The Religion of the People Methodism and Popular Religion C. 1750-1900

Methodism was one of the most important religious movements in the English-speaking world in the 18th and 19th centuries. It helped reshape the old denominational order in the British Isles and North America and deeply affected the lives of many millions of people. Although taking account of broader patterns of growth, the focus of this book is Methodism in the British Isles in the period 1750-1900. It begins with a discussion of why Methodism grew when and where it did and the nature of the Methodist experience for those who embraced it. The distinctive religious beliefs and practices of Methodism appealed mostly to women and men of the lower-middle and working classes, and its harsh disciplines and tender pieties have been closely related to many other important questions such as class formation, increased political consciousness, the rise of industrial capitalism and market economies, and the growth of religious pluralism.