Often studied inseparably from fellow Methodist theologians Richard Watson and Thomas Ralston, Miner Raymond was a powerful voice in the formation and dictation of Methodist beliefs. Raymond took a Wesleyan-Arminian approach to systematic theology, compiling an early-American look at Methodist teaching. Raymond’s Systematic Theology was the very first of its kind for the Methodist Church. His discussions of apologetics, anthropology, soteriology, and ecclesiology have had a profound and permanent impact on the Wesleyan heritage we see today.
For several decades, Raymond’s Systematic Theology was the only complete system of theology indigenous to American Methodism, which was continually informed by English Methodist theologians throughout the nineteenth century. Raymond’s work was overshadowed by William Burt Pope’s comparable Compendium of Christian Theology (which was also originally titled Systematic Theology), published in 1879. Still essential to any Methodist or Arminian bibliography, Miner Raymond’s work is key to understanding the history of both traditions.
