The Methodist Conference in America
A History
Published on 1. August 1996
308 pages
978-1-4267-8056-1 (ISBN)
Description
In the Methodist lexicon, 'conference' refers to a body of preachers (and later, of laity as well) that exercises legislative, judicial, and executive functions for the church or some portion thereof. 'Conference, ' says Richey, defined Methodism in more than political ways: on conference hinged religious time, religious space, religious belonging, religious structure, even religiosity itself. Methodist histories uniformly recognize, typically even feature, conference's centrality, but describe that in primarily constitutional and political terms. The purpose of this volume is to present conference as a distinctively American Methodist manner of being the church, a multifaceted mode of spirituality, unity, mission, governance, and fraternity that American Methodists have lived and operated better than they have interpreted.
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08/1996
Abingdon Press
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Person
(2011) Russell E. Richey is Dean Emeritus of Candler School of Theology and the William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Church History Emeritus in Atlanta, Georgia.
Content
- Cover
- Half title
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1: The Conference in Methodism
- The Wesleyan Conference
- Conference's Constitutional Function
- Multivalence
- Chapter 2: The American Conference
- The First Conferences: Polity, Fraternity, and Revival
- Tensions among the Functions
- Chapter 3: From 1778 to 1784
- Space, Time, and Gravity
- Gravity and the Relativity of Space and Time
- Chapter 4: 1784 and Beyond
- Christmas Conference
- The Governing Conference
- The Baltimore Conference System
- Multiple Conferences-Fraternity and Revival
- The Council
- Chapter 5: General Conference
- The Shattered Fraternity
- Republicanism and Fraternity
- Chapter 6: Living out the New Order
- Boundaries and Belonging
- Quarterly and Camp Meetings
- Chapter 7: Safeguarding Methodist Polity
- A Delegated General Conference
- Drawing Conference Color and Language Lines
- Chapter 8: Conferencing the Continent
- Conferences West
- Committees and Rules
- Chapter 9: Fraternity Versus Polity
- The Election of Presiding Elders?
- Enlarging the Fraternity?
- The Methodist Protestants and Other Divisions
- Chapter 10: Zion Divided Again
- Sectional Crisis
- Is Conference "The Sun in our Orderly & Beautiful System"?
- Division
- Chapter 11: Fratricide and Business
- The Political Conference
- "End of the Spiritual Part"?
- Lay Conferencing
- Chapter 12: Self-Preoccupation and Ceremony
- Conference Self-Awareness
- Ceremonial Reclaiming Conference
- "And Are We Yet Alive"
- Chapter 13: The Reconstruction of Methodism
- Conference 'Fraternity,' 'Revival,' and 'Polity'
- Conference Boundaries and Calendar
- Conferences Galore: Sorority, Holiness, Sunday School
- Chapter 14: Nationalization, Formalization, Incorporation
- Consolidation
- 'Formal Fraternity'
- Defending Fraternal Borders
- Professionalization: Conference and Theological Education
- Chapter 15: Growth or Decay?
- Word, Order, and Sacrament?
- Local, Quarterly, or District Conferences?
- The Local Church
- "Nothing Against Them"
- Professional Formation and Assessment
- Chapter 16: Jurisdictioned Fraternity
- Unification: Fraternity by Race and Region
- 1939: Ensmalling the Church?
- Chapter 17: Conference to Caucus: Mergers and Pluralism
- Conference 'Brotherhood'?
- The Whole in the Part
- The Part in the Whole
- The Unconferencing of Ministry
- Chapter 18: Conference as a Means of Grace: A Theological Afterword
- Intimations
- Time, Space, and Gravity
- Abbreviations
- Notes
- Index
