R. Matthew Sigler

"O where are the sympathies of Christians for the slave and where are their exertions for their liberation? . . . It seems as if the church were asleep." David Ingraham, 1839In 2015, the historian Chris Momany helped discover a manuscript that had been forgotten in a storage closet at Adrian College in Michigan. He identified it as the journal of a nineteenth-century Christian abolitionist and missionary, David Ingraham. As Momany and a fellow historian Doug Strong pored over the diary, they realized that studying this document could open new conversations for twenty-first-century Christians to address the reality of racism today. They invited a multiracial team of fourteen scholars to join in, thus launching the Dialogue on Race and Faith Project. Awakening to Justice presents the groundbreaking work of these scholars. In addition to reflecting on Ingraham's journal, chapters also explore the life and writings of two of Ingraham's Black colleagues, James Bradley and Nancy Prince. Appendixes feature writings by all three abolitionists so readers can engage the primary sources directly. Through considering connections between the revivalist, holiness, and abolitionist movements; the experiences of enslaved and freed people; abolitionists' spiritual practices; various tactics used by abolitionists; and other themes, the authors offer insight and hope for Christians concerned about racial justice. They highlight how Christians associated with Charles Finney's style of revivalism formed intentional, countercultural communities such as Oberlin College to be exemplars of interracial cooperation and equality. Christians have all too often compromised with racism throughout history, but that's not the whole story. Hearing the prophetic witness of revivalist social justice efforts in the nineteenth century can provide a fresh approach to today's conversations about race and faith in the church.

What makes Methodist worship "Methodist" or "Wesleyan?" How do Methodists evaluate emerging forms of worship in light of their own liturgical heritage? This book considers these questions by bringing to light the work and significance of three Methodist liturgists who have until now received precious little scholarly focus: Thomas O. Summers (1812-1882), Nolan B. Harmon (1892-1993), and James F. White (1932-2004). Exploring each one’s contribution to the Methodist movement, it evaluates their continuing legacies as scholars and practitioners of Methodist worship. Importantly, the work of all these men occurred during times of cultural change, which gave rise to new ways of worship within the landscape of American Methodism. Addressing them in chronological order, this study shows how each figure enacted liturgical reform and renewal by drawing from the liturgical textual tradition inherited directly from John Wesley’s Sunday Service of the Methodist in North America as well as the hymnody of Charles Wesley. It also demonstrates how they sought to inculturate the Wesleyan liturgical tradition in the midst of these significant changes. Evaluating historic and emerging trends in Methodist liturgical praxis, this is a book that will be of great interest to scholars of Methodism, the History of Religion, Liturgical Studies and Theology.

What makes Methodist worship "Methodist" or "Wesleyan?" How do Methodists evaluate emerging forms of worship in light of their own liturgical heritage? This book considers these questions by bringing to light the work and significance of three Methodist liturgists who have until now received precious little scholarly focus: Thomas O. Summers (1812-1882), Nolan B. Harmon (1892-1993), and James F. White (1932-2004). Exploring each one’s contribution to the Methodist movement, it evaluates their continuing legacies as scholars and practitioners of Methodist worship. Importantly, the work of all these men occurred during times of cultural change, which gave rise to new ways of worship within the landscape of American Methodism. Addressing them in chronological order, this study shows how each figure enacted liturgical reform and renewal by drawing from the liturgical textual tradition inherited directly from John Wesley’s Sunday Service of the Methodist in North America as well as the hymnody of Charles Wesley. It also demonstrates how they sought to inculturate the Wesleyan liturgical tradition in the midst of these significant changes. Evaluating historic and emerging trends in Methodist liturgical praxis, this is a book that will be of great interest to scholars of Methodism, the History of Religion, Liturgical Studies and Theology.