Methodism: Empire of the Spirit

by David Hempton

"Brilliantly provocative. . . . [A] masterful account."—Grant Wacker, Christian Century

The emergence of Methodism was arguably the most significant transformation of Protestant Christianity since the Reformation. This book 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 religious movement by the 1880s. During that period Methodism refashioned the old denominational order in the British Isles, became the largest religious denomination in the United States, and gave rise to the most dynamic world missionary movement of the nineteenth century. By the end of the nineteenth century, Methodism had circled the globe and was poised to become one of the fastest-growing religious traditions in the modern world.
David Hempton, a preeminent authority on the history of Methodism, digs beneath the hard surface of institutional expansion to get to the heart of the movement as a dynamic and living faith tradition. Methodism was a movement of discipline and sobriety, but also of ecstasy and enthusiasm. A noisy, restless, and emotional tradition, Methodism fundamentally reshaped British and American culture in the age of industrialization, democratization, and the rise of empire.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Church History, Theology, Christianity

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Ocean G · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Daniel Silliman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good work of interpretation. It does require one come in with a good bit of history already—there's little to no narrative—and some of the material is a little outdated. But there's still a lot to learn here and the methodological innovations are very valuable for anyone trying to do religious history.

[Shane Goodyear · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book on the rise of Methodism in the English, speaking world, and indeed across the world generally good discussion on secularism, and why there was a decline in Methodism, its impact on 18th and 19th century, English, speaking world and society in the formation of institutions also an excellent discussion on how Methodism was a form of religious enlightenment that was mobile rationalist, as well as supernaturalists at the same time that focused on emotion and methodological study.
A big discussion on its successor which is made the new Christendom, the holiness Pentecostal movement

[Navah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I found the information to be informative and helpful, it was incredibly densely written with strings of long, run-on sentences packed with names and dates. I liked the inclusion of women and POC in this book, but I wish that the other parts of it would have been more succinctly written. I just felt myself getting lost in it a lot more than I have in other socio-historical texts.

[Bob Buice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Methodism's rise from a small coterie of religious societies at Oxford University in the 1730s to a major world communion by the beginning of the twentieth century, followed by its relatively sharp decline in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries is a complicated story. Methodism crossed boundaries of nationality, ethnicity, gender, race, social class, and culture. Its political activism ranges from John Wesley’s support for King George III during the American Revolution to the church’s recent opposition to the Vietnam War and the Iraq War. Feminist scholars are undecided as to effect of Methodism on the women's liberation movement. African-American Methodists are both proud of their denomination's early opposition to slavery and ashamed of its later capitulations.
Over the years Methodism has tended to thrive on opposition and competition from other denominations.

In Methodism: Empire of the Spirit, David Hempton, former Dean of Harvard Divinity School, describes the rise and fall of Methodism in extreme detail. Methodism is not a product of the Protestant Reformation, but rather, an offshoot of Anglicanism and, as such, it expanded into areas where Anglicans and other English speakers migrated.
A key reason for the rapid advance of Methodism was its willingness to adapt to its environment, to include the customs and traditions each new location. Likewise, a reason for the recent decline in Methodism might be its failure to keep up with certain cultural changes. I am not sure how Dr. Hempton would explain the membership increase in evangelical denominations during this recent period.

Overall, after reading the entire book, I found it presented far too much detail and was a rather difficult read. However, it is an excellent source of information and the knowledge gained was probably worth the drudgery. As a reference, this book is fine, but if you plan to read it, bring a lot of patience.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hempton approaches the history of Methodism thematically by emphasizing different aspects of its history in hopes of point to an international history of its origins and proliferation throughout the U.S. I would not recommend this book as an introduction to people who don't already know something about the history of Methodism. Hempton doesn't provide a concise history of the actual history of Methodism, so an unfamiliar reader would probably feel lost. Nevertheless, as a scholar of religion, I found Hempton's suggestions for approaches to problems in Methodist history insightful into things that I'm working on.

[Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting analysis of the place of Methodism in the history of the English-speaking world, particularly in its relationship to industrialization, the Enlightenment, and colonialism. I found the theoretical and methodological parts fascinating and stimulating.
But not a good book from which to learn about Methodism either historically or theologically. Read something else more general first!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent perspective on both the history and historiography of Methodism - Hempton revises long-standing critical stances (for instance, that John Wesley resisted Enlightenment thinking) and adds new perspectives on the 19th century spread of Methodism. This might end up being essential to my dissertation, which argues that the spectre of Methodism was primarily a rhetorical one for cultures who wanted their spirituality and pulpit rhetoric safe. Hempton is also very readable and engaging.

[Jean-Pierre]

Hempton knows the art of exploiting a massive collection of data to make well-balanced, well-documented judgments and evaluations, which at times run counter to hasty but well-established opinions. "Enjoyable" is not the word for this kind of reading, but the achievement is certainly "admirable".

[Richard Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of good analysis, and well worth engaging. But, I kept thinking that mere sociological and historical perspectives do not tell the entire story. I was disappointed in the end that the book seemed to say so little that really explains the history, and rise and fall of Methodism.