Bible Students Movement

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The Bible Students Movement is a non-Trinitarian Christian faith movement founded by Charles Taze Russell . The movement evolved from 19th century American Adventism . The original self-name was International Bible Students Association . In Germany their followers became known as "Serious Bible Students". It has led to the formation of many more communities, most of which have departed from Pastor Russell's original teachings. The best-known religious community that emerged from this are the Jehovah's Witnesses .

Historical development of the various groups of Bible Students

Early history

In 1869, at the age of seventeen , Ch. T. Russell attended an Adventist meeting led by preacher Jonas Wendell. In 1876 he was co-editor of the Adventist magazine The Herald of the Morning (The Herald of the morning) . In 1879, Russell himself began to publish a magazine called Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence . The Watchtower initially had the same readership as the Herald. The circulation increased rapidly and the readers from then on referred to themselves as Bible Students. Other personalities besides Ch. T. Russell influenced the Bible Students' Movement :

In the early years there was already a separation of individuals and entire groups. However, these can be summarized in three major schisms:

  • The first schism resulted in 1909 establishing the Free Bible Students (Free Bible Students) .
  • The second schism from 1916 to 1919 was about internal power struggles in the leadership of the Watchtower Society after Russell's death. During this time, was Laymen's Home Missionary Movement (Laymen's Home Missionary Movement) and the Pastoral Bible Institute. In Switzerland in 1919 the supporters of Alexandre Freytag united to form the Church of the Kingdom of God , which in 1920 broke with the Watchtower Society.
  • The third schism resulted in the foundation of the Dawn Bible Students Association in 1931 , which joined the Serious Bible Students .

Free Bible Students

As early as 1909, various assemblies in the USA separated from the Watchtower Society , as the central institution was increasingly arguing that Charles Taze Russell was the “faithful and wise servant” ( Mt 24 : 45-47  EU ). This separation came to be known as the first great schism among Bible Students. Hundreds of the 10,000 Bible Students at the time left. The departed then formed their own community and from then on referred to themselves as Free Bible Students .

In 1928 an Italian-speaking congregation of Bible Students left the Watchtower Society in the USA and founded the Christian Millennial Fellowship. Since 1940, it has published its own magazine , The New Creation ; this is sent to over 45 countries.

In the same year the former WT branch overseer Conrad C. Binkele and other like-minded people founded the “Free Bible Students Association” in Germany. In rejection of the authoritarian leadership of the Watchtower Society, a Bible Students' meeting in Kirchlengern near Herford also split up in 1931 . The new work began in Germany with house groups that formed in and around Kirchlengern near Herford under the direction of Wilhelm Trippler.

A special exception in the teaching of the Free Bible Students compared to the other Bible Students groupings is the teaching of Jesus Christ, whom they do not interpret as a created being, but rather regard him as being begotten by the Father for ages and therefore the Son also has the nature (substance) of the Father ( Joh 1,1-4  EU ).

Free Bible Students congregations can now be found in 45 countries.

Serious Bible Students

The largest split occurred in 1916 when Joseph Franklin Rutherford took over the helm of the Watchtower Society. In 1918 a separate general meeting of the Bible Students was held for the first time separately from the Watchtower Society. In the second general meeting a few months later, the Pastoral Bible Institute was founded and finally its own magazine was published. The magazine The Herald of the Kingdom of Christ is still published monthly to this day.

In 1928 a large number of them left the Watchtower Society and, with the help of the Brooklyn Bible Students' Church, founded the radio program: "Frank and Ernst", which was also broadcast in Europe on Radio Luxembourg and is still broadcast in the United States today on radio and television becomes. In 1931 the Dawn Biblical Study Association was founded and the magazine The Dawn - A Herald of the Presence of Christ was published. In Germany, this community has had its own assemblies since 1948. The individual congregations are not under any central direction, the Dawn Bible Studies Association and the Pastoral Bible Institute only act as publishers for the various worldwide congregations. A German branch office is located in Ober-Ramstadt .

Lay Home Missionary Movement

Paul S. L. Johnson founded the Laity Home Missions Movement (LHMB) in 1919. Internal contradictions led to further splinter groups in this community when Johnson died in 1950; thus the Laodicea Home Laity Mission Movement and the Epiphany Bible Students Association came into being. There are currently around 16,000 members of this community worldwide. The plant is administered by Ralph M. Herzig; a German branch office is located in Schwelm .

Jehovah's Witnesses

After Pastor Russell's death in 1916, Joseph Franklin Rutherford was elected President of the Watchtower, accompanied by internal tensions . The numerous innovations under his leadership led to the separation and establishment of further Bible Students communities. The Bible Students who remained associated with the Watchtower Society adopted the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" in 1931.

Persecution in the time of National Socialism

Because of their insubordination towards the rulers, for example the refusal of the Hitler salute and military service, but also because of helping Jews out of Christian charity, supporters of the Biblical Research Movement soon came into the sights of the National Socialists. In addition to Jews, Sinti and Roma, socialists, communists and homosexuals, they were treated as a separate “category” of persecuted people and prisoners under the name Bible Students . In the concentration camps they were given their own label - the purple triangle .

Other

In the GDR , the Bible Students have been in a difficult position since the 1950 ban. Many were arrested and others turned away. In 1945 Paul Balzereit founded the "Association of Freestanding Christians" . During the same period of time, the “Federation of Free Christian Congregations” with local “Free Christian Congregations” was established under the direction of Alfred Diener. The first of the two churches adheres largely to the teachings of Russell, while the other is more reticent about these teachings.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ History of Jehovah's Witnesses
  2. ↑ Jehovah's Witnesses - Herald of the Kingdom of God. Watchtower Society, Chapter 5, p. 45.
  3. ↑ A Brief History ( Memento of November 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Russell, Charles Taze. In: Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved November 30, 2017 .
  5. ^ Oswald Eggenberger: The churches, special groups and religious associations. End-Time Churches, p. 135.
  6. ↑ Jehovah's Witnesses - Herald of the Kingdom of God. Watchtower Society, Chapter 5, p. 43.
  7. ↑ Hans-Diether Reimer religious communities outside the churches. ISBN 3-7918-6005-4 , In the shadow of the watchtower, p. 44.
  8. ↑ Tony Wills: A People For His Name . Lulu Enterprises, 2006, ISBN 978-1-4303-0100-4 , pp. 63-68.
  9. ↑ M. James Penton: Apocalypse Delayed - The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses. University of Toronto Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8020-7973-3 , p. 42.
  10. ↑ Who are the Free Bible Students and what is their history? ( Memento from August 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ a b The CMF Annual Report for 2009 , No. 3, 2010.
  12. ↑ Handbook of Christian Doctrine , Chapter 1 - The Origins of the Free Bible Students, Bible Studies Association, 2010, p. 23.
  13. ↑ Christliche Warte , Vol. 7, August 1955, p. 87.
  14. ↑ Detlef Garbe : Between resistance and martyrdom . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag , 1999, ISBN 978-3-486-56404-4 , p. 36 . ; see. Jonathan A. Wright : Shapers of the great debate on the freedom of religion . Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005, ISBN 978-0-313-31889-4 , pp. 184 (English).
  15. ^ Oswald Eggenberger: The churches, special groups and religious associations. Daybreak Bible Study Association, p. 142.
  16. ↑ The daybreak , imprint p. 2.
  17. ^ Journal of the Present Truth. Spring 2007, pp. 9-10.