United Methodist History

Instructor: Rev. Dr. Cathie Kelsey, Dean of the Chapel ckelsey@iliff.edu, 303-968-9812 (cell)

Course Synopsis: How did a movement based on sharing grace become a multi-continent denomination at war with itself?  Whose voice and experiences got lost and found in the 275 years along the way of "methodism"? What in this history do you want to claim, and what do you want to reform?  These questions are bigger than one 10 week course, but in these 10 weeks you will discover how to live toward answers as a leader among the next generation of the people called Methodist.  This course is required for persons seeking ordination in The United Methodist Church (and probably in its successors, whatever they might be, as well).

We are going to be a mixed group of folks in this course - in multiple ways!

One important way we are mixed is that some of us are Iliff students taking the course as a hybrid and we'll be on campus together October 12-13, while others of us are Christian Theological School in Indianapolis students and we will be online only.  But except for weeks 5 and 6, we're ALL going to learn and engage together in this space. In weeks 5 and 6 Canvas will automatically show you only the assignments relevant to you (if I set it up correctly.)  8-20-2018

UM History 2018 course assignments grid-1.docx this is a complete picture, week by week, of all the assignments and readings for the course.  The Canvas assignments will match what is in this grid and the links to a couple of readings will be in the Canvas assignments. edited to show different sections in week 6 (8-20-2018)

Required books:

Job, Rueben P. A Wesleyan Spiritual Reader. (Nashville: Abingdon, 1998)

Maddox and Vickers, eds. The Cambridge Companion to John Wesley. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2010.

Richey, Rowe, and Schmidt, American Methodism: A Compact History. Abingdon, 2012

Watson, Kevin M. and Scott T. Kisker. The Band Meeting: Rediscovering Relational Discipleship in Transformational Community. (Franklin, Tenn.: Seedbed Publishing, 2017)

Wigger, John H. Taking Heaven By Storm: Methodism and the Rise of Popular Christianity in America. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998.

Course Overview

As your instructor, I am responsible for introducing you to how to learn what might be useful to you in the field of Methodist Studies. I also intend to help you experience some significant ways to make use of it.  We will work together to articulate the "big question" that we are hoping to answer through our study of UM History. We will read in the British portion of UM history and more extensively in the North American portion, in order to understand the passions and contexts that brought United Methodism to its current moment. Along the way we will notice who and what has been marginalized and we will ponder what difference that has made.

Everyone in Methodism joins an annual conference as their primary affiliation (congregations are members of conferences). You will investigate the history of your annual conference - each one is different - in order to better understand the system of relationships and values that you are joining.

Course Objectives

Here are my objectives (you could call them grading criteria) for the UM History course:

1. you sought out at least two things that challenged you to see yourself or Methodism differently, and you engaged with them until you understood them or you were changed by them
2. you demonstrated that you can participate well in the connectional system that is a backbone of Methodism, by engaging frequently with your student colleagues and with me; sometimes with insightful thorny questions that helped us think more deeply, sometimes with tentative ponderings, sometimes by putting together things that we had not seen in light of each other, always with respect and genuine desire for growth in the work of the Holy Spirit among us
3. you did most of the reading (Methodists are readers) and you thought about it in light of your own questions and in light of the big question we refined together throughout the term
4. you have two useable tools for teaching others about what it means to be part of the Methodist tradition in North America – a mind-map with detailed explanations of the concepts and practices, and a timeline with detailed explanation of the important phases and people in our 300 year history (from John Wesley to today).
5. you are well aware of the history of your annual conference and the ways that its history fits you and does not fit you well

This course meets the denominational requirement in the UMC for United Methodist History.

This course contributes to the following Iliff learning objective for the MDiv and other professional degrees (see the Master's Student Handbook for the full list of objectives):

Historical Development/ Expressions of Religious Traditions (HI): demonstrate awareness of religious traditions as historically-situated movements that interacted and changed in relationship to their surrounding cultures and subcultures over time, resulting in various expressions located within and influenced by social structures and institutions, historical events, and ethnic and cultural ideologies.

As your instructor, I am responsible for introducing you to how to learn what might be useful to you in the field of Methodist Studies. I also intend to help you experience some significant ways to make use of it.

Only you will know 1) what you have learned; 2) how your imagination for using the field has been ignited; and 3) how much effort you have put into the first two.

On what should you be graded, then?   What are your criteria?

Here are my criteria for the UM History course:

1. you sought out at least two things that challenged you to see yourself or Methodism differently, and you engaged with them until you understood them or you were changed by them
2. you demonstrated that you can participate well in the connectional system that is a backbone of Methodism, by engaging frequently with your student colleagues and with me; sometimes with insightful thorny questions that helped us think more deeply, sometimes with tentative ponderings, sometimes by putting together things that we had not seen in light of each other, always with respect and genuine desire for growth in the work of the Holy Spirit among us
3. you did the reading (Methodists are readers) and you thought about it in light of your own questions and in light of the big question we refined together throughout the term
4. you have two useable tools for teaching others about what it means to be part of the Methodist tradition in North America – a mind-map with detailed explanations of the concepts and practices, and a timeline with detailed explanation of the important phases and people in our 300 year history (from John Wesley to today).
5. you are well aware of the history of your annual conference and the ways that its history fits you and does not fit you well. You did the investigation needed to learn that history.

You are being asked to propose your own grade for this course on November 16th.

You have a choice, you can use my criteria for that grading, or you can propose your own criteria and your grade based on those criteria. I am NOT indelibly invested in my criteria, so take a look at the course and decide for yourself the criteria you will use to grade yourself.  Feel free to borrow ideas from other members of the course. Feel free to borrow some of my criteria and not others. 

I will most probably use the final grade that your propose in week 10.

Post in this thread Your grade - part one the criteria you will use in week 10 to determine your final grade for this course. It may feel awkward to be public about your criteria. This is a skill that clergy must use with Staff Parish Relations Committees every year--and that is a very public space. We must make clear what our priorities are in a Disciplinary job description that is overwhelming.  So this task is a low threat moment to begin to build the capacity to say "this is how I should be evaluated at the end." 

I will probably use the final grade that your propose.

So what’s my job as instructor in UM History, if I’m not grading?!?   

• I’m going to think alongside you, week by week, engaging with your personal journal posts, timelines, mindmaps, and our general discussion.
• I’m going to ask questions that I hope will help you go deeper or investigate differently.
• I’m going to engage you in conversation about the different ways we tell ourselves who we are as Methodists and the messy confusing place we have gotten ourselves to in late 2018.
• I’m going to point you toward resources and possibilities. And I’m going to learn alongside you, because I know enough to know with some accuracy what I don’t know.
• I’ve created a structure that should guide you into learning that is useful now and in future. I’m going to play in that structure with you for the sake of your learning and for the sake of a lively Methodist future.

Degree Learning Goals: Please take some time to look over the Professional Degree Learning Goals (MDiv, MASC, MAPSC) and the Academic Degree Learning Goals (MTS, MA).

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook, or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook, as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant.

Core Values: As a community, Iliff strives to live by this set of Core Values.

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab, which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community. 

This page is for sharing links to electronic resources that you may have found that others interested in UM History might find useful.

https://archive.org/details/americanmethodism?&sort=-downloads&page=2    a collection of archival material from a number of different collections. All of it electronically available

https://divinity.duke.edu/initiatives/cswt/research-resources   Duke Divinity School's basic page for research resources, including basic getting started materials.

www.gcah.org   the home page for the Commission on Archives and History. Look at the UMC History tab for a variety of basic tools and access to further links

http://palni.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/collection/archives/order/date/ad/asc   DePauw University archive (one of the earliest Methodist colleges)  Indiana conferences archives