Celebrating Asbury’s Voyage to the Americas 250 Years Ago

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of Francis Asbury’s crossing from England to America, we will feature a four-part series over the course of the month. More information can be found at here.

IN THIS EPISODE:

What is the Christmas Conference? Why is it important to American Methodism? And what are its positive and negative lasting impacts on the development of American Methodisms?

GUEST:

Dr. Russ Richey is a renowned Methodist historian. He’s held academic and administrative positions at Candler School of Theology, Drew Theological School, and Duke Divinity School. He is a well established author whose most recent work is forthcoming from New Room Books entitled, A Church’s Broken Heart: Mason-Dixon Methodism.

HOST:

Dr. Ashley Boggan Dreff, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Dreff earned her PhD from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion, specializing in both Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies. She earned an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, specializing in American Religious History. She has previously worked as staff at the General Commission on Archives and History (2012-2014) and the Connectional Table of The United Methodist Church (2014-2016). She was the Director of United Methodist Studies and Assistant Professor Christian History at Hood Theological Seminary (Salisbury, NC), an AME Zion Seminary, from 2017-2019 and was the Director of Women’s and Gender Studies and Assistant Professor of Religion at High Point University (High Point, NC) from 2019-2020. Dreff is a lay member of the Arkansas Annual Conference and the daughter of two ordained United Methodist ministers. She is the author of Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women’s Rights (2020) and Entangled: A History of American Methodism, Politics, and Sexuality (2018).