wfn.org | New dictionary makes Methodism in Britain and Ireland easy

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 5, 2000  News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.  10-21-71B{314}

By Kathleen LaCamera*

MANCHESTER, England (UMNS)  - Entries on the great, the good and even the
wonderfully obscure make up the first-ever Dictionary of Methodism in
Britain and Ireland, recently released in the United Kingdom.  

Readers will find themselves irresistibly flipping back and forth through
its 400 pages, which build up a fascinating picture of the people, places,
ideas and history that have created Methodism in Britain and Ireland today. 

For instance, a glance through entries on just one page (page 162 to be
exact) reveals the range of this reference book:
·	"Holy Club" is reported to be one of the nicknames for a student
prayer and study group started by John and Charles Wesley at Oxford; also
known as "Bible Moths," "Supererogation Men" and the "Godly Club."
·	"Home Missions" is a division within the British Methodist Church
and a term historically referring to "missionary ventures," the earliest of
which are credited to Thomas Coke, bishop and founder of the American
Methodist Episcopal Church. 
·	"Hong Kong" is a place that was introduced to Methodism by British
soldiers in 1843 and today boasts a Methodist community of some 160,000.

John A. Vickers, dictionary editor and historian, says he and his colleagues
hope this volume provides readers with the first comprehensive resource of
its kind. He describes its compact entries as a "first port of call" that
could lead to a desire for more exploration.
 
Vickers admits he had his own surprises while putting the dictionary
together. 
"I kept bumping into my own ignorance.  ... I discovered the Primitive
Methodists ... and the Independent Methodists, of whom I knew very little." 

Even though the dictionary is not a guidebook, visitors to Britain and
Ireland interested in Methodist heritage will find it a helpful supplement
to more popular tour books. Methodism's connections to Oxford, Bristol and
London are well documented for tourists, but without the new dictionary
visitors might never know that Dublin was John Wesley's base for more than
20 visits to Ireland.
 
Without one of several of the book's 1,900 entries, a tourist could easily
miss out on charming Mow Cop with its lovely vistas and strong Methodist
links. Listed with a cross-reference to "camp meetings," Mow Cop is a huge
hill near the English pottery town of Stoke on Trent, where the first
American-style Methodist camp meeting took place in Britain in 1807. The
event drew thousands, and its Methodist legacy is still physically and
spiritually present in the area.  

The dictionary will also inform tourists traveling through Kingston, in
Surrey near London, that in March 1760, a Methodist preacher precipitated a
"terrible riot" there that eventually had to be controlled by Iniskilling
Dragoons (whatever they are!). Who could resist sharing that incredibly
delicious bit of trivia?

Vickers hopes an expanded version of the dictionary will be available on
CD-ROM in the future and says the reward for this painstaking process of
compilation is in "having created something that is useful to people." 

According to Vickers, the biggest challenge of the project was deciding who
and what would go into the dictionary. 

"Occasionally someone would say to me [in a half-kidding way], 'I suppose
you'll put me in.' To which I would respond, 'There was a chance you would
have gone in, but now that you've asked, you're sure to be excluded.' "

A Dictionary of British and Irish Methodism will be available in the United
States through Cokesbury Bookstores beginning in late August.  

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*LaCamera is a UMNS correspondent based in England.

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United Methodist News Service
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