Two Centuries of Methodism in Arkansas 1800-2000 by Nancy BrittonReview by: Carolyn Gray LeMasterThe Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 60, No. 2 (Summer, 2001), pp. 224-225Published by: Arkansas Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40031025 .

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Two Centuries of Methodism in Arkansas 1800-2000. By Nancy Britton. (Little Rock: August House Publishers, 2000. Pp. 423. Acknowledg- ments, foreword, introduction, illustrations, appendices, notes, bibli- ography, index. $29.95.)

224 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The Methodists have a lengthy presence on the American scene. Theirs was the first religious body to declare allegiance to the Republic af- ter the Revolutionary War, and they quickly pledged their loyalty to Pres- ident George Washington after his election. Some twenty years after formally organizing as an American church in 1784, members of the de- nomination began efforts to reach the inhabitants of Arkansas. To chroni- cle this two-hundred-year history of Methodism in Arkansas could be a tedious task and make for tedious reading. But Nancy Britton, author of two other books on Methodism, has covered this span not only in an infor- mative way - and in as comprehensive a way as possible for a one-volume work - she also has made it readable.

From an account of the initial efforts by two Methodist preachers (Wil- liam Patterson and Lorenzo Dow), the narrative proceeds to the first known Methodist congregation, established by a young preacher, Eli Lind- sey, around 1815-1816 on Flat Creek in western Lawrence County. From this small beginning, the stream of narrative slowly widens to encompass the 1820 creation of the Arkansas circuit, the erection of church buildings, and the various divisions that arose, beginning around 1830. The latter oc- curred when dissenters in the Methodist Episcopal Church broke away to form the Methodist Protestant Church. Keeping this and subsequent divi- sions straight requires close attention, but Britton helps by supplying side- bars and charts throughout the book. Illustrations and photos accompanying the text also are helpful.

As the abolition movement in the North gained momentum in the country's religious bodies, it caused serious disruptions within Methodism and brought about a split among Methodist Episcopal delegates to the Lou- isville Convention in 1845. (Along the same lines, the Methodist Protes- tants adopted two administrations for their church in 1858.) The lines of separation between North and South during the Civil War fell generally along the boundaries established at the Methodist Episcopal' s Louisville Convention. After the war, southern Methodists perceived a bias against them on the part of the Union army, when Federal troops seized and con- trolled their churches and property and used such facilities for hospitals, barracks, commissaries, and stables.

Arkansas owes a great deal to Methodists in the field of education, and this is clearly documented throughout the book's six sections. The sections are divided chronologically: the early history from 1800 to 1844; the

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BOOK REVIEWS 225

schism caused by the debate and subsequent conflict regarding slavery and states' rights, 1845-1870; the period of significant growth in educational efforts, plus miscellaneous data, 1870-1913; the development of the mod- ern Methodist Church, 1914-1939; the efforts to bridge the racial lines, 1940-1968. The book closes with the history of the last thirty-two years, 1968-2000. Readers, researchers, and historians will find a wealth of ma- terial in the text as well as the eight appendices. These include a glossary of Methodist terms, appointments in Arkansas, data on Methodist women's leadership, the state's National Methodist sites, and, to top it off, forty- four pages of mini-histories of individual churches. The bibliography contains numerous resources, two of which were especially useful in the preparation of the present history: Rev. James A. Anderson's Centennial History of Arkansas Methodism (Benton, AR: L. B. White Publishing Co., 1935), which covers the years 1815-1935, and Walter N. Vernon's Meth- odism in Arkansas, 1816-1976 (Little Rock: Joint Committee for the His- tory of Arkansas Methodism, 1976).

There is a prodigious amount of data contained within the book, and native Arkansans will be delighted to find familiar names and places. For example, I discovered how my mother's first cousin, Sarah White, met her husband, E. D. Galloway. It was during his service as a young preacher at Walnut Grove Methodist Church in Ferndale, where she was a member.

John Ferguson, director of the Arkansas History Commission, has said that a comprehensive history of our state cannot be written until the histo- ries of the various ethnic and religious groups have been compiled. Brit- ton's work on Methodism in Arkansas is a signal gift to such a project.

Carolyn Gray LeMaster Little Rock, Arkansas

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