The Supernatural and the Circuit Riders

The Rise of Early American Methodism

Rimi Xhemajli

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781725269217
  9781725269200
• eBook ISBN:
  9781725269224
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Denominaciones cristianas

In The Supernatural and the Circuit Riders, Rimi Xhemajli shows how a small but passionate movement grew and shook the religious world through astonishing signs and wonders. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, early American Methodist preachers, known as circuit riders, were appointed to evangelize the American frontier by presenting an experiential gospel: one that featured extraordinary phenomena that originated from God's Spirit. In employing this evangelistic strategy of the gospel message fueled by supernatural displays, Methodism rapidly expanded. Despite beginning with only ten official circuit riders in the early 1770s, by the early 1830s, circuit riders had multiplied and caused Methodism to become the largest American denomination of its day. In investigating the significance of the supernatural in the circuit rider ministry, Xhemajli provides a new historical perspective through his eye-opening demonstration of the correlation between the supernatural and the explosive membership growth of early American Methodism, which fueled the Second Great Awakening. In doing so, he also prompts the consideration of the relevance and reproduction of such acts in the American church today.

Part I

The Definition of the Supernatural and the Beginnings of Early American Methodism

Chapter 1

The Supernatural: Laying the Framework

The circuit riders were ministers who traveled tirelessly on horseback throughout their circuits and districts with the goal of evangelizing the American frontier. They were part of the mission strategy of Wesleyan Methodism (founded by evangelist John Wesley), called and commissioned to spread the gospel. Beginning in the early 1770s with only ten official preachers, the number of circuit riders increased so rapidly that, in 1784, the circuit riders became the key figures in forming their own American denomination, the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC).1 This increase continued to the point that, by the 1830s, the MEC had become the largest American denomination.2

According to Wigger, a prominent scholar of early American Methodism, Francis Asbury, “the real founder of American Methodism,”3 attributed the “lifeblood of the [Methodist or circuit rider] movement”4 to the presence of the supernatural. Bearing that in mind, this book has been written in order to uncover the clear significance—the role and impact—of the supernatural in the early American Methodist circuit rider ministry (from the 1770s through the 1830s), specifically its significance within the lives of the individual circuit riders and their audience members as well as, ultimately, their ministry’s growth.5

In order to investigate the role of the supernatural, it is important to first investigate the definition of the supernatural and to discuss the circuit riders’ viewpoint along with their understanding of supernatural incidents. This chapter is devoted to such an investigation. Attention is also placed on the circuit riders’ distinction between supernatural and natural.

To begin, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term supernatural is defined as “a manifestation or event attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.”6 Similarly, the Cambridge Dictionary defines supernatural as a “force or event” that “cannot be explained by science.”7 In general, for the circuit riders, this “force” that brought about unexplainable events was identified as the Triune Christian God (consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), whom the circuit riders served and proclaimed.8 Specifically, acts that were believed to originate from “the operations of the Holy Spirit”9 (or, at times, demonic beings) were, for the circuit riders, considered to be supernatural.10 O’Byrne confirmed that, similar to the modern understanding of the term supernatural...

Table of contents

• Title page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I: The Definition of the Supernatural and the Beginnings of Early American Methodism
• Part II: The Role of the Supernatural and the Rise of Early American Methodism
• Appendix A: List of Referenced Circuit Riders from the 1770s through the 1830s
• Appendix B: American Methodist Membership Statistics from 1773 to 1840
• Bibliography