Randy L. Maddox, William Kellon Quick Professor of Church History and Wesley Studies, has edited a new volume of letters from John Wesley. 

The correspondence presented in this fourth volume of Wesley’s letters, The Works of John Wesley Volume 28: Letters IV (1766–1773), casts light on the growth of his movement, documenting (for example) the emergence of connection-wide financial campaigns and continuing debates over the desire of lay preachers for ordination.

It covers the decisive split between the Wesleyan and Calvinist wings of Methodism, including the ways in which Charles Wesley drew closer to his brother through these developments. The volume includes over 100 items not found in previous editions of Wesley’s letters.

Maddox’s scholarly interests focus on the theology of John and Charles Wesley and theological developments in the later Methodist/Wesleyan tradition. In addition to numerous articles, he is author of Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology, a contributor to Wesley and the Quadrilateral, and editor of Aldersgate Reconsidered, Rethinking Wesley’s Theology for Contemporary Methodism, The Cambridge Companion to John Wesley, and Volume 12 of The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley. 

Maddox is an ordained elder in the Dakotas Conference of The United Methodist Church, and has served as a theological consultant to the Council of Bishops on several projects.