5.2 History and Development

Baker, Frank. “Polity.” in A History of The Methodist Church in Great Britain, edited by Rupert E. Davies and Gordon Rupp, 1:211-256.

Behney, J. Bruce, and Paul H. Eller. The History of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1979. Check index.

Bondo, Nday. Moving in Harmony: An Updated Polity for The United Methodist Church in Africa. Nashville: Discipleship Resources International, 2011.

Buckley, James M. Constitutional and Parliamentary History of the Methodist Episcopal Church. New York: Eaton & Mains, 1912.

The Constitutional Practice and Discipline of the Methodist Church. London: Methodist Publishing, 2024. Volume I  (2020) and II (2024): https://www.methodist.org.uk/for-churches/governance/cpd/

Curts, Lewis, ed. The General Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church from 1792-1896. Cincinnati: Curts & Jennings; New York: Eaton & Mains, 1900.

Davies, Rupert E. “Introduction” to The Works of John Wesley (Bicentennial Edition), Vol. 9: The Methodist Societies, I: History, Nature and Design.

Drinkhouse, Edward J. History of Methodist Reform, Synoptical of General Methodism 1703-1789, with Special and Comprehensive Reference to its most Salient Exhibition in the History of the Methodist Protestant Church. 2 vols. Baltimore: Board of Publication of the Methodist Protestant Church, 1899.

Drury, Augustus W., ed. The Disciplines of the United Brethren in Christ, 1814-1841. Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1996. Reprint of the 1895 edition.

–––––, ed. Minutes of the Annual and General Conferences of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, 1800-1818. Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1996. Reprint of the 1897 edition.

Evangelical Association. Glaubenslehre und Allgemeine Regeln Chritslicher Kirchenzucht und Ordnung der sogenannten Albrechts-Leute. Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1996. Reprint of the 1809 EV discipline.

Evangelical Association. Glaubenslehre und Kirchen-Zucht-Ordnung der Evangelische Gemeinschaft Zweite und verbesserte Auflage. Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1996. Reprint of the 1817 EV discipline.

Field, David Nugent. Bid Our Jarring Conflicts Cease: A Wesleyan Theology and Praxis of Church Unity. Nashville: Foundery Books, 2017.

Harmon, Nolan B. The Organization of the Methodist Church. 2nd revised edition. Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1962. Originally published in 1948, this twice-revised book is the standard work on the history and development of Methodist polity.

Job, Reuben P. Finding Our Way: Love and Law in the United Methodist Church. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2014.

King, William M. “Denominational Modernization and Religious Identity: The Case of the Methodist Episcopal Church.” Methodist History 20 (January 1982): 75-89. Reprinted in Perspectives on American Methodism, chapter 23, 343-355.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the Years 1773-1828. Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1996. Reprint of the 1840 edition.

Methodist General Rules and Disciplines. Library of Methodist Classics. Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1992. Facsimile reprints of Wesley’s 1743 General Rules along with the first five books of discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1785-1789.

Norwood, Frederick A., ed. The Methodist Discipline of 1789, including the Annotations of Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury. Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1996. Reprint of the 1979 edition. Facsimile reprint of the 1798 Discipline with notes and commentary by the church’s first two bishops.

Peterson, Peter A. History of the Revisions of the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Nashville: Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1889.

Richey, Russell E. The Methodist Conference in America: A History. Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1996.

_____. Methodist Connectionalism: Historical Perspectives. Nashville: General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, 2009.

Robbins, Bruce. A World Parish?: Hopes and Challenges of the United Methodist Church. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2004.

Sherman, David. History of the Revisions of the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church. New York: Hunt & Eaton, 1880.

Stevens, Abel. An Essay on Church Polity: Comprehending an Outline of the Controversy on Ecclesiastical Government, and a Vindication of the Ecclesiastical System of the Methodist Episcopal Church. New York: Lane & Tippett for the MEC, 1845. 10 revised editions through 1870.

Tigert, John J. Constitutional History of American Episcopal Methodism. 6th edition, revised and enlarged. Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1996. Reprint of the 1916 edition.

Wansbrough, Charles E. Handbook and Index to the Minutes of the Conference showing the Growth and Development of the Wesleyan Methodist Constitution from the first Conference, 1744 to 1890. London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, 1890.

Wesley, John. “Minutes of the Conference 1744-1747.” In John Wesley, edited by Albert C. Outler, 134-181.

–––––. “The Nature, Design and General Rules of the United Societies” (1743). In The Works of John Wesley (Bicentennial Edition), 9:67-79. Cf. The Book of Discipline, 2004, Part II, 71-86.

–––––. “A Plain Account of the People called Methodists” (1749). In The Works of John Wesley (Bicentennial Edition), 9:253-280.