Pursuing Social Holiness: The Band Meeting in Wesley's Thought and Popular Methodist Practice.

Abstract

That the economy of Methodism was a complex web is undeniable. The enquirer after faith was met with a system of meetings which could be affective in the experience of seeking faith and ultimately also the establishment of holiness in daily life. From the moment of awakening to the point of death, the early Wesleyan movement had a meeting to accommodate each person.Watson's book sets out to describe the Band Meeting, the earliest of the small group meetings organized by John Wesley, drawn into Methodism from the experience of Fetter Lane. This voluntary group became the vehicle for those actively pursuing holiness.A major premise of the volume is that the Band Meeting was a synthesis of Moravian and Anglican practice and represented a vibrant means to develop a sense of holy living in a communal setting. The book, however, bypasses some other aspects of Wesley's faith development—his reading of Eastern mysticism and correspondence with the Manchester Non-jurors, his reading of the groups arranged by the Marquis de Renty (who was the single most mentioned individual in Wesley's writing), his reading and acceptance of à Kempis, William Law, and Jeremy Taylor and his personal experience of travelling to Georgia in search of Primitive Christianity. That John Wesley described Methodism as Primitive Christianity in 1778 at the opening of City Road Chapel suggests that he did not entirely discard those early influences.Watson has researched the Band Meeting in detail and sets out his thesis clearly—that the Band was the place in which holiness could be attained in a social setting. He draws upon firsthand accounts of Band Meetings and uses anti-Methodist polemic, and published material to support this. The Rules which were set out for the operation of the Band Meetings are examined in detail.Much is made throughout the book of the Band Meeting as a means of grace. This phrase is used by many who wrote diaries and journals or who corresponded with others. The Band was a providential means of grace—a means of use to the individual's growth in grace and holiness—rather than an instituted means of grace, given by Dominical command. Critical examination of this phrase would assist the book in its argument. Why was this phrase so common among the Methodist people and what did they understand it to mean in practice, particularly in relation to the instituted means which Methodists became increasingly unwilling to engage in at the local parish church? Was there a mimetic quality to the term which developed over time and its original meaning was lost to the people as it became repeated? An alternative reading of the anti-Methodist polemic used to support the Band as a means of grace could be to understand this polemic along the lines that the phrase was used but little understood.The important material used within this book has brought together a variety of personal experiences and describes how an individual grew in grace and holiness in a challenging, but ultimately supportive environment. The book would benefit from a description of what difference those who belonged to the Band Meeting made to the rest of the societal life of Methodism. Nothing is said within the book about the Wesley's regulation of the Classes and Bands. Some engagement with the process of regulation within early Methodism, described in detail in both Charles and John Wesley's Journals, could offer insight into this.Published accounts of the proceedings in both Band and Class Meetings are uncommon, primarily because these were not meetings which were to be reported to others. The use of published material in this book alongside manuscript description of Band Meetings requires careful critique. The Wesley brothers sought out accounts for publication as a means of propaganda to counter anti-Methodist feeling. It is therefore important to recognize that accounts were sanitized for publication. John Valton's diary is helpful here. When submitting his manuscript diary for publication he struck through any account which was derogatory of the Methodist movement. This was further revised, firstly by John Wesley himself and later by the editors of The Arminian Magazine or The Lives of the Early Methodist Preachers.It is disappointing that Watson fails to engage with writers with whom he disagrees within the text of his book. Offering a brief critique in footnotes is not a sufficient means with which to properly understand the reasoning behind a disagreement.Overall, this book is helpful to any person who wishes to know more about the Band Meeting. Read with other accounts of early Methodism, this book will assist any person who is eager to understand how Methodism was formed and developed in the eighteenth century.