaining why Calvinistic Methodism faded in England while becoming a permanent part of the Welsh religious landscape. This is an important history very well told.”
The books authors are all established academics in their respective fields, each with many notable works already published. Dr David Ceri Jones is a Lecturer in History at Aberystwyth University, and an ordinand in the Church in Wales. Dr Boyd Stanley Schlenther received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh and during his career at Aberystwyth University was awarded research grants from the British Academy that led to the publication of several books; he was Reader in History until his retirement. Dr Eryn Mant White is a Senior Lecturer in Welsh History at Aberystwyth University.
/Ends
(April 2012) The Elect Methodists: Calvinistic Methodism in England and Wales, 1735-1811 by David Ceri Jones, Eryn Mant White and Boyd Stanley Schlenther
£55.00 • HB • 9780708325018 • 216x138 mm - 9 Black and White
For more information on the University of Wales Press, or to place an order, visit: www.uwp.co.uk