Methodist Societies, the Minutes of Conference

The Methodist Societies: The Minutes of Conference reproduces the Minutes as a formal record and conveys the nature and role of the Conference in Methodist life and polity during John Wesley's time.

Included is information from letters and diaries of preachers as well as from John Wesley, some of which is newly published here. This material highlights some of the problems that arose in the meetings themselves, which in Wesley's eyes was merely summoned to advise him but, in his later years, almost imperceptibly became more of a legislative and ruling body, increasingly preoccupied with what would happen after Wesley's death. Despite the breadth of this volume, the American Minutes are not included, partly because they were in no sense Wesley's own work and partly because they could not be, at present, edited to the required standard. The Irish Minutes are included in an appendix.

All Works of John Wesley volumes are designed to keep the pages clean and in place for years to come., with casebound non-cloth hardcover, dust jacket, and secure adhesive binding.

Randy L. Maddox is William Kellon Quick Professor Emeritus of Wesleyan and Methodist Studies at Duke Divinity School in Durham, NC, and general editor of the Bicentennial Edition of The Works of John Wesley.

William B. Lawrence is dean and professor of American Church History at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University (Dallas), where he has served since 2002. Dr. Lawrence is an ordained elder in the North Texas Annual Conference. He is the author of Sundays in New York and Methodism in Recovery, and he has co-edited numerous books, including Connectionalism: Ecclesiology, Mission and Identity</