Respectable Methodism

“Revisiting but reinterpreting the pivotal role of Nathan Bangs in Methodism’s migration into the middle class, this engaging, readable study revises our assessment of Methodism and of nineteenth-century American Protestantism as a whole.”


—Russell E. Richey, Emory University, emeritus





“Daniel Flores’ new book on Nathan Bangs is comprehensive and provocative. It interweaves the embourgeoisement of the nineteenth-century Methodist movement with the details of Bangs’ biography, cementing Bangs’ status as a major player in the drive towards greater Methodist respectability while never collapsing his motives into the purely economic. Flores gives us a well-rounded and nuanced picture of this pivotal second-generation Methodist leader, rooted in Bangs’ own theological and cultural contexts and relevant to current debates.”


—Jennifer Woodruff Tait, editor, Christian History Magazine





“Daniel Flores has masterfully shown the outsize influence Bangs had on Methodism’s shift to greater respectability. As a pastor, presiding elder, editor, and perennial General Conference delegate, he strongly supported clerical education, orderly worship, additional church construction, and an evolving approach to abolition consistent with the national mood. Flores has woven together little-known primary sources, helpful contextualizations, and insightful analyses in crafting a well-written, engaging, and fascinating study!”


—Philip Hardt, author of The Soul of Methodism





“Respectable Methodism is a well-researched and well-documented exposition of the efforts of Nathan Bangs that shaped an early nineteenth-century frontier phenomenon into a respected American Methodist organization. Flores demonstrates convincingly that the desire for respectability by American people and Bangs’ contributions ‘intertwined to form a double-helix relationship’ producing a ‘new genetic code for the social structure’ of American Methodist Christianity.”


—Norman A. Beck, Texas Lutheran University





“Daniel Flores has skillfully used the career of Nathan Bangs to produce a meticulously researched, eminently readable account of the transition of the Methodist Episcopal Church from a simple frontier religion into a denomination of ‘respectability’ in worship, preaching, hymnody, church order, and architecture. While covering antebellum America, its lasting impact challenges the descendants of the MEC today.”


—Donald J. Bruggink, Van Raalte Institute, emeritus





“Daniel Flores’ impressive archival project offers a fresh and expanded view of Nathan Bangs, one of the most emblematic representatives of Methodist identity and aspirations in the early-to-mid nineteenth century. Bangs shaped Methodism’s urban profile, charted its theological maturation, and set the Methodist Episcopal Church on a course of upward mobility and respectability that took it to the apex of religious, social, and political influence. Flores’ sober analysis also counts the cost of that pursuit.”


—Daniel Ramirez, Claremont Graduate University