What Was Nathan Knorr Like Compared To The Other Presidents?

by AvocadoJake 17 Replies latest jw experiences

  • AvocadoJake
    AvocadoJake

    Brother Knorr is rarely mentioned in the Awake or Watchtower and I don't really know much about him. Is there a reason why Brother Knorr does not receive as much mention as Brother Russell, Rutherford or even Frantz? Can you help me understand why he was like? I am too new to remember who he is and what he did for the Organization. As always, thank you for taking the time to respond with your insights!

  • ScenicViewer
    ScenicViewer

    Knorr was mainly an organization man. He expanded the preaching work of JWs greatly, as well as advanced so called 'Theocratic' education in the religion by starting a few schools.

    (Going by memory, and I may be wrong, he started the missionary school of Gilead and the Theocratic Ministry School in the congregations.)

    He had Franz behind him as the prophecy man in the organization. Franz was responsible for the 1975 understandings, which came during Knorr's administration. I see them as being a team, more so than any other duo in the organization.

  • EmptyInside
    EmptyInside

    Hi AvocadoJake,if you use the search button on this site and write in Knorr,you will come up with a lot of information.

  • Aussie Oz
    Aussie Oz

    From the Watchtower/JW perspective i think Knorr was a nobody.

    Russell started the ball rolling and although they turned table on all his ideas, they love him as founder

    Rutherford had fire and fight, he was king and held in awe today

    Knorr who? Ok he was in charge thru the big years of growth but had no personality worth spruking in the WT

    Franz was the darling scholar and oh how the JW love to espouse his virtues

    and anyone after that had even less worth writing about than knorr...

    oz

  • darth frosty
    darth frosty

    Knorr hated bethelites!

    I shit you not what does that tell you about the man? If you can read newboys bethel stories he really tells about life under knorrs regime.

  • Sobeit
    Sobeit

    His first speech as president was disappointing to the faithful; but he got better.

    His new deputies wrecked havoc in my congretation. Our lovely brother, whom we all adored, was not allowed

    to lead the congregation in song as he didn't go out in service. He was rudely told to get off the podium.

    (This man came from a very prominent Cleveland family.)

    No one could sit separately behind a table in the back of the hall, but had to sit with with the audience.

    This all may seem minor, but our congregation was special with loving people who had endured the

    Depression and the hardships of WWII. They were tolerant of one another and there was no hint of intolerance

    between those who were well-to-do and those who were not.

    Thanks for listening.

  • Band on the Run
    Band on the Run

    Bethelites, esp. those who worked in the factory, hated him! He was very nasty. I never heard such venom about Franz. It may be because my relatives were not in the brain dept.

    Knorr was responsible for the vast expansion. No one seemed to take his religious views seriously. Everyone deferred to Franz. He was an extraordinary public speaker. The wT became a true worldwide religion under his tenure. His executive skills were his attribute. Mr. Organization! No one could fire up rank and file Witnesses as KNorr. As a child and teenager, I always felt so lonely being a Witness. Perhaps b.c he discussed expansion and not theology that much, I felt part of a large group when he spoke. His public talk was the key one. Franz could get tedious.

    It is very strange to hear that he is obscure now b/c he was the towering presence in my day. Perhaps those on the GB old enough to serve during his tenure did not like him on a personal level. It did not seem so much an expansion policy as his strong leadership. I would love to read about the relationship between Knorr and Franz. Two big leaders and yet no public tension that I recall. They defined their spheres of influence. I believed Franz was a mental giant. In my mind, he had to have degrees from Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge, with a German university thrown in. He seemed to be Nobel Laureate material. What a crock.

  • jookbeard
    jookbeard

    likely to have been a closet homosexual, as was F Franz, why was the homosexuality of predatory abuser of young boys and fellow Governing Body member Leo Greenlees covered up for so long? ditto fellow homosexual and GB member and BoD's for decades Ewart Chitty.

  • dogisgod
    dogisgod

    I actually met him once when I was a pre-teen. Nothing. I do remember an elder asking me once why I thought the gov bod at that time all had German names. Didn't know what to think about that. Knorr was just boring.

  • greenhornet
    greenhornet

    I meet Nathen Knor when I was about 10 at bethel. He told me not to play in the elevators and sit with my family.

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