Lexington Books William Taylor and the Mapping of the Methodist Missionary Tradition: The World His Parish

This book is the first critical biography of William Taylor, a nineteenth-century American Methodist missionary who worked on six continents. Following Taylor's global odyssey, it maps the contours of the Methodist missionary tradition and illumines key historical foundations of contemporary world Christianity. Review In addition to covering the trajectory of Taylor's life and missionary travels, the book has ample footnotes for the scholar who likes to follow the sources for further reading. . . . In this detailed and well-researched work, Tzan has written a complete biography spanning from Taylor's childhood in Virginia to his final days as a bishop for Africa. The book contains helpful insights into a missionary who was representative of the modern missionary movement. It is ideal for mission scholars and church historians. . . Tzan answers many unanswered questions about William Taylor for mission historians, and corrects some misperceptions, while also opening new areas for future research.-- "Wesley and Methodist Studies" William Taylor, a fascinating and complex figure, comes to life in this first comprehensive, scholarly consideration of his six continent ministry. Along with the substantive biographical work, Tzan illustrates through Taylor's missiology the "texture of the Methodist missionary tradition." A grand accomplishment!--Priscilla Pope-Levison, Research Professor of Practical Theology, Southern Methodist University Methodism's rise to globalism in the nineteenth century is a progenitor of Pentecostalism's worldwide expansion in the twentieth century, and no single figure is more central to the former than the rugged, revivalist missionary, William Taylor. Part independent actor and part Methodist connectional super-hero, Taylor relentlessly traveled the Methodist, imperial, and transportation networks of the world in search of converts. Tzan tells Taylor's controversial story of transcontinental mission and revivalism with unprecedented thoroughness and clarity, and successfully locates his extraordinary life in a bewildering range of national and international contexts.--David N. Hempton, Harvard Divinity School This book is the first full scholarly biography of William Taylor, the entrepreneurial evangelist who planted Methodism on six continents. Doug Tzan captures the breadth and depth of the adventurous father of self-supporting missions, and thereby restores Taylor to his rightful place at the center of nineteenth-century evangelicalism. A combination of exciting narrative and meticulous social history, this book will be the authoritative source on William Taylor for decades to come. I recommend it very highly.--Dana L. Robert, Truman Collins Professor of World Christianity and History of Mission, Boston University About the Author Douglas D. Tzan is the director of the Doctor of Ministry and course of study programs and assistant professor of church history and mission at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is also an ordained elder in the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and the senior pastor at the Sykesville Parish (St. Paul’s and Gaither United Methodist Churches).