Jeffrey Barbeau’s The Spirit of Methodism is a helpful primer for non-Methodists seeking to understand a global religious movement now numbering about 70 million or more. The story is especially important for U.S. Christianity as America’s third-largest denomination—the largest Methodist body in the world—prepares for likely schism next year over sexuality
In this book are many of the iconic moments from seminal Methodist history.
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Comment by Rebecca on October 3, 2020 at 6:43 pm
I doubt the book reviewed above mentioned presidents of the United States who were Methodists, so I will mention them here: James K Polk, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S Grant, Rutherford B Hayes, and William McKinley all claimed Methodism as their religion, although two of them didn’t didn’t join any church. When the Methodists first came to America, many Americans expressed the notion that they were sent here by the Anglican Church in order to pull some underhanded tricks before and during the Revolutionary War, but Methodists have proven their patriotism since the beginning. Although many have fallen for non-Christian ideas over the years, and believe that obviously worldly ideas should be followed instead of the Word of God, many Methodists today keep the faith.