Expressing Faith Through Fashion: Choice, Legalism or Both?
In many Christian traditions such as the Mennonites, Quakers, Amish and various holiness movements dress was an outward expression of faith. However, there was and continues to be a fine line between an individual embracing dress as a form of religious expression and being forced to dress a certain way as a form of legalism. Playing […]
Preaching Divine Healing in Nineteenth Century Free Methodism
August 12, 2012
Throughout the Methodist movement in eighteenth century England and in the early Free Methodist movement divine healing was not uncommon. In many of the accounts I’ve read it seems to be more prevalent with women than men, or at least women wrote about their healing experiences more than men did. Perhaps this is due in […]
The Free Methodist Equivalant of Little House on the Prarie: The Freelands’
June 14, 2012
Out in the vast, rugged Dakota Territory a pioneer family settled on their claim. No, I’m not talking about Laura Ingalls’ Wilder, but the Freeland family of South Dakota. They settled in the Dakota Territory a few years after the Ingalls’ family (around the mid 1880s whereas the Ingalls were 1879/1880). When we think of […]
Mark & Grace Driscoll: Real Marriage or Real Oppression?
May 23, 2012
Biblical masculinity isn’t a new trend in Christian culture, but it has been gaining a lot more attention recently. The success of the Sherwood Brothers film Courageous, which gained mainstream media attention and focused on fathers taking a “courageous” stand to protect and lead their families, is just one example (See my series of reviews […]
Are Tears a Sin? Clara Wetherald’s Views on Emotion and Preaching
May 9, 2012
This article was published while B.T. Roberts was editor of The Free Methodist. It shows the emotional/embodied nature Clara most likely also practiced as she addressed a congregation. As I’ve blogged about her for several years, her passion cannot be doubted but how she physically and emotionally expressed that passion was something I was unsure […]
Keep Our Faces Before Thee: Clara Wetherald’s Report from South Lyon, MI
April 1, 2012
I am beginning a long series of publishing Free Methodist women’s original articles in their entirety. I’ve spent the past few years telling the stories of various Free Methodist women trailblazers and while I have quoted them, I want them to have a chance to say more in their own voices. This first article published […]
Mariet Hardy Freeland Social Reformer and Preacher
March 17, 2012
For Mariet Hardy Freeland faith fueled social action. Her passion for sharing Christianity extended beyond simply converting an individual, but to also promoting issues of equality and social reform. Throughout her life Mariet was a regular contributor the Benjamin Titus Robert’s magazine The Earnest Christian and The Free Methodist. An ardent supporter of women’s ordination, […]
November 26, 2012
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