This is a huge, delicious book. The forty-two chapters are grouped into six main sections: ‘History of Methodism’; ‘Ecclesial forms and structures’; ‘Worship: sacraments, liturgy, hymnody, preaching’; ‘Spiritual experiences, evangelism, mission, ecumenism’; ‘Theology’ and finally, ‘Ethics and politics’. With its two editors coming from Perkins School of Theology at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, the Handbook has an undoubted leaning towards United Methodism. However, this is not obtrusive and though all but nine of the contributors work in the USA, the list is truly an international one, which makes for some fascinating comparisons within the six sections, since the individual authors come to their specialised areas of study from widely differing starting-points.

There is no overall bibliography as such, but this apparent omission is more than compensated for by the fact that individual authors append a short list of titles as ‘suggested reading’ at the end of each of the forty-two chapters, together with fuller bibliographical references that relate specifically to their own specialised area of study. They are select bibliographies, of course. However, the index is particularly helpful (as well as being absolutely necessary in a book such as this) in enabling the reader to move around the different chapters, and locate specific areas of inquiry, which makes cross-referencing much easier.

It should be noted that the title is ‘Methodist’, rather than ‘Wesley’ (studies), and this is to be welcomed, since the editors felt that ‘the term ‘Methodist’ can both reach back into the history and reach forward into new perspectives. This anthology is, therefore, not a series of studies focusing on the Wesleys. Indeed, it is a moot point whether material has to engage with the Wesleys themselves to justify the epithet ‘Methodist’; one of the great strengths of the Handbook is its contemporary scope.

The editors' objectives are threefold. The first is to ‘locate the centre of Methodist gravity in John Wesley and the accomplishments of his movement in the history of the church’. This aim is achieved especially well in the early sections. One might dispute some of the conclusions reached by J. C. D. Clark who probably attempts too much in his opening chapter, ‘The eighteenth-century context’. So, for example, we are invited to consider only a narrow range of factors when the Halévy thesis is discussed (no mention of Hobsbawm et al.) – but this makes the book far more entertaining overall. No dull procession of turgid articles here. Those familiar with David Hempton's recent study, Methodism: empire of the spirit, will find his chapter on ‘Transitions in Britain and North America’ particularly fascinating. As one would expect, Richard Heitzenrater's ‘The founding brothers’ is a brilliant summary, both scholarly and eminently readable – not all the contributors are able to emulate him, alas. His gift for the memorable turn of phrase, for example, when he eschews the clumsy, often misused term ‘conversion’ by writing that John and Charles both ‘experienced a personal appropriation of the faith they had been preaching’ (p. 37) is a delight.

The second of the editors' objectives is ‘to develop an appropriate set of categories sufficient to permit a fruitful and coherent mapping of Methodist Studies as a whole in the present’. Implicit in this aim is the assumption that Methodism has made a distinct and continuing contribution to the development of the western Christian tradition. Reading the later chapters will show that this claim does in fact stand up to scrutiny. Dennis Campbell's summary of ‘Ministry and itinerancy’ exposes his US bias, notably when he describes the trend of ‘high steeple’ churches to block the ‘career path’ of young clergy, but – as with most of the chapters in the Handbook – he opens up possibilities for a lively debate. So too, does David Chapman who writes about ‘Methodism and the future of ecumenism’, though I would have liked to have seen him explore the possibilities of new forms of episkopē and offer more critical comment on ecumenical progress since the signing of the Anglican-Methodist Covenant in 2003 (pp. 460–1).

Inevitably, some of the sections are less compelling than others. The fourth section is perhaps one of the least gripping, but the third of the editors' aims in compiling the Handbook – that of celebrating the fact that ‘Methodism has become a global expression of the Christian faith’ – is well achieved, and there are some scintillating chapters, particularly in the final two sections. Marjorie Suchocki's moving treatment of ‘Wesleyan grace’ encourages us ‘not to repeat the past in contemporary language, but to incorporate into the tradition as much current knowledge of the world as is feasible’ (p. 540). Jane Craske's thought-provoking article, ‘Methodism and feminism’ challenges us to revisit old preconceptions (and misconceptions) of feminism, but her writing comes across as one who seems more of a complainant than a celebrant.

At £85.00, this book will be beyond the reach of all but the most wealthy or committed students of Methodism, but it deserves to be on the shelves of many libraries. It is not a book to be dipped into occasionally; the contents are too rewarding for that. Despite its occasional unevenness and (from a British viewpoint) slight ‘quirkiness’, it is a superb collection of essays, of which Methodists from all countries may be justly proud.