More Authority than the Pope? Conference, the Deed of Union and Methodist Theology

Abstract

Over the last two hundred years, British Methodism exported its ecclesiology and its standards of doctrine to several countries around the world. After gaining independence, these churches have generally continued to retain the doctrinal clauses inherited from the founding denomination. Despite this, theological discourse within these churches has often had no explicit connection to these criteria. Curiously, this is particularly true in the British Methodist context where the neglect of these standards has coincided with an increasing emphasis on the magisterial authority of its annual Conference. Here the constitution of the British Methodist church is explored in order to determine whether or not there is a distinctive theological method latent within its Deed of Union and whether or not this approach might be relevant to important theological questions globally.