Methodism and War

Methodism began as an early eighteenth-century renewal movement within the Church of England led by Oxford-educated priest John Wesley. Although Wesley’s purpose was not to found a new church, Methodism/Wesleyanism eventually became the main non-Calvinist Protestant stream within Anglosphere Christianity. Today, the largest Wesleyan denomination is the United Methodist Church, which has about six million members in the United States and another six million worldwide. There are dozens of other Wesley-inspired denominations worldwide, with the vast majority having “Methodist” or “Wesleyan” in their name or being affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene (Nazarenes). Wesleyan theological influences were profound in