Overview

John Wesley Redfield (1810-1863), controversial ""lay"" evangelist in the Methodist Episcopal and later Free Methodist churches, was the cofounder of the Free Methodist Church and in the 1840s and 50s had a broad ministry in the M.E. Church and beyond. An outspoken abolitionist, Redfield was controversial among Methodist leaders and in the M.E. press as his revivals typically were marked by dramatic emotional manifestations, including people being slain in the Spirit and dramatic conversions. This book makes available for the first time his autobiography, a 425-page handwritten manuscript Redfield wrote shortly before he died. Redfield's manuscript details (briefly) his early life; his conversion; his brief stormy marriage and divorce; his abolitionist activities; his contacts with Phoebe Palmer, one of the founders of the Holiness Movement; his occasional practice of medicine; and his remarkable revivals, which are further clarified and documented by the author's footnotes. This book presents Redfield's manuscript in its entirety-with critical and contextual notes-and serves as an important primary source for the study of the Wesleyan Holiness tradition, American Methodism, revivalism, and abolitionism.

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9780810852808

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Reviews

Dr. Snyder has done Methodist historians a great service with his meticulous editing of Redfield's entertaining, startlingly vivid autobiography. Methodist History American revivalist Redfield resisted the creeping respectability as Methodists began building large churches with stained glass and organs and tolerating dancing, card playing, novel reading, and jewelry. His recollections reveal a particular position within the debate that wracked the denomination during the 19th century. Published in collaboration with the Center for the Study of World Christian Revitalization Movements, Asbury Theological Seminary. Reference and Research Book News, August 2006

Dr. Snyder has done Methodist historians a great service with his meticulous editing of Redfield's entertaining, startlingly vivid autobiography. * Methodist History * American revivalist Redfield resisted the creeping respectability as Methodists began building large churches with stained glass and organs and tolerating dancing, card playing, novel reading, and jewelry. His recollections reveal a particular position within the debate that wracked the denomination during the 19th century. Published in collaboration with the Center for the Study of World Christian Revitalization Movements, Asbury Theological Seminary. * Reference and Research Book News, August 2006 *

Author Information

Howard A. Snyder is Professor of the History and Theology of Mission at the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism, Asbury Theological Seminary. He is the author of a series of books on the church and its form and mission.

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