Methodism and American Empire

Living into a less colonial way of being together.

Methodism and American Empire investigates historical trajectories and theological developments that connect American imperialism since World War II to the Methodist tradition as a global movement. The volume asks: to what extent is United Methodists’ vision of the globe marred by American imperialism? Through historical analyses and theological reflections, this volume chronicles the formation of an understanding of The United Methodist Church since the mid-20th century that is both global and at the same time dominated by American interests and concerns. Methodism and American Empire provides a historical and theological perspective to understand the current context of The United Methodist Church while also raising ecclesiological questions about the impact of imperialism on how Methodists have understood the nature and mission of the church over the last century. Gathering voices and perspectives from around the world, this volume suggests that the project of global Methodism and the tensions one witnesses therein ought to be understood in the context of American imperialism and that such an understanding is critical to the task of continuing to be a global denomination. The volume tells a tale of complex negotiations happening between United Methodists across different national, cultural, and ecclesial contexts and sets up the historical backdrop for the imminent schism of The United Methodist Church.

Contributors are The Rev. Dr. Israel (Izzy) Alvaran, The Rev. Dr. Cristine (Tintin) Carnate-Atrero, Taylor Denyer, Lloyd Nyarota, Joon-Sik Park, The Rev. Dr. Darryl W. Stephens, Jørgen Thaarup, and Philip Wingeier-Rayo.

David W. Scott is the director of mission theology with the General Board of Global Ministries and a visiting researcher at the Boston University Center for Global Christianity & Mission. He previously served as the Pieper Family Chair of Servant Leadership and assistant professor of religion at Ripon College. He has published extensively as an author and contributor to numerous volumes and has selected, edited, and written for the UM & Global blog. He has a Ph.D. in religious studies and an MTS from Boston University.

Filipe R. Maia is an assistant professor of theology at the Boston University School of Theology. He also serves as an instructor for the Portuguese Course of Study for the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM). He is the author of Trading Futures: Toward a Theological Critique of Financialized Capitalism? (Duke University Press, 2022) and editor of Decolonizing Wesleyan Theology: Theological Engagements from the Underside of Methodism (Cascade Books, 2023). He has a Doctor of Theology degree from Harvard Divinity School and an MTS from Perkins School of Theology.

Joerg Rieger is Distinguished Professor of Theology and Cal Turner Chancellor’s Chair in Wesleyan Studies, and the Director of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. His work addresses the relation of theology and public life, reflecting on the misuse of power in religion, politics, and economics. Author and editor of 27 books and over 210 academic articles, his books include Jesus vs. Caesar: For People Tired of Serving the Wrong God; No Religion but Social Religion: Liberating Wesleyan Theology; Unified We Are a Force: How Faith and Labor Can Overcome America’s Inequalities (with Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger); Faith on the Road: A Short Theology of Travel and Justice; and Occupy Religion: Theology of the Multitude (with Kwok Pui-lan).

Philip Wingeier-Rayo was born in Singapore to missionary parents and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. He currently serves as the Executive Director of Education at the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of The United Methodist Church. He was previously Professor of World Christianity, Missiology, and Methodist Studies at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC, and continues to teach courses in the areas of missions, world religions, and Methodist history and doctrine. He served as Dean at Wesley from 2018 to 2022. He earned a PhD in Theology, Ethics, and Culture from Chicago Theological Seminary, an MTS from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and an MTh from Seminario Evangélico de Teología in Matanzas, Cuba. He has previously taught at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary; Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University; Pfeiffer University; and Seminario Báez Camargo in Mexico City. Wingeier-Rayo’s research interests are at the intersection of missiology, Methodist studies, Pentecostalism, migration studies, and liberation theology. His academic work is informed by his upbringing in Singapore and fifteen years of missionary experience where he served in Nicaragua, Cuba, Mexico, and the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas near the border with Mexico. He has published five books, including Where Are the Poor? A Comparison of the Ecclesial Base Communities and Pentecostalism―A Case Study in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and La Biblia a través de los ojos de Juan Wesley: 52 estudios bíblios de discipulado The Bible Through the Eyes of John Wesley.

Joon-Sik Park is the E. Stanley Jones Professor of World Evangelism at Methodist Theological School in Ohio. He previously served as pastor of multicultural United Methodist congregations in Ohio and Kentucky. His research and teaching interests have been in missional ecclesiology, integral evangelism, global Christianity, and multiculturalism. He is the author of Missional Ecclesiologies in Creative Tension: H. Richard Niebuhr and John H. Yoder. His publications have appeared in such journals as the International Bulletin of Mission Research, International Review of Mission, and Missiology. He served on the Study Committee on the Worldwide Nature of The United Methodist Church from 2009 to 2012.