Offering a revisionist reading of American Methodism, this book goes beyond the limits of institutional history by suggesting a new and different approach to th

Early American Methodists commonly described their religious lives as great wars with sin and claimed they wrestled with God and Satan who assaulted them in ter

Hempton explores the rise of Methodism from its unpromising origins as a religious society within the Church of England in the 1730s to a major international re

In 1770 there were fewer than 1,000 Methodists in America. Fifty years later, the church counted more than 250,000 adherents. Identifying Methodism as America's

A comprehensive introduction to various forms of American Methodism, exploring the beliefs and practices around which the lives of these churches have revolved.