Old or New School Methodism? argues that the expulsion of preacher B. T. Roberts from the Methodist Episcopal Church and the subsequent formation of his Free Methodist Church represent a crucial moment of transition in American Methodism. Kevin Watson contends that more emphasis should be given to the theological commitments that have made American Methodism distinctive and have been the cause of divisions over the past century and a half. This book fills amajor gap in the study of American Methodism from the 1850s to 1950s.