John Wesley and the Women Preachers of Early Methodism (25) (ATLA Monograph Series) - Hardcover

... there are extended biographies of a number of the more important women preachers, but it is the Appendix of forty-two biographical outlines, with bibliographical references, which provides much additional material and so forms the basis for further study and exploration into this absorbing subject. * E. Dorothy Graham, Proceedings Of The Wesley Historical Soc * The series should be congratulated for publishing this remarkably able analysis of women in the early British Wesleyan movement. Chilcote's strength rests firmly on intensive research into the women functioning in British Wesleyanism and his notes expand the analysis of the topic. ...his appendices will serve as a vital starting-point ... Chilcote allows the women to speak for themselves through extensive quotation from letters and diaries. ... provides also valuable insight into the more normal activities of women in class meetings, bands, prayer meetings, and the day-to-day life of the church. ... invaluable for anyone interested in the conjunction of women and institutional religion, the empowerment of women, or for truly understanding the significance of the evangelical revival of the eighteenth century and its nineteenth-century evolution. It is logical, articulate, and interesting for a broad audience. * Neil Semple, Jnl. Canadian Church Hist Soc. * ... a wealth of information on an important and interesting topic.... a significant book... This definitive study ought to be required reading in all courses on Methodism. * Dr. Diane Lobody, Warner Chair In Church History, Methodist *

There is no question that women preachers helped to make the evangelical revival of the eighteenth century a powerful religious movement of enduring significance. This book is an effort to rediscover the lost history of the early women preachers of Methodism and their relationship to its primary leader, John Wesley. Chilcote reconstructs the portraits of over one hundred fascinating women, including Sarah Crosby, Mary Bosanquet, and Sarah Mallet, in a highly readable narrative interweaving biographical, historical, and theological concerns.