Description
Book SynopsisThe Independent Methodists have never been a large denomination, and even in the Northwest of England, their heartland, their history is little known. From the beginnings of the movement shortly after the death of John Wesley, the author describes the formative influences in the first half of the nineteenth century - Methodist, Quaker and Revivalist - that shaped it, giving it a distinctively lay character unusual in Methodism. The social and political factors that affected its development, such as the Peterloo Massacre, the Beerhouse Act and Chartism are explored. Early Independent Methodist societies often arose from breaches in Wesleyan Methodism over radical politics, and they also differed from the Wesleyans in allowing writing to be taught in Sunday Schools. Other societies came into being through the attraction of a ''free'' ministry, particularly in communities where poverty was prevalent; this attracted some dissident Primitive Methodists.In the second half of the nineteenth c
Table of ContentsForeword; Acknowledgement; Abbreviations; The First Phase 1796 1860; Methodist Lay Revivalist Sects 1796 1815; Social and Political Factors 1815-60; The Shaping of the Movement 1815-60; The Second Phase 1860 1927; From Sect to Denomination 1860 1927; The Wider Interface: Independent Methodism in its Contemporary Context 1860 1927; The Third Phase 1927 2005; An Established Denomination 1927 1960; Adapting to a Post-Christian Culture 1960 2005; Conclusions.
