Nathan Bangs and the Methodist Episcopal Church: The Spread of Scriptural Holiness in Nineteenth-Century America

To know the story of Nathan Bangs is to understand American Methodism between the death of Francis Asbury and the Civil War. During the nineteenth century, the Methodist Episcopal Church transformed from an alternative society into a middle-class, mainstream denomination. While some scholars attribute Bangs with a desire for respectability, this book argues that respectability might have been more the result of Bang’s mission to spread scriptural holiness than the cause. By documenting his life, ministry, and ecclesial leadership, this book shows how Nathan Bangs made Methodism more effective and helped it live into its missionary ethos by introducing standards and standardization.