Methodism: Empire of the Spirit by David HemptonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This should probably be the second book you read on Methodism. It lacked a basic standard history and overview of the religion, with its beginnings, progress, changes, up to the present day. A book containing those details would be great preparation for this book.
As it stands, this book is full of details you probably can't find anywhere else. It has things like discussions on the parallels and differences between Methodism in the US and in Britain, but in one chapter it compares Kilham to O'Kelly, in another Bunting to Asbury, and then talks about Taylor expanding to 5 continents, and these names mesh together with those of other itinerant preachers and believers, so it's hard to form a coherent outline of the religious movement due to all the details that are given (and in no chronological order).
Here is another telling passage: "As every undergraduate knows, John Wesley had a particular genius for organization..." (p. 128). While I probably could have guessed he was good at organization, since the fact that he founded Methodism was pretty much all I knew about him before reading this book, I doubt that any undergraduate I ask would 'know' this.
In other words, knowing a basic outline of the history of methodism is almost required to get the most out of this book.
Having said that, there are some very interesting tidbits.
Some of my notes:
Wesley actually never left the Church of England, since he thought Methodism didn't veer from it at all. He also was against the American revolution, was against capitalism and against enlightenment rationalism. Given all this it's amazing how it thrived in the US.
Methodists and Baptists were much more popular among oppressed African americans than other religions.
By the 1850s, Methodists had built almost as many churches in the US as there were post offices.
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