Thank you.
(marking for later)
Into Darkness - Jehovah's witnesses history
by Dis-Member 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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problemaddict
I dont understand what she said regarding blood at 20:25. Can I get another perspective?
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factfinder
marked
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88JM
Quite informative but concise too.
I didn't know that Russel was into phrenology (though not surprising), and also the "inch for a year" rule he made for the pyramid measurements. Why would he think the ancient Egyptians would be using inches?
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Old Goat
You will see from Schulz and de Vienne's forthcoming book, Separate Identity, that Russell did not hold Adventist doctrines but One Faith (British Literalist) doctrines and that he identified with that group from 1870 t0 1876. Storrs left Millerite Adventism in 1844. If you'd read his magazine you'd know that. Thereafter the Adventist press savaged him, and he hit them back.
Schulz and de Vienne present a detailed analysis of the Allegheny Bible Study Groups theology, including its sources, identifying some of the books, pamphlets and papers they read. It is a mistake to identify Russell as an Adventist.
By the time Russell received the Herald of the Morning (Dec. 1875, not Jan 1876) Barbour had left Adventism. Barbour identified with an Age to Come body thereafter. (Mark Allan’s Church of the Blessed Hope) However he did not accept Literalist belief and was willing to spiritualize bible verses to fit his belief system. Russell was never an Adventist and had a running battle with them.
Russell plainly says that his interchange with Wendell answered his questions about torment doctrine. He also says he did not adopt Wendell's other beliefs. This is verifiable from the pages of Zion's WatchTower.
You will also find in their new book (A Separate Identity: Organizational Identity Among Readers of Zion's Watch Tower, 1870-1887) that Stetson abandoned standard Adventists belief for Literalism. His last years were spent writing for the British journal The Rainbow and for the Age to Come/Literalist paper The Restitution. Stetson details his struggles with Millerism and says in some detail what his later beliefs were.
Russell described himself as a Millenarian. This is a term Literalists applied to themselves. There was considerable conflict between Literalists and Adventists. I've just finished reading an advanced reading copy of this new book. It is due out soon, though I don't know when. It is startling in detail and will, I think, change the picture. I anticipate that their new book will become the standard by which other histories of the Tower are judged.
They present biographies of many of Russell’s associates, giving these men and women back their place in the movement and letting their personalities show through their own words. They drawn on unpublished letters and manuscripts, some of which they reproduce in the book. When they don’t, they tell us in a footnote where to find them.
Details? L. A. Allen, one of the first WatchTower contributors was a young woman who agonized over lost virginity. (Her name was Elizabeth “Lizzie” A. Allen) J. C. Sunderlin was addicted to opium as a result of a spinal wound during the Battle of the Wilderness. Corpulent A. P. Adams used his bulk to intimidate members of his church in Beverly, Massachusetts. Russell’s uncle, a mason, went bankrupt selling roller skates on credit. They name the pastors of Russell’s Congregational Church, tell you where the church was and what the preaching was like. They include a photo of the title page of one of the printed sermons from the church. The detail is endless. And it changes the historical picture in significant ways.
There must be nearly 100 illustrations, mostly photographs. Many of these haven’t seen the light of day in a century or more. Russell’s parents' membership papers in a rebel Presbyterian church, photos of his associates, the title page of sheet music published by J. L. Russell & Son in 1872, one of Sunderlin’s letters … Too many things to list. All fascinating.
I was pleased to see them smack writers on both sides when they perpetuate myth. I've never seen research of this quality in any history of the WatchTower. They do not make unfounded claims, and they footnote everything so you can follow their research trail.
Their first book was Nelson Barbour: The Millennium’s Forgotten Prophet. You should read it. (B&N or Lulu.com) The book due out soon is volume one of a larger work.
Their public history blog is at http://www.truthhistory.blogspot.com/
In the interests of full disclosure, I should say that Mr. Schulz and I used to work together at District Conventions and were in the same circuit for a while. He is one of the few Witnesses I continue to respect. He does not let his status as a Witness color his writing. He calls “a spade a spade.”
Dr. de Vienne is not a Witness, and I only know her through email exchanges and her personal blog (which I find informative and entertaining).
They’re both educators.
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Phizzy
Thanks Old Goat ! perhaps you will let us know on here when the book actually is available please ?