ISBN : 9780199336364
Kevin M. Watson offers the first in-depth examination of the early Methodist band meeting: a small group of five to seven people focusing on the confession of sin in order to grow in holiness. The "social holiness" of the band meeting figures significantly both in the development of eighteenth-century British Methodism and in understanding shifting forms of community in the context of rapidly changing British society. Arguing that neither John Wesley's theology nor popular Methodism can be understood independent of each other, Watson shows how Wesley synthesized important aspects of Anglican (an emphasis on a disciplined practice of the means of grace) and Moravian (an emphasis on an experience of justification by faith and the witness of the Spirit) piety in his own version of the band meeting. The small groups were of particular significance in John Wesley's theology of discipleship because the bands united his emphasis on the importance of holiness with his conviction that Christians are most likely to make progress in the Christian life together, rather than in isolation.
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Forerunners of the Early Methodist Band Meeting
2. John Wesley's Structure and Theology of Discipleship
3. The Bands as a Key to the Distinctive Wesleyan Synthesis of Anglican and Moravian Piety
4. "The Band Was of Great Service to Me": Early Popular Methodist Experience of the Band Meeting (ca. 1739 - ca. 1765)
5. "We Had a Heaven among Us": Transition in the Popular Practice of the Bands (ca. 1766 - ca. 1801)
Conclusion
Appendices
A. Fetter Lane Rules (I) (1738)
B. Fetter Lane Rules (II) (1738)
C. "Rules of the Band Societies" (1738)
D. "Directions Given to the Band Societies' (1744)
E. "A Method of Confession drawn up by Mr Whitefield, for the Use of the Women belonging to the Religious Societies - Taken from the Original, under Mr Whitefield's own Hand" (1739)
F. Excerpt from William Seward's Manuscript Diary on the Importance and Method of Band Meetings (1740)
G. "The Method of Mr. Westlay Band Meetings," Samuel Roberts Excerpt from Manuscript Volume
H. Of the Right Method of Meeting Classes and Bands, in the Methodist-Societies by the Late Mr. Charles Perronet
Notes
Bibliography
Index
