article

The Bible Student movement is a religious movement that sprang from the teachings and ministry of Pastor Charles Taze Russell, whose followers generally call themselves "Bible Students". Following a schism after Russell’s death, several offshoot groups formed, some of which have today moved away from the doctrines of Pastor Russell. The most prominent group of the movement today is the Jehovah's Witnesses, although there are still thousands of Bible Students worldwide.

Early history

Apart from Charles Taze Russell early figures and influences included:

The Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses were formed following a schism that broke out among Bible Students beginning in 1917. In 1931, those who remained faithful to Joseph Rutherford, as well as his particular views and organizational structure, took the name Jehovah's Witnesses. Those Bible Students who refused to recognize the Watch Tower Society in its newly designated role as God's mouthpiece were condemned as heretical. Although the schism resulted in nearly three-quarters of the original membership fleeing, Rutherford along with his appointed Board of Directors maintained control of the official organs of the Bible Society itself, including its offices, publications, and official journal - the Watchtower magazine. The Annual Report of Jehovah's Witnesses for 2005 reports the active number of Witnesses worldwide to be 6.6 million. The descendants and adherents of those Bible Students who broke away are unofficially numbered worldwide at approximately 10,000.

The New Covenant Bible Students

In 1909, Pastor Russell more pointedly expressed that faithful Christians, as the "true church", were not being called and developed under the New Covenant, but rather that the New Covenant was future, a covenant applied to the nation of Israel.

This, and controversy over other doctrines, led some to a minor schism in 1910. The result was the formation of the New Covenant Bible Students, who began to hold their yearly Christian Believers Conferences, teaching that Christians were being called and developed under the New Covenant. Among the membership was E. C. Hennings, formerly Australian Branch Manager of the International Bible Students Association. He published The New Covenant Advocate and Kingdom Herald magazine, which continued to be published until 1944. The New Creation Bible Students formed out of this group, and began publishing the New Creation magazine in 1940, eventually leading to another offshoot group - the Christian Millennial Fellowship, which became a publishing house for the New Creation Bible Students.

M.L. McPhail, Pilgrim member of the Chicago Bible Students, disassociated himself from Russell's movement at the same time as the New Covenant controversy emerged, and led the New Covenant Bible Students in the United States, founding the New Covenant Believers in 1909. The group published The Kingdom Scribe magazine until 1975. The group still exists today under the name Berean Bible Students Church.

In 1928, the Italian Bible Students Association in Hartford, Connecticut withdrew its support from the Watchtower Society and changed its name to the Millennial Bible Students Church, then eventually to Christian Millennial Fellowship, Inc.. They eventually rejected many of Russell's writings as erroneous. The group is now located in New Jersey.

The Associated Bible Students

Many of the Bible Student congregations which hold to the writings and views of Pastor Russell refer to themselves under the generic title "Associated Bible Students". All congregations are autonomous, and despite use of this title, may not necessarily have contact with others. Those using this name are the largest segment resulting from the massive exodus from the Watchtower Society in the decade following Russell's death in 1916. This occurred after Joseph Franklin Rutherford was elected the new president, and began changing the doctrinal platform and organizational structure Russell had supported.

In 1917, four members of the Board of Directors for the Watchtower Society were expelled by Rutherford on a legal technicality. In 1918 they held the first Bible Student Convention independent of the Watchtower Society. At the second convention a few months later, the informal Pastoral Bible Institute was founded. They began publishing The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom, edited by R. E. Streeter. Although the magazine continues to be published today *, the Pastoral Bible Institute is essentially defunct, with only an editorial committee publishing the magazine.

The Australian Berean Bible Institute also formally separated from the Watchtower Society in 1918. They published The Voice and the People's Paper magazine. Offshoot congregations of the BBI still exist, but the full number of all Bible Students in Australia is estimated at less than 100.

In December 1918, Charles E. Heard and some others, considered Rutherford's recommendation to buy war bonds to be a perversion of Russell's pacifist teachings. As a result, they founded the StandFast Bible Students Association in Portland, Oregon. The name originates from their decision to “stand fast" on war principles that Pastor Russell had espoused. Opposed to public witnessing, they eventually dwindled in numbers, and then completely dissolved, but not without giving birth to a splinter group known as the Elijah Voice Society, founded by John A. Herdersen and C. D. McCray in 1923. They were especially noted for their witnessing and pacifist activity.

In 1928, Norman Woodworth, cousin of C.J. Woodworth, left the Watchtower Society after having been involved with their radio ministry, to create the independent Bible Student radio program Frank and Earnest. Funding was provided with the help of the Brooklyn congregation of Bible Students. In 1931, the Dawn Bible Students Association was originally founded (by Norman Woodworth among others) for the sole purpose of again publishing the "Studies in the Scriptures" series that the Watchtower Society had officially ceased publishing in 1927. The Dawn began publication of a leaflet called The Bible Students Radio Echo as a method of following up interest in the radio program. This publication was soon made into a magazine and renamed "The Dawn and Herald of Christ’s Presence". It was initially a bi-monthly, and then later a monthly journal. Today, they carry on with publishing work, as well as radio and television programs. In recent years, controversy has surrounded the Dawn as they began to espouse more liberal points of view, pulling away from Charles Russell's viewpoints, and alienating many Bible Students as a result. In 1974 a group of Bible Students at a Convention in Fort Collins, Colorado formally decided to break fellowship with the Dawn Bible Students Association for this very reason. Although not an offshoot group per se, they refer to themselves as "Independent Bible Students". A committee that had been formed at this Convention decided to begin publishing a monthly non-doctrinal Bible Student news and information magazine, called "The Bible Students Newsletter". It has become what is now the most widely distributed publication amongst all Bible Students worldwide.

Although nearly all congregations, known as "Ecclesias" (from the Greek word for "called out ones") are under no central leadership, most of the well established Bible Student congregations and members remain firmly united and strongly linked, both through family ties and strong faith. Many Ecclesias sponsor yearly or bi-yearly conventions, usually held from April through October. Although the general public are invited, the majority in attendance are usually Bible Students from surrounding areas, or those who have travelled from abroad. Total attendance is usually less than one-hundred. The yearly Dawn General Convention (held in late Summer), Chicago Bible Student's New-Years-Eve Convention (held on December 31st), the Indiana-Ohio Convention (held in June or July), and Dawn International Convention (held biannually in Europe on even years during the month of August) see the largest overall attendance, sometimes numbering over two-thousand.

The Layman's Home Missionary Movement

Paul S. L. Johnson, eventually founded the Layman's Home Missionary Movement in 1919. Johnson's death in 1950 lead to internal disagreements, and resulted in the formation of splinter groups, such as the Epiphany Bible Students Association, and the Laodicean Home Missionary Movement. Johnson believed he was the last member of the 144,000, and that with his death all chance for a heavenly reward of immortality offered to the Christian faithful had ceased. His associate and successor, Raymond Jolly, taught that he was the last member of the "great multitude" of Revelation 7. Upon his death all remaining members of this group ceased any thought of entering heaven, and believed they would instead live upon a perfected earth in God's Kingdom as a group referred to as the "modern worthies", associates of the "ancient worthies" – the ancient Jewish prophets which God will resurrect to guide the world in his Kingdom.

Other groups

In 1917, Alexander F.L. Freytag, Branch manager of the Swiss Watch Tower Society since 1898, founded the Angel of Jehovah Bible and Tract Society (also known as the Philanthropic Assembly of the Friends of Man and The Church of the Kingdom of God, Philanthropic Assembly). When he started publishing his views he was ousted from the Watchtower Society by Rutherford in 1919. He published two journals, the monthly The Monitor of the Reign of Justice and the weekly Paper for All.

Jesse Hemery was one of the most prominent Bible Students of England, and had been appointed president of the International Bible Students Association by Pastor Russell in 1901, holding that post until 1946. In 1951, he was disfellowshipped by N.H. Knorr and then founded the Goshen Fellowship. He died in 1955, and the group, with a small fellowship, is currently led by Frank Lewis Brown.

See also

External links

Groups' websites:

Bible Students | Jehovah's Witnesses | New religious movements

Bibelforscher-Bewegung

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Bible Student movement".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world