Textual Warfare and the Making of Methodism
(Oxford, 2014)
Textual Warfare and the Making of Methodism examines the satirical and polemical literature written in response to the eighteenth-century Methodist revival and the ways Methodists, who were acutely aware of the antagonism that tailed the revival, responded to this literature, both in public and in the ways they expressed and practiced their faith. The debate that unfolded in the press naturally shaped the public face of Methodism. More importantly, Methodists believed more firmly as a result of their clashes with their critics, and these clashes provided much of the energy that propelled the movement forward. Textual Warfare documents these processes by examining pro- and anti-Methodist texts, John Wesley’s management of the movement, and the personal writings of the Methodists themselves, which illustrate the ways their faith was refined by controversy.