A little heaven below : worship at early Methodist Quarterly meetings / Lester Ruth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ruth, Lester, 1959-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Methodist Church--United States--Liturgy--History.

Methodist Church.

Liturgics.

History.

United States.

Physical Description:

267 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Nashville, TN : Kingswood Books, 2000.

Summary:

For early American Methodists, quarterly meetings were great festivals at the heart of Methodism's liturgical life. The meetings lasted several days and could attract thousands. In this volume, Lester Ruth offers a revisionist description of worship at the quarterly meetings in early American Methodism (ca. 1772-1825). The author describes the quarterly meeting as the setting in which early Methodism most "dramatized" itself for public view as graced fellowship. He explores each of the liturgical dynamics of this experience, including the distinction between public and private worship, the loud exuberance of American Methodists, the vivid proclamation of God's Word, the role of the sacraments and of Wesley's liturgical innovations, the power of fellowship as eschatological manifestation, and the interaction between the personal experience of grace and ecclesial inclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0687090245

OCLC:

43936971