In memory of Charles Taze Russell who died 92 years ago.

AndersonsInfo

Pastor Charles Taze Russell’s wife, Maria, divorced him in 1906. The Writings of Maria Russell e-document contains an eleven-page enlightening INTRODUCTION that outlines her fall from her husband’s affection because he said she was endeavoring to take over the editorship of his religious journal, Zion’s Watch Tower. Is that true? Also discussed is the question of Mrs. Russell’s acumen as a writer which her husband and followers called into question. The Writings of Maria Russell e-document contains nearly 1150 pages of material for the serious Charles Taze and Maria Russell researcher to review. Of utmost interest is a scan provided of Mrs. Russell’s hand-written 600-page never-before-published manuscript and hand-drawn dispensational-type chart, meant for a book titled The Eternal Purpose that outlined her later theological beliefs. The exposition is clearly written using a slanting handwriting style called Spencerian. A typed copy is also included. This material was Mrs. Russell’s last writing project and makes for excellent comparative study using some of her other writings which have also been provided, such as eleven Zion’s Watch Tower articles; her 1890 ninety-six page poem, The Wonderful Story, and scans of her two books, This Gospel of the Kingdom and The Twain One, both published in 1906. All of this material is available through Lulu and can be downloaded for $11.95.

Barbara Anderson – http://www.watchtowerdocuments.com

yknot

Thank You Barbara for all you (yall) do and have done!

Before clicking on the link above...... I feel compelled first to go to the linen closet and fashion myself a toga!

Farkel

Barb,

Is this the work you told me in 1999 that you were researching and writing? Is your work done in that area, then? You weren't even close to being DFd then, so I suppose your head was less cluttered with demons than it is now.

In 1997 or 1998, Alan F and I had a long conversation about Russell. We both thought that although he was a dreamer and a wacky dreamer at that, he meant well. Then you came along and showed us both what a rotten scumbag, dirtball, money-grubbing, wife-abusing, vindictive, self-absorbed liar he actually was. And that was even before you showed us how REALLY bad he was!

Thanks to you, my last WT "hero" bit the dust.

Thanks Barb for that!

Farkel

AndersonsInfo

Yes, Farkel, this is some of the information I was telling you about many years ago and I still haven't changed my mind about Charles Taze Russell. Here's some more information about the Russells and the e-document:

It seems like Charles Taze changed his teachings as often as he changed clothes. By the time he died, his beliefs were in some ways different from when he and Maria were together. She too changed her ideas as she got older. Even when they were together she didn’t always agree with him theologically about everything, which he didn't seem to mind at the time, but when their marriage was in trouble, he used those differences against her. I give an example in the Introduction to "Maria Russell's Writings" one teaching they differed in which he used against her later.

The 600-page unpublished manuscript Maria wrote is for serious researchers to compare to the Russell's early teachings when they were together and wrote Volumes 1-4 of the Millennial Dawn series of books, which, by the way, he denied she wrote any of. However, if you don't consider yourself a "serious researcher" I think you still might find fascinating what this Victorian woman had to say about a variety of things in her Zion's Watch Tower articles and that's why I included eleven of them. Even if you don’t go along with her theology, Maria Russell was a very thoughtful and reverent individual. And I think many of you will be very surprised what I say about Charles Taze in the Introduction. I really don't think he was a very reverent individual. When I was reading C. T's Zion's Watch Tower articles for days on end when I was working on the Proclaimers book in the Writing Dept., I had decided that the pastor could be both humble and arrogant at the same time and I really couldn't understand why I thought that, but that's how he struck me back when I was a very faithful JW without any doubts about the trueness of the religion. And, interestingly, after years of research, I realize that I was correct back then in my assumption. He was indeed a most humble arrogant person.

Maria left her husband in 1897 because of his humiliating treatment towards her, but that didn't mean she stopped thinking about "God's Plan of the Ages." She penned two religious books in 1906, which I've included in the e-document, and she worked on her unpublished manuscript until she died in 1938. She was quite an innovative religious thinker. I'm not saying I agree with her ideas, just calling it the way I see it. I tried to show in the Introduction that in the area of her writing ability, she was equal to her husband, yet, during the divorce hearing, he denied her any credit for all the years of constant work she had put into their religion. For those of you who are interested, in the Introduction I have included some little known facts about the Russell relationship and her co-ownership of the Watch Tower organization. Yes, I said, co-ownership! That's a little known fact but Pastor Russell acknowledged it and I quoted him.

There are relatives of Maria Russell still alive today and I've interviewed a few of them. In fact, back in 1999, it was a relative who gave me Maria's manuscript. Also, I quote another relative in the Introduction telling me something I think readers will be surprised to read.

I have made arrangements with Princeton University to donate the "Maria" manuscript to their religious collection where other historical material about the Watch Tower organization is located.

For what it's worth, I've been trying to figure out for years what was the best way to introduce the Maria manuscript. Well, it seemed to me that an e-document, which could be downloaded along with some of her other writings, was the best way to do it, and include a revealing commentary too. This is all historical information folks, and that's the way I'm presenting it. Did you ever look in research or history books for any information about Charles Taze Russell and see what is said about Mrs. Russell? Usually the statement is exactly what C. T. said in the divorce hearings about why their marriage broke up. He accused her of being a women's rights proponent and her motive for the divorce suit was revenge because he refused to permit her to take control of their religious journal to spread her women's rights ideas. That was absolutely untrue as you will read in the Introduction to "The Writings of Maria Russell."

In the future, I'll be revealing lots more commentary about the Russells which could be called, "future light."

Barbara

Dogpatch

Thanks Barb!

Wow, leave it to you to come out with new stuff like this, when we thought it was all exhausted. Should be a good read!

You say,

I was working on the Proclaimers book in the Writing Dept., I had decided that the pastor could be both humble and arrogant at the same time

In my work with cults and interventions, I find that leaders MOST OFTEN have this trait. They need the humble to woo you in, and the arrogant side to keep you from going out the back door!

Don't know how much it applied to Russell, but I guess I'll have to find out.

Randy

IronClaw

Great work Barb. Wonder if Charles had any origianl ideas of his own. Seems like he took most of his ideas from other groups such as the Adventists and the Christadelphians. Makes one wonder?

The Claw.

golf2

Thanks for sharing your informative work. I'm sharing this info with my family members.

I wish you all the best and good health.

Summer wine

This is definitely a book mark topic

Thanks

snowbird

Thank you so much.

I love history, and I've been researching what little I can find on Maria Russell.

She was was well-educated, well-written, and well-spoken. I'm almost certain Russell resented, yet exploited, her intelligence.

I've read This Gospel of the Kingdom and The Twain One. I can see why Russell accused her of harboring women's rights sensibilities. Old Fool. LOL.

Thanks again.

Sylvia

mary stewart

too bad it ain;t free. no mony right now. :(

In memory of Charles Taze Russell who died 92 years ago.

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