I've received numerous questions asking for documentation of issues raised on this board. Some threads have gems that get developed, then buried, and someone raises the same question. CD ROMs whirr.
For some Ray Franz is more than sufficient, others also enjoy the perspective of "Apocalypse Delayed" by trained historian James Penton, which was vital to me personally.
(Each of us has boundaries. Mine is reached when someone asks, "How many times did Nathan Knorr get it on with Percy Chapman?" That suggests the inquirer is interested in titillation rather than enlightenment.)
What has been needed is a meticulous documentation of the organization, from the standpoint of a professional scholar who cannot be easily tarred with the label of an insider or a disgruntled elder who was not recognized.
Such a man is Dr. Edmond Gruss, who is quite modest, often eschewing his doctorate, but who nonetheless is a trained scholar with real insight. He was reared a Witness but took a different path. He's now Professor Emeritus of Apologetics and History at a Southern California college.
The Watchtower article on Grew and Storrs was most interesting to me, and I inquired of Ed about the two. He whipped out a prescient quotation from Storrs that floored me, regarding the folly of setting dates. But that's typical of Ed Gruss; he really knows whereof he speaks.
The book is in final form at the publisher's, and will be quite large. The author expressed his concern to me about such careful detail in a world that loves the sound bite and the pre-digested.
I've assured him there are many, many persons who want the full story in perspective, with such documentation.
"Jehovah's Witnesses--Claims, Doctrinal Change and Prophetic Speculation."
Not available for awhile, but just to let you know it's coming.
Any comments or thoughts? Are you interested? Hope to keep the thread alive awhile without artificial bumps.
Maximus