This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from Historical Papers Published by the Historical Society of the North Carolina Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1901 Every vision of Methodist triumph inspheres a Meth odist preacher. But it is a significant fact, and one which unfortunately is largely ignored, that no vision of Methodist triumph is complete without the presence of one who belongs to another distinctive type of heroes, and that one is the Methodist layman. Modest, faithful and active, he works both before, behind, and in the scene, and manipulates the machinery of that panorama, which, for over one hundred years, has been unrolling so grandly before the eyes of the world. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

With the conclusion of the Civil War, the beginnings of Reconstruction, and the realities of emancipation, former slaves were confronted with the possibility of freedom and, with it, a new way of life. In The Times Were Strange and Stirring, Reginald F. Hildebrand examines the role of the Methodist Church in the process of emancipation—and in shaping a new world at a unique moment in American, African American, and Methodist history. Hildebrand explores the ideas and ideals of missionaries from several branches of Methodism—the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, and the northern-based Methodist Episcopal Church—and the significant and highly charged battle waged between them over the challenge and meaning of freedom. He traces the various strategies and goals pursued by these competing visions and develops a typology of some of the ways in which emancipation was approached and understood. Focusing on individual church leaders such as Lucius H. Holsey, Richard Harvey Cain, and Gilbert Haven, and with the benefit of extensive research in church archives and newspapers, Hildebrand tells the dramatic and sometimes moving story of how missionaries labored to organize their denominations in the black South, and of how they were overwhelmed at times by the struggles of freedom.

Early Methodism was a despised and outcast movement that attracted the least powerful members of Southern societyslaves, white women, poor and struggling white men - and invested them with a sense of worth and agency. Methodists created a public sphere where secular rankings, patriarchal order, and racial hierarchies were temporarily suspended. Because its members challenged Southern secular mores on so many levels, Methodism evoked intense opposition, especially from elite white men. Methodism and the Southern Mind analyzes the public denunciations, domestic assaults on Methodist women and children, and mob violence against black Methodists.

"Limited edition facsimile reprint"--T.p. verso.