A Separate Identity: Organizational Identity Among Readers of Zion’s Watch ... By B. W. Schulz (page 2)

sparrowdown

Vidiot - hey don't knock it. It works for the Aluminati and Dr Evil and all the Bond villians and Nth Korea......

In fact, volume 2 of Separate Identity is in preparation. They post bits of it on their blog. They also posted a request for documents and such for The third book in the series. Having written a few books myself, I can tell you that history books do not spring into being over night, at least the worth while ones don't.

Visit their blog regularly. They some times post rough draft chapters, though only temporarily. I read their blog compulsively.

I should say that I know both authors. I used to work with Mr. Schulz at Conventions, usually in the news service department. And Dr. de Vienne lives across the Columbia River from me. She meets me for coffee about one a month or so and tells me about their current research. If she had been one of my students, I'd brag a bunch, but she wasn't.

Last I heard, they're about half or more done with volume 2 and collecting material for the third book in this series. Book 1 was Nelson Barbour: The Millennium's Forgotten Prophet.

Old Goat

Also, according to Schulz and de Vienne, that chart of origins is significantly wrong. They prove it so with contemporary documentation.

millie210

So if I understand what I read, they dont think Russell was a Millerite?

talesin

Thanks for that link, Old Goat. This stuff is fascinating. Also, I commented on one of their requests for info, regarding my family's name and location - they were in the religion in the 1800s. It would be very cool if that helps them to 'connect some dots'. : D

Finkelstein

Russell got connected and drawn into Adventist theology through Nelson Barbour.

The Magazine published by Barbour..

Barbour was the son of David Barbour and the grandson of Friend Barbour. Both the family and official documents use the spelling "Barbour" and its alternative spelling "Barber".

He was related to a number of prominent New Yorkers including Dio Lewis. He attended Temple Hill Academy at Geneseo, New York, from 1839 to 1842. While at Temple Hill he also studied for the Methodist Episcopal ministry with an Elder Ferris, possibly William H. Ferris.[2]

Barbour was introduced to Millerism through the efforts of a Mr. Johnson who lectured at Geneseo, in the winter of 1842. Barbour associated with other Millerites living in that area. These included Owen Crozier, William Marsh, Daniel Cogswell and Henry F. Hill. Cogswell later became president of the New York Conference of the Advent Christian Church. Hill became a prominent author associated with the Evangelical Adventists.

Nelson H. Barbour

Adventists in the Geneseo area met in Springwater to await the second coming in 1843. Their disappointment was profound, and Barbour suffered a crisis of faith. He later wrote: "We held together until the autumn of 1844. Then, as if a raft floating in deep water should suddenly disappear from under its living burden, so our platform went from under us, and we made for shore in every direction; but our unity was gone, and, like drowning men, we caught at straws."[3]

Barbour pursued a medical career, becoming a medical electrician—a therapist who treated disease through the application of electric current, which was seen as a valid therapy at the time.

He went to Australia to prospect for gold, returning via London in 1859. Barbour claimed to have preached during his time in Australia.[4] A ship-board discussion with a clergyman reactivated his interest in Bible prophecy. He consulted books on prophetic themes at the British Library and became convinced that 1873 would mark the return of Christ, based on ideas advanced by others since at least as early as 1823.

Returning to the United States, Barbour settled in New York City, continuing his studies in the Astor Library. When fully convinced, he wrote letters and visited those whom he felt might best spread his message, though few were interested.

Barbour became an inventor and associated with Peter Cooper, the founder of Cooper Union. He patented several inventions. By 1863 he was in medical practice, dividing his time between Auburn and Rochester, New York. He returned to London in 1864 to demonstrate one of his inventions. He used his association with other inventors and scientists to spread his end-times doctrine, and some of his earliest associates in that belief were inventors and physicians.

He published something[clarification needed] as early as 1868, though it has been lost.[5] In 1871 he wrote and published a small book entitled Evidences for the Coming of the Lord in 1873, or The Midnight Cry, which had two printings. Articles by Barbour also appeared in the Second Adventist press, notably the World’s Crisis.

As 1873 approached, various groups began advocating it as significant. Jonas Wendell led one, another centered on the magazine The Watchman's Cry[clarification needed], and the rest were associated with Barbour. British Barbourites were represented by Elias H. Tuckett, a clergyman. Many gathered at Terry Island to await the return of Christ in late 1873. Barbour and others looked to the next year, which also proved disappointing.

Led by Benjamin Wallace Keith, an associate of Barbour's since 1867, the group adopted the belief in a two-stage, initially invisible presence. They believed that Christ had indeed come in 1874 and would soon become visible for judgments. Barbour started a magazine in the fall of 1873 to promote his views, calling it The Midnight Cry. It was first issued as a pamphlet, with no apparent expectation of becoming a periodical. He quickly changed the name to Herald of the Morning, issuing it monthly from January 1874.

Herald of the Morning, July 1878
showing Barbour as Editor

In December 1875, Charles Taze Russell, then a businessman from Allegheny, received a copy of Herald of the Morning. He met the principals in the Barbourite movement and arranged for Barbour to speak in Philadelphia in 1876. Barbour and Russell began their association, during which Barbour wrote the book Three Worlds (1877) and published a small booklet by Russell entitled Object and Manner of Our Lord’s Return. Beginning in 1878, they each wrote conflicting views on Ransom and Atonement doctrine. By May 3, 1879, Russell wrote that their "points of variance seem to me to be so fundamental and important that... I feel that our relationship should cease." In a May 22, 1879 letter to Barbour, Russell explicitly resigned: "Now I leave the 'Herald' with you. I withdraw entirely from it, asking nothing from you . . . Please announce in next No. of the 'Herald' the dissolution and withdraw my name [as assistant editor on the masthead]." In July 1879, Russell began publishing Zion's Watch Tower, the principal journal of the Bible Student movement. (Several years after Russell's death, the magazine became associated with Jehovah's Witnesses and was renamed The Watchtower.)[6]

Beth Sarim

''They really play the "chosen by God in the last days" card to the hilt. If you say it enough and want it enough it MUST be true I guess''

An observation lately. I was talking to someone who I know is a big Elder, a Watchtower conductor. He told me along the line that the publications/magazines or whatever are mentioning the Last Days, Armageddon and The End less and less these if at all.

Just thought I would share that observation. Found it kind of odd after decades and decades of having End Times drubbed into your head.

Old Goat

By the time Russell met Barbour, Barbour was no longer an Adventist. Russell says this. Barbour switched to Mark Allen's version of One Faith, the Church of the Blessed Hope.

Read chapter four in Separate Identity. Learn something new.

Schulz and de Vienne dissect Russellite doctrine in detail, showing sources and books they read. Russellite doctrine is not Adventist.

Beth Sarim

Thanks for the tip.

talesin

John Nelson Darby (The Exclusive Brethren) did extensive preaching in New England and Canada during his later years. The language and belief system of that cult is so much like the JWS. is there evidence that Russell and he were connected, or that Russell borrowed some of his teachings?

A Separate Identity: Organizational Identity Among Readers of Zion’s Watch ... By B. W. Schulz

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