ABSTRACT

Brian Beck has had a long and distinguished career in Methodist studies, having additionally served as President of the UK Methodist Conference and helped lead the international Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies. This book is the first time that Beck’s seminal work on Methodism has been gathered together. It includes eighteen essays from the last twenty-five years, covering many different aspects of Methodist thought and practice.

This collection is divided into two main sections. Part I covers Methodism’s heritage and its implications, while Part II discusses wider issues of Methodism’s identity. The chapters themselves examine the work of key figures, such as John Wesley and J. E. Rattenbury, as well as past and present forms of Methodist thought and practice. As such, this book is important reading for any scholar of Methodism as well as students and academics of religious studies and theology more generally.

chapter |1 pages

General introduction

part I|108 pages

Heritage

chapter 1|9 pages

John Wesley

Encounter or embarrassment? 1

chapter 2|13 pages

Rattenbury revisited

The theology of Charles Wesley’s hymns 1

chapter 3|7 pages

The eucharistic hymns

An appreciation 1

chapter 4|9 pages

Reflections on Methodism after Wesley 1

chapter 5|22 pages

Reflections on connexionalism 1

chapter 6|11 pages

Connexion and koinonia

Wesley’s legacy and the ecumenical ideal 1

chapter 7|10 pages

The ‘Large Minutes’

Ecclesiological implications 1

chapter 8|12 pages

Conference episcope

History and theology 1

chapter 9|11 pages

Richard Matthews

A layman overlooked 1

part II|76 pages

Identity

chapter 10|7 pages

Who are we?

The elusive Methodist identity 1

chapter 11|6 pages

A Methodist theological system? 1

chapter 12|7 pages

World Methodist theology?

The Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies 1

chapter 13|6 pages

The idea of a national church 1

chapter 14|8 pages

Unity and conscience 1

chapter 15|9 pages

‘Until we all attain…’

Eschatology and the goal of unity 1

chapter 16|11 pages

The Porvoo Common Statement

A Methodist response 1

chapter 17|14 pages

A reflection on structural change 1

chapter 18|6 pages

What is a divinity school for? 1