This is an appraisal of the life and ministry of the Anglican minister and Evangelical leader Charles Welsey, and his contribution to the early Methodist movement. Lloyd's study offers a new perspective on the formative years of a denomination that today has about 80 million members.

Excerpts from Charles and John Wesley, co-founders of Methodism, provide insight into the renewal of dynamic and vital Christianity and into the struggles and concerns of all who seek to be faithful participants in God's vision of love in every age.

Wesley and Methodist Studies (WMS) publishes peer-reviewed essays that examine the life and work of John and Charles Wesley, their contemporaries (proponents or opponents) in the eighteenth-century Evangelical Revival, their historical and theological antecedents, their successors in the Wesleyan tradition, and studies of the Wesleyan and Evangelical traditions today. Its primary historical scope is the eighteenth century to the present; however, WMS will publish essays that explore the historical and theological antecedents of the Wesleys (including work on Samuel and Susanna Wesley), Methodism, and the Evangelical Revival. WMS has a dual and broad focus on both history and theology. Its aim is to present significant scholarly contributions that shed light on historical and theological understandings of Methodism broadly conceived. Essays within the thematic scope of WMS from the disciplinary perspectives of literature, philosophy, education and cognate disciplines are welcome. WMS is a collaborative project of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre and The Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History, Oxford Brookes University.

Charles Wesley, perhaps best known for his hymns, "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" and "Jesus Lover of My Soul," was the younger brother of John Wesley and the co-founder and poet-laureate of Methodism. Although he was an important figure in the history of Protestantism, Wesley's personal life was shrouded by a cloak of silence and much of his work went unpublished. In this illuminating reader, John Tyson has collected hymns, sermons, letters, and journal material--many rare and hitherto unknown--to chronicle the life and works of Wesley in his own words. Tyson provides an extensive biographical-theological introduction, and supplements Wesley's collected works with interpretative and introductory notes, creating a definitive account of Wesley's character and contribution to the Methodist heritage.