'The word came with power': Print, oratory, and Methodism in eighteenth-century Britain

This dissertation reframes the history of the early Methodist movement in the context of two powerful, emerging forms of mass communication in Britain: a burgeoning print culture and the increasingly systematized field of public speaking. Media-savvy Methodist leaders such as John Wesley and George Whitefield shrewdly manipulated these forms as authors, editors, and publishers of a phenomenal amount of material and as organizers of and advisers to a massive troupe of itinerant laypreachers. With their efficient network of communication and distribution, the Methodists developed a unified movement of readers and auditors otherwise separated by significant geographical distance.;Chapter One argues that although new media of expression tend to provoke anxiety, Methodists embraced print and oratory at a time when both were undergoing profound change in order to provide their followers with proper material for consumption. In fact, the Methodists succeeded at making these two forms work to each other's advantage: the preaching of sermons was supplemented by the simultaneous distribution of printed material, and printed sermons were often presented in a context-rich environment that captured much of the vitality of the site of preaching. Chapter Two argues for the necessity of considering orally delivered sermons and provided a detailed examination of Methodist preaching, touching first upon the theory available in Wesley's elocutionary manual before turning to the practice as evidenced in letters, journals, and laypreacher autobiographies.;With Chapter Three the project turns from preaching to print, specifically Wesley's and Whitefield's individual and collected sermons. After a consideration of the fundamental differences between preached and printed sermons, the chapter explores the publication patterns of these sermons in terms of presentation, publisher, chronology, and geography, concluding that although Whitefield enjoyed greater fame as orator, Wesley demonstrated a more sophisticated understanding and exploitation of the print market. Finally, Chapter Four focused on the medium by which the majority of Wesley's sermons were made available in print: The Arminian Magazine. Under Wesley's editorial guidance, the magazine served not only as a vehicle for a new sermon every two months, but also as a unifying agent against multiple pressures towards fragmentation of the Wesleyan Methodists.