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249 Russell E. Richey with Dennis M. Campbell and William B. Lawrence Book Reviews / Ecclesiology 6 (2010) 213–257 249 Russell E. Richey with Dennis M. Campbell and William B. Lawrence, Marks of Methodism: Th eology in Ecclesial Practice (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005) xiv + 144 pp. £10.99. ISBN 069732939-6 (pbk). Th e United Methodist Church is the largest of the churches in fellowship with the World Methodist Council. British Methodists tend to think of it as the American sister church but it is actually a global connection, its practice in devolving only partial autonomy on its former missionary areas standing in contrast with the British practice of encouraging the creation of totally auton- omous conferences in former missionary districts. Th is book, the lead author of which is one of the most eminent contempo- rary historians of early American Methodism, acts as a welcome concise guide to the spirit of the theological and ecclesiological ressourcement that has been taking place in the United Methodist Church over the last generation or so. At fi rst, under the inspiration of Albert Outler, this concentrated primarily on the recovery of and further exploration of the teaching and practice of the Wesleys. More recently, attention has tended to focus on the self understand- ing and achievement of the fi rst generation or so of the Methodist Episcopal Church, particular attention being given to conferencing as a means of grace and not simply an administrative device. Richey himself has been a key expo- nent of this approach. British Methodists may wish to ponder the example set by the theologians of this sister church and ask whether they also should be taking the Wesleyan heritage and its classical outworking within nineteenth century British Methodism just as seriously. Equally, however, they may feel, as does this present reviewer, that the ressourcement of the United Methodist Church has been a little too exclusively Methodist and that it ought to take rather more account of the wider gains of the Ecumenical Movement and the dialogues associated with it. Th ere is also perhaps at times too little attention to the changed context within America itself. Th is is evident, for example, in the discussion of itinerancy, the geographical nature of which, once ideally suited to the frontier condition of early nineteenth century America, should now arguably be discarded in favour of an approach which sets ministers free for developing new and creative forms of mission and Christian presence within more stable communities. Th e book is written to give an overview of a key research project, United Methodism and American Culture , involving a plethora of American Methodist scholars. An appendix details the contents of the fi rst four books in the series, devoted, respectively, to Connectionalism, Forms and Reforms of Methodist © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010 DOI 10.1163/174413609X12549868040242 250 Book Reviews / Ecclesiology 6 (2010) 213–257 life, Doctrines and Disciplines, and Questions for the twenty-fi rst century. Th e authors of this summative volume argue that Methodist theology and ecclesiology must be understood in the context of refl ection on practice. It is not so much faith seeking understanding, as faithful practice . Th is emphasis is linked to the famous Wesleyan quadrilateral, so beloved on American Methodist scholars since 1972, with its stress on Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience. Th e authors neatly link the themes of their four chapters – connectional- ism, discipline, catholicity and itinerancy – with the four classical creedal marks of the Church: one, holy, catholic and apostolic. In all four sections, the discussion aims at recovering key aspects of early Methodist practice for the revitalisation of the Church. It is accepted that much has been lost, or at least watered down, over the past century and a half. Th e chapter on discipline brings out well the positive aim of early Methodist discipline as enabling growth in faith and holiness through both the ministry of class leaders and ministers, who watched over the people in faith and love, and through the mutual responsibility and accountability of the members of the societies to God and to each other. Th e most honest chapter is the last one, on catholicity, which records a situation common, in fact, to both sides of the Atlantic: the mismatch between the undoubted, if rather vague, goodwill that Methodists show towards their fellow Christians of other denominations and their lack of understanding of the serious commitment of mind and heart that is really involved in ecumenism. ‘Much of the church seems woefully ignorant of the church’s existing ecumenical commitments … Ignorance and apathy compro- mise or frustrate Wesley’s catholic and ecumenical mandate’. Sadly, the igno- rance and apathy referred to are widely prevalent both within the rest of Methodism and beyond it. Th e authors rightly stress the interdependence of the four Wesleyan marks. One feels though that if there is amongst many of the United Methodist laity a degree of lack of knowledge of the ecumenical commitment to the wider Church, this may be due in part to a failure among the leading thinkers of United Methodism to carry out their ressourcement in fuller dialogue with the rest of the Christian tradition. When the United Methodist Church produced its admirable response to the Faith and Order document Baptism, Eucharist, Ministry , it stressed ways in which its eucharistic practice had fallen short both of the original Wesleyan standard and the practice of the early Church. It opened itself to dialogue both with its own roots and with the tradition of the universal Church in a way that accorded with Wesley’s own practice and his respect for the life of the church of the fi rst three centuries and the spiritual .
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