Table of Contents

Introduction: Methodism and the American Woodland

1. Wilderness, Shady Grove, and Garden
2. Cathedraling the Woods
3. A Church Spread into the Wilderness
4. Gardening the Wilderness or Machines in the Garden or Tending the Garden
5. Two Cities in the Woods, Methodism's Gardening Options: A Concluding Note

Appendix: John Wesley Preaching under Trees and in Groves

Notes
Index

About the Author

Russell E. Richey, author or editor of twenty books and an array of articles on American Methodism, held professorial and administrative posts successively at Drew, Duke, and Emory universities. He is Dean Emeritus of Candler School of Theology and William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Church History Emeritus. He now serves as Visiting Professor at Duke Divinity School.

Reviews

"In this erudite work, the dean of historians of American Methodism shows how field preaching in Britain morphed into woodland camp meetings in early America."--Christian Century
"Methodists in the American Forest will be of interest to historians of American religion and to scholars interested in the cultural history of forests."--Journal of American History
"Reading through the lens of the sylvan images that inspired mainstream American Methodists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, eminent Methodist historian Russell Richey reexamines Methodism's missional impulse and brings into focus its practiced theology and ecclesiology. This robust and engaging study speaks principally to Methodism's past, but it also has much to say about and to American Methodism in the present day." --Karen B. Westerfield Tucker,
Professor of Worship, Boston University
"Russell Richey effectively employs a unique and engaging approach to Methodist history. Beginning with John Wesley and early British Methodism, he leads us to recognize the manner in which American Methodism grew and flourished in wilderness, forest, and shady grove. With generous quotes from primary sources and insightful interpretation we learn about American Methodism's mission and ministry as it moved across the continent,becoming an influential force in
American life." --Charles Yrigoyen, Jr., General Secretary Emeritus of United Methodism's General Commission on Archives and History
"Russell Richey has done as much as anyone to shape how we think about early American Methodism. In this call to reconsider the connection between nature and faith, Richey expands the scope of his work. American Methodists did not simply tolerate 'the woods,' they engaged with the forest and incorporated it into their ministry. Nowhere was this more evident than at camp meetings, as Richey so persuasively argues." --John Wigger, Professor and Chair, Department
of History, University of Missouri
"Both as a well-documented historical examination of American Methodism and as a thoughtful and suggestive theological work, Methodism in the American Forest is a valuable addition to the corpus of American church history that should draw the attention of scholars of both Methodism and the larger evangelical community." --Church History