James Taylor junior

James Taylor junior (born April 15, 1899 in New York , † October 14, 1970 ibid) was an American businessman and head of the Raven brothers from 1960 until his death .

Life

James Taylor Jr. was the fifth child and the youngest son of Irish immigrant businessman James Taylor Sr. who later rose to become the leading figure of the Raven brothers.

At the age of 19, James Taylor jun. his own company ( Taylor Linen Company ), which his father and other family members also joined in 1919. In about 1922 he married Consuelo Johnson of Council Bluffs, Iowa, with whom he had five children. Consuelo Taylor died in 1950; a year later Taylor married Irene Stevens from Plainfield a second marriage, which resulted in another daughter.

Taylor's father had been known by the Raven brothers as "the man of God" and the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit since the late 1930s . When he died in 1953, the question of succession arose. After several years of uncertainty, Taylor jun. 1960 prevail against his main rival Gerald Robert Cowell . Taylor threw Cowell right not to accept the bid of separation from the "world" seriously enough (Cowell held membership in professional associations in certain cases for excusable), whereupon Cowell's home church in Hornchurch ( England separated) from him. Around 8,000 people showed solidarity with Cowell, but the vast majority recognized Taylor (called "Big Jim") as the new leader.

Taylor saw his task primarily in regulating the everyday life of the Raven brothers: While his predecessors Darby , Raven and Taylor sen. the "doctrine" had rediscovered or revealed, is his own service of a "practical" nature. As early as 1960 he demanded that the Raven brothers should not be allowed to eat with “outsiders”, even if they were family members; In many cases this resulted in spatial separation and even divorces, which was also reported in the press and discussed in the British Parliament. Other bans related to a. keeping pets, owning holiday homes and caravans, attending universities or using a shared entrance with “unbelievers” in apartment buildings. In 1970 Taylor demanded that women wear their (long) hair down.

There was a scandal in July 1970 when Taylor - apparently under the influence of alcohol (he regarded alcohol as a "creature of God") - confused during a conference in Aberdeen . T. made obscene and insulting statements and was surprised after the conference with a married woman in bed. About 20-30% of the Raven brothers (especially in Scotland ) then fell away from him. Taylor himself described the incidents (which in turn were spread by the press) in retrospect as an ambush with which he wanted to test who was loyal to him as the "pure man of God" and who was not.

Less than three months later, Taylor died of a heart attack in New York. His successor as head of the Raven brothers was the American farmer James Harvey Symington .

The transcripts of Taylor's lectures and conferences, like those of his predecessors, Raven and Taylor Sr. published in book form ( Ministry by J. Taylor, Jr. , 138 volumes).

Web links

• Bernard Doherty: Plymouth Brethren Christian Church . In: World Religions & Spirituality Project , Virginia Commonwealth University , Richmond, VA.
• Bibliography of Taylor's writings in the catalog of the Christian Brethren Archives , Manchester University Library