Charles Taze Russell

Charles Taze Russell

Charles Taze Russell (born February 16, 1852 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , † October 31, 1916 in Pampa , Texas ) was a co-founder of the religious publishing company, referred to in short as the Watchtower Society (in Varia since 1884 Watchtower Bible and Tract Society ), and the subsequent religious community of the International Bible Students' Association (1910), today's Jehovah's Witnesses (1931). During Russell's lifetime and in the transition period after his death, there were separations ( schisms ) and new communities of Bible Students were founded .

Youth and early development

Charles Taze Russell was the son of Joseph Lytel and Ann Elisa Birney Russell, both of Scottish - Irish descent. He was the second of five children. His mother died when he was nine years old. His father joined the Congregationalist Church after her death .

Russell was irritated by some of the teachings of his church. He did not understand how a God of love could order eternal torment for sinners. In 1869 he was encouraged by the Adventist preacher Jonas Wendell to devote himself intensively to the study of the Bible . Russell later commented: “So I confess that I owe thanks to Adventists as well as to other denominations .” Adventists focused on the Second Coming (Advent) of Jesus, and the theme of the end times remained central to Russell. The forecast of the second coming of Jesus for 1874, as advocated by some Adventists, led to a great disappointment.

In 1870 he and friends founded a group to study the Bible . By 1875 they formed the opinion from the Bible that

1. there is no immortal soul , but immortality is granted as a gift in the heavenly kingdom,
2. Jesus' death is a ransom sacrifice for all people,
3. the second coming of Christ will initially take place invisibly in order to gather his own,
4. that the second coming of Christ was not primarily intended to be annihilated, but to be a blessing for humanity.

Collaboration and delimitation

In 1876 Russell received a copy of The Herald of the Morning magazine , published in Rochester by the Adventist Nelson H. Barbour . Barbour convinced Russell that 1874 was correct, but that Christ's return was invisible. This reinterpretation allowed the calculations to be maintained. Russell restricted his business activities and supported Barbour's magazine, of which he became co-editor and financier. Together they also published the book Three Worlds, and the Harvest of This World , in which they explained reasons for the alleged return of Christ in 1874 and for "the earthly phase of the kingdom of God" (End of the Times of the Nations, "Seven Times") ) carried out in 1914.

The parallels, in: Watchtower Society (Hrsg.): Beröer Handbuch zum Bibleunterricht , Barmen 1912, Appendix page 76.

Barbour and Russell worked together until early 1879; then Russell broke up, believing that their views were too different as to the value of the ransom sacrifice . Russell then founded his own Christian magazine , namely Zion's Watch Tower and Herold of Christ's Presence , which appeared from July 1879 with an initial circulation of 6,000 copies and continues to appear today as The Watchtower .

In 1881 the Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was established with William Henry Conley as President and CT Russell as Secretary and Treasurer. In 1884 it was incorporated under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania and Russell became president.

On March 13, 1879, Russell married Maria Frances Ackley (1850-1938). The marriage remained childless. In 1897 she separated from him - there were serious differences of opinion among the editorial staff of the watchtower. In 1906 she filed for divorce.

One of Russell's end-of-life projects was the Photo-Drama of Creation (1914), a multimedia portrayal of the history of the Bible, performed with films and slides while they were synchronized with records. All films and slides were colored by hand. The demonstration lasted eight hours. The project was a great success. It is estimated that the photo drama was seen by eight million people worldwide.

Main work: Scripture studies

→ Main article : Scripture studies

His extensive literature also includes the book series "Millennium Daybreak", which appeared in 1886 and was renamed " Scripture Studies" in 1904 . Russell wrote six volumes. By 1916 just under 9.4 million copies had been published. The seventh volume, the content of which was based only in part on what Russell had written, appeared shortly after his death in 1917. In it, Russell's self-image was formulated as follows:

"Pastor Russell's warning to Christianity came directly from God ... In all of his warnings, he did not claim originality. He said he could never have written his books himself. Everything came from God through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. "

Volume 1 was entitled The Divine Plan of the Ages . Russell believed that he had recognized God's chronological plan contained in the Bible: The so-called "great tribulation" began in 1874, which brought the overthrow of all worldly and ecclesiastical powers - by 1914 at the latest, from then on God's Kingdom would be full rule in the world.

In 1914 there was no peace in the world, but a great war began in Europe. For the male Bible Students, first and foremost in Germany and later also in the USA, the question arose of how they would behave when they were called up for military service. Russell had commented on this in Volume 6, The New Creation , by which the newborn Christian was meant. Russell explained:

“But if a New Creation should be ordered to serve in the line, it would have to obey the command and assume that the Lord, who allowed this, wants to do something good for the dug out or for others. If in this case it is not possible to be transferred to the medical troops by briefly informing the officer in charge of your principles, stay in line, but remember that the order to shoot a fellow man is not owed to obedience. "

During the First World War, the German Watchtower editions regularly had a section “Letters from our brotherhood in the field.” In this section, letters from Bible Students who were soldiers at the front were printed.

Death and Succession in the Watchtower Society

Charles Taze Russell died on October 31, 1916 on a train driving home from a lecture tour in Pampas, Texas. In his will , he designated a five-member editorial committee for the Watchtower and other persons who could replace individual members of this editorial committee. Since two of the named members resigned from the start for personal reasons, they were replaced by two people from a "replacement list". One of them was the Watchtower Lawyer Joseph F. Rutherford . In January 1917, Rutherford was elected Russell's successor to the presidency at the annual general meeting of the Watchtower Society.

Bible Students following Russell

Historical development of the various groups of Bible Students

In 1907, Russell came to the conclusion that the New Covenant would apply to Israel in the future, not to Christians. This created a heated controversy among Bible Students. In addition, Russell was called in his own circles more and more as the "faithful and clever servant". These differences led to the first split. In 1909 the New Covenant Bible Students and the New Covenant Believers came into being , now known collectively as the Free Bible Students .

In 1916 the Solemn Bible Students and in 1919 the Laity Home Mission Movement separated . In 1931, through further changes in the teaching of the WT Society, the Dawn Bible Studies Association was formed , which many Serious Bible Students then joined. All of these communities refer historically to Russell and are referred to as the Bible Students Movement .

See also

• Pyramidology

Co-editor of the following works (selection)

• Three Worlds, and the Harvest of This World , around 1877
• Millennium Daybreak and Scripture Studies , 6 and 7 volumes, from 1886
• Photo-drama of creation , multimedia representation of the Bible story
• The Herald of the Morning , regular journal, 1876–1879
• Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence , periodical, published July 1879

literature

• Kurt Hutten : seers - brooders - enthusiasts. The Book of Traditional Sects and Special Religious Movements ; Source: Stuttgart, 12th edition 1982; ISBN 3-7918-2130-X ; Pp. 80-140
• Franz Stuhlhofer : Charles T. Russell and the Jehovah's Witnesses. The incorrigible prophet ; Berneck, 3rd edition 1994, ISBN 3-85666293-6 .

Web links

• Biography of Ch. T. Russell of the Lay Home Mission Movement
• Watchtower (German) 1897–1916 (171 issues, total of 2609 copies)
• Testament of Ch. T. Russell

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Irving Hexham: Jehovah's Witnesses . In: Religion in Past and Present - Concise Dictionary for Theology and Religious Studies , Vol. 8, HD Betz u. a. (Ed.). Mohr Siebeck Verlag , Tübingen 1998-2007 (4th edition). ISBN 3-16-146941-0 . Sp. 1851
2. ^ Oswald Eggenberger , The Churches, Special Groups and Religious Associations. A manual , TVZ, Zurich 1969, p. 135.
3. ↑ Helmut Obst : Apostles and Prophets of the Modern Age V&R, Göttingen 2000. ISBN 3-525-55438-9 . Pp. 418, 420, 422ff.
4. ↑ The Photodrama of Creation ( Memento of the original from January 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Pastor Russell: The Perfected Mystery (Scripture Studies; 7), Watchtower Biblical and Tract Society 1917, p. 34 (in the 1925 edition, slightly reformulated, on p. 529), from the commentary on Ezekiel 3:17, edited by George H. Fisher.
6. ↑ Vol. 6 appeared in 1904 and was reprinted until the 1920s. The quote can be found in the 1922 edition on p. 552 (in Study 14 , which begins there on p. 525).
7. ↑ Quotations from it in Stuhlhofer: Russell , pp. 183–193.
8. ↑ Our Advocate, the Mediator of the World ( Memento from August 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) in: The Watchtower , July 1907, p. 112.