The Role of Religious Journals in the Restoration Movement

“Christian freedom and academic freedom are enjoined in common cause—to seek truth without interference” (Diekema 75). Religious journals were significant in the formation of the Restoration Movement. Through the various journals, the Stone-Campbell movement solidified as well as progressed. One could not completely understand the Restoration Movement without a comprehension of the role of the journals because of the considerable influence the editors of these publications wielded.

This paper will survey the various major journals in the restoration movement. It will begin with the early journals of influence and progress to the modern journals of today. Also, these modern publications will be categorized into the major theological groupings of conservative, liberal, and scholarly. Moreover, the importance of the journals will be discussed by examining the unifying power of the papers as well as the divisive nature of the papers. The journals in the restoration movement either unite or divide the body of Christ.

Journals Past and Present

The Scholarly Journals in the Stone-Campbell Movement

Most of the publications in the Restoration Movement were not scholarly in the treatment of scripture. They were written by the common student of the Bible for the common man in the pew. But there have were endeavors to present a scholarly voice in the church of Christ wing of the Stone-Campbell tradition. The Restoration Quarterly was started in 1957 by J.W. Roberts, who was a professor at Abilene Christian College, which is now Abilene Christian University. This Journal was the first attempt at scholarly journal among the churches of Christ (Hooper 229). This journal is still in circulation on a quarterly basis but mostly serves professors and graduate students in the restoration tradition. The Restoration Quarterly typically deals with exegetical concerns in the Bible while another scholarly journal called the Discipliana focuses on a scholarly treatment of restoration history. This journal was first produced by Claude Spencer in 1941 and continues in circulation today.

Another attempt to produce a semi-scholarly quarterly publication was produced in 2002. James Farris and Odis D. Duncan produced the Journal of Biblical Interpretation and Application. This journal was an attempt to provide a more conservative voice in church of Christ scholarship. Unfortunately, this journal is not being published any longer, and has been transformed into a digital journal that one can only read on the internet (Duncan and Farris i).

The Foundational Journals in the Stone-Campbell Movement

The next group of journals laid the foundation for the tremendous spread of the restoration ideal. These early papers were directed toward the average man in search of God. The first journal ever officially produced for the Stone-Campbell movement was the Herald of Gospel Liberty. This publication was edited by Elias Smith and lasted from 1808 to 1817 (Hooper 328).

Probably the two most influential journals in the early years of the churches of Christ were both edited by Alexander Campbell. The first publication that Alexander Campbell produced was called the Christian Baptist to appeal to a Baptist audience. Campbell started this paper in 1823 and ceased running it in 1830. At that time, he began to produce the Millennial Harbinger from 1830 to 1870. Also, W.K. Pendleton was the editor after Campbell died. These two journals were seen as an authority on the various issues that were circulating throughout the Stone-Campbell churches (Hooper 328).

Two other influential restoration leaders had journals. Barton W. Stone produced the Christian Messenger from 1826 to 1845 and Walter Scott printed the Evangelist from 1832 to 1842. Both of these journals had an important voice in the early years of the movement, but it was Campbell’s journals that carried the thought of the movement along.

There are some other early major journals that influenced the Restoration Movement. A survey of religious journals in the Stone-Campbell movement would not be complete unless one mentions the Gospel Advocate and the Christian Standard. The Gospel Advocate was started by Tolbert Fanning in 1855 but had to cease publication during the Civil War years. After the war, David Lipscomb became editor of this major influence in the churches of Christ. The Gospel Advocate was the voice in the church for the south while the Christian Standard, which was founded in 1866 by Isaac Errett, spoke for the churches in the North. The Gospel Advocate and the Christian Standard were most widely circulated journals, but the American Christian Review, the Lard’s Quarterly, and the Apostolic Times were read through the middle decades of the 1800’s (Hooper 328).

Modern Journals in the Stone-Campbell Movement

Douglas Foster in his book Will the Cycle be Unbroken? identifies some of the major modern journals within the churches of Christ. Though the book is dated because it was published in 1994 and some of the listed journals are no longer published, nevertheless it is a valuable source in highlighting the spectrum of religious thought within the movement. Foster lists eight journals and surveys the editors on various theological views (82). The magazines that he listed are: Christian Chronicle (which functions more like a newspaper than a biblical journal), Contending for the Faith, Firm Foundation, Gospel Advocate, Image, 21^st Century Christian, World Evangelist, and Wineskins. In Foster’s survey, Wineskins, Image, 21^st Century Christian and the Christian Chronicle were more on the progressive side of religious controversy while the Gospel Advocate, World Evangelist, Contending for the Faith, and Firm Foundation were more on the conservative side. Wineskins was the most progressive paper while the Firm Foundation and Contending for the Faith were the most conservative journals (Foster 82).

The journals that Foster lists are just a small sample of the hundreds of local published journals that are produced by the people in the churches of Christ. In October of 2001, the Harding Graduate School of Religion compiled a list of periodicals associated with the churches of Christ. This list includes 113 journals within the churches of Christ (www.hugsr.edu).

Journals—Uniting or Dividing

If there was ever any doubt whether the printed page in the churches of Christ was powerful, all one must do is look at the empire of journals that Foy E. Wallace used to defeat Premillennialism in the churches of Christ. Wallace used journals to fight against perceived heresy within the church. He was the editor of the Gospel Advocate from 1930 to 1934. After he left the Advocate, he established his own paper called the Gospel Guardian which he used as a “watchdog” on the brotherhood. Then in 1938 he issued the Bible Banner, which was another avenue for Wallace to spread his influence and views on the church. Wallace’s papers were the uniting glue that forced the churches of Christ to remain united on the issue of premillennialism. Foy Wallace’s immense power in the churches of Christ grew through the spread of his journals throughout the brotherhood (Hughes 160-161).

Even though the religious journals in the churches of Christ were able to maintain unity, typically they were a means of division. In the Christian Church in Henderson, Tennessee, the congregation disagreed about the use of the instrumental music for eighteen years without dividing. But in 1902, an influential editor bishop from Nashville came to town to conduct a Gospel Meeting, and following the meeting, the congregation divided to form a separate church (Garrett 309). Churches divide because of powerful figures fighting over control of the correct way to interpret Bible doctrine. These powerful bishop editors rose to power and influence through the publications that they oversaw. Leroy Garrett is convinced that issues did not divide the Restoration Movement but rather the ego of powerful editors within the Stone-Campbell tradition (326-329).

Moreover, Gary Holloway and Douglas A. Foster also attribute much of the division in the Restoration Movement to religious journals and the editors that oversaw them. The authors are shocked that a movement that does not contain any ecclesiastical order above the local congregation could officially divide. The two authors charge the division to the work of traveling preachers and religious papers. They say that we “fundamentally divide as we united, congregation by congregation, through the influence of religious editors and powerful preachers” (93). Many times the powerful preachers became authoritative through the journals that they edited.

Conclusion

The role of the religious journals has been important in the development and progress of the restoration ideal of rebuilding the primitive faith of the first century Christians. Sometimes the press was used to unite the body of believers, but sadly the journals were also used to divide the Body of Christ. Nevertheless, one cannot doubt the influence of the printed page in the Restoration Movement.

WORKS CITED

Diekema, Anthony J. Academic Freedom & Christian Scholarship. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 2000.

Duncan Odis, D and James Farris. Journal of Biblical Interpretation and Application 1
(2002) : i.

Foster, Douglas A. Will the Cycle be Unbroken: Churches of Christ Face the 21^st
Century. Abilene: ACU Press, 1994.

Garrett, Leroy, The Stone-Campbell Movement: The Story of the American Restoration
Movement. Joplin: College Press, 1997.

Holloway, Gary, and Douglas A. Foster. Renewing God’s People: A Concise History of
Churches of Christ. Abilene: ACU Press, 2001.

Hooper, Robert E. A Distinct People: A History of the Churches of Christ in the 20^th
Century. West Monroe: Howard, 1993.

http://www.hugsr.edu/library/CofC%20Journals%20List%20Oct202001.htm

Hughes, Richard T. Reviving the Ancient Faith: The Story of Churches of Christ in
America. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.