Catholic Spirit: Wesley, Whitefield, and the Quest for Evangelical Unity in Eighteenth-Century British Methodism

One believed the individual was set on a direct and unswerving path to heaven or hell by God. The other believed the individual had the freedom to accept God's forgiveness or reject it. Remarkably, they were close friends once and then again, as they worked together, split, then reconciled on behalf of their mutual passion, the success of Methodism in England and North America. Schwenk (church history, Evangelical Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania) compares the key points they shared and those upon which they differed, the efforts they made to keep Methodism on course despite their personal differences, and the rather complex means by which they endeavored to repair their friendship and the threat of a mid-Atlantic division in Methodism. The result is a thorough explanation of eighteenth-century Methodism as well as a comprehensive examination of the thought of its two leading lights. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

James L. Schwenk is professor of church history and Dean of Dech Chapel at Evangelical Theological Seminary, Myerstown, PA.