Populist Saints warmly tells the story of B. T. and Ellen Roberts’s lives, recounting their critique of powerful elites and illuminating the “crisis of Methodism” that gave rise to the Free Methodist Church. Benjamin Titus Roberts (1823–1893), best known for founding the Free Methodist Church, was also an outspoken voice for such reform causes as the abolition of slavery, women in ministry, and farmers’ rights — so much so that he played a role in the rise of the Populist Movement. Ellen Stowe Roberts (1825–1908), scion of a prominent Methodist family, shared her husband’s passion for holiness, for speaking good news to the poor, and for urban ministry.

Howard Snyder’s detailed biography views key nineteenth-century currents and events through the lives of these two extraordinary figures, who taught a “holy populism” of simplicity, justice for the common people, and radical discipleship.

Contents:

GROUNDING (1823–55)
"A Symmetrical Man"
Radical Roots
"A Duty to Be a Christian"
Genesee Wesleyan Student
The Stows of Windsor
Ellen in New York City
The Shadow of Phoebe Palmer
Wesleyan University
Stephen Olin and the Life of the Mind
John Wesley Redfield and the Power of Revival
First Pastorate and Marriage
Two Years at Pike
Life and Death at Rushford
Showdown in Buffalo
Revival in Brockport
The Bergen Camp Meeting

LIMINALITY (1855–60)
The Rise of Nazaritism
Ministry in Albion
The McCreery Case
"New School Methodism"
Roberts's First Trial
Tried and Expelled
Laymen's Conventions
"A Wider Field of Labor"
"Free" Methodists: A Denomination Is Born

MISSION (1860–1908)
The Earnest Christian Magazine
Ministry during the Civil War
"On the Cars"
Founding Chili Seminary
Ben and Ellen
George and Benson, Charles and Benjie
Leading a Movement
Movement versus Institution
Roberts as Reformer and Theologian
Founding the Farmers' Alliance
The Heart of Roberts's Theology
Traveling and Editing the Free Methodist
Weary but Faithful
Ellen Alone
Legacy

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ISBN: 9780802828842
Catalogue code: N/A
Publisher: WM B EERDMANS PUB CO - published 15/09/2006
Format: Hardback