New Books In Christian Studies

It is broadly understood that John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist movement that spread around the world in the eighteenth century. He is known for being a missionary in Georgia, his “heart-warming” experience at Aldersgate, field preaching, and the famous quote “the world is my parish.” But this book reveals John Wesley’s ultimate reluctance to send missionaries overseas, with several examples of Wesley’s rejection of world missions and occasions when he thwarted plans, including those of Thomas Coke, the Father of Methodist Missions. John Wesley and the Origins of Methodist Missions (Abingdon Press, 2025) shows how ordinary immigrants, merchants, planters, soldiers, enslaved persons, and former slaves carried Methodism with them to such far-off places. They were not officially commissioned or authorized by Wesley, but rather traveled on their own, motivated by the love of God and neighbor, to share their faith with others. It was only after these Methodist societies were established, and after mu