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The Methodist Quest for an Educated Ministry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Dale A. Johnson
Dale A. Johnson
Affiliation:
associate professor of church history inthe Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.
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Extract

Recent studies of English Methodism have called attention to the importance of the doctrine of the ministry and its evolution for the understanding of the Methodist tradition. Chief among these are John C. Bowmer's Pastor and People and the first two volumes of the new History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain. Each of these studies cites the evolution of the pastoral office, from its roots in John Wesley to its culmination under Jabez Bunting, as one of the distinguishing marks of the Wesleyan tradition. But while they mention the beginnings of formal education for ministry during this period, they do not attempt to gain insight into the understanding of ministry within Wesleyan Methodism that these foundations can provide. It is my intention in this paper to explore these connections and to encourage further investigation into related matters that could prove fruitful for our understanding of this tradition.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , September 1982 , pp. 304 - 320
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1982

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References

1. Bowmer, John C., Pastor and People (London, 1975);Google ScholarRupert, Davies, George, A. Raymond, and Gordon, Rupp, eds., History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, 3 vols. (London, 1965-).Google Scholar

2. Smith, George, History of Wesleyan Methodism, 3 vols., (London, 1859-1862), 2: 150–154.Google Scholar

3. Observations on the Importance of Adopting a Plan of Instruction, for Those Preachers who are Admitted upon Trial in the Methodist Connexion (London, 1807), p. 4.Google Scholar It was published officially by the Conference of 1806 for circulation to all preachers.

4. Ibid., p. 6. This letter was used by Jonathan Crowther in 1834 to refute the argument that interest in ministerial education was a new course; see Crowther, Jonathan, A Defence of the Wesleyan Theological Institution (London, 1834), pp. 24–25.Google Scholar

5. Ibid., pp. 10–11.

6. On the nature of this conflict, see Bowmer, pp. 71–87.

7. Bunting, T. P., The Life of Jabez Bunting, 2 vols. (London, 1887), 2: 292.Google Scholar

8. Because the issue of the Theological Institution was made into a constitutional question, it brought forth a torrent of pamphlets and has received considerable attention by Methodist historians. Among these, see Smith 3: 242–275; Gregory, Benjamin, Sidelights on the Conflicts of Methodism (London, 1898), pp. 169–187;Google Scholar and Bowmer, pp. 119–144. What follows is a discussion only of the evolution of the Institution, avoiding the constitutional question except as it illuminates the other.

9. Proposals for the Formation of a Literary and Theological Institution (London, 1834), pp. 18–22.Google Scholar

10. Ibid., pp. 30–31.

11. See Smith, , vol. 3, appendix H, pp. 531–533.Google Scholar

12. Gregory, pp. 170–174, 178.

13. Warren, Samuel, Remarks on Wesleyan Theological Institution (London, 1834). Compare Crowther, p. 27;Google ScholarCubitt, George, Observations on Dr. Samuel Warren's Pamphlet (London, 1834);Google Scholar and Vevers, William, An Appeal to the Wesleyan Societies (London, 1834).Google Scholar

14. Cubitt, pp. 18–20.

15. Memoir of the Rev. Joseph Entwisle (Bristol, 1848), pp. 491–493.Google Scholar

16. Wood' fears were calmed by their leadership; three years later he confessed he had been mistaken. See Smith, 3: 353.

17. For the range of topics covered, see Entwisle's, Memoir, pp. 496–500.Google Scholar

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19. Ibid. 61 (1838): 287–288. See Chew, Richard, James Everett: A Biography (London, 1875), pp. 288–289,Google Scholar for a discussion of Warren's participation in the controversy.

20. The Wesleyan Methodist Magazine 60 (1837), p. 49.Google Scholar

21. Ibid., 61 (1838), p. 45.

22. Minutes of the Methodist Conferences 8 (1836-1839): 512.Google Scholar

23. Ibid. 7 (1831–1835): 411–412, 541; ibid. 9 (1840–1843): 392.

24. Hannah, John, A Letter to a Junior Methodist Preacher, Concerning the General Course and Prosecution of his studies in Christian Theology (London, 1836), pp. 13, 42.Google Scholar

25. Jackson, Thomas, Recollections of my Own Life and Times (London, 1878), pp. 463–464.Google Scholar see also p. 322.

26. Ibid., pp. 417–418.

27. Jackson, Thomas, The Present Demand for a Well-Trained Ministry (London, 1860), pp. 4–6, 23.Google Scholar

28. Jabez Bunting to Jonathan Crowther, 23 February 1848, in Early Victorian Methodism: The Correspondence of Jabez Bunting, 1830–1858, ed. Ward, W. R. (Oxford, 1976), p. 365.Google Scholar For the pressures on residence, see Bunting, to Geden, John Dury, 14 11 1857, in Ward, p. 421;Google Scholar and Jackson, , The Present Demand, p. 26.Google Scholar

29. “Minutes of the General Committee, 1856–1882, Wesleyan Theological Institution,” Methodist Archives, John Rylands Library, Manchester. See entries for 4 May 1860, 23 July 1861, and 8 March, 1865.

30. Bunting, to Geden, John Dury, 14 11 1857, in Ward, p. 421.Google Scholar He was speaking about the controversy surrounding the dismissal of Samuel Davidson from the Congregational College in Manchester.

31. “Minutes of the General Committee,” 5 July 1873.

32. Cumbers, Frank H., ed., Richmond College, 1843–1943 (London, 1944), p. 126.Google Scholar

33. “Minutes of the General Committee,” 7 May 1868 and 6 May 1864.

34. “Minute-Book, Special Committee,” 7–8 May 1863, Methodist Archives.

35. Findlay, George G., The Education of the Methodist Ministry (London, 1903), pp. 26–27.Google Scholar

36. Cited in Cumbers, pp. 72 and 64.

37. Cited in Brash, W. Bardsley and Wright, Charles J., eds., Didsbury College Centenary, 1842–1942 (London, 1942), p. 97.Google Scholar

38. Findlay, p. 48.

39. Ibid., appendix, pp. 63–64.

40. This is a major theme in Currie's, RobertMethodism Divided (London, 1968).Google Scholar

41. Rigg, James H., “The Christian Ministry,” Discourses and Addresses on Leading Truths of Religion and Philosophy (London, 1880), pp. 168, 177.Google Scholar

42. Methodism in 1879: Impressions of the Wesleyan Church and its Ministers (London, 1879), pp. 174–175.Google Scholar

43. J.Scott Lidgett lived through those struggles at the end of the century and contributed much to the shift I have been describing. Later he wrote, “The freedom of thought which has now been gained for Methodism has not only conduced to the advancement of learning and to the emancipation of our college professors and teachers, but has been in accord with the liberal thought of John Wesley himself” (“The Theological Institution: Some Noted Tutors of Yesterday,” The London Quarterly and Holborn Review, 01 1936, p. 13).Google Scholar He did not note those things that had to be given up.