Daybreak Bible Studies Association
The Dawn Bible Students Association (Engl. Dawn Bible Students Association ) is a Christian denomination that from the Serious Bible Students emerged and in close connection with the dawn-Verlag and its magazine The daybreak stands. Their main office is in East Rutherford , New Jersey . The German branch office is located in Ober-Ramstadt .
history
The Solemn Bible Students grew out of the Bible Students' Movement founded by Pastor Charles Taze Russell in the late 19th century . After his death in 1916 , a split developed in this movement that eventually resulted in the formation of various groups. The Serious Bible Students followed Russell's original views, while the greater part submitted to the Watchtower Society headed by Joseph Franklin Rutherford . In 1929 in Pittsburgh the Bible Students' Congregation separated from Rutherford and tried to reunite the scattered Russelists on a reunification day in the same year. In early 1930, a long-independent Brooklyn congregation began broadcasting radio programs on a local station. These programs had a great response and encouraged renewed demand for Russel literature.
As part of a second reunification meeting, the association was founded in 1931 in New York City , just a few blocks from the Watchtower Society, by the local Brooklyn Bible Students' Church. As a result, all Russelite groups were united in an organizationally loose community. The new Tagesanbruch publishing house was added to the joint radio program. The intention of founding this publishing house was from the beginning to reissue and distribute the writings of Russell, since the Watchtower Society stopped their distribution from 1928.
Through the broadcasting and the magazine, the dawn community expanded worldwide. During the Nazi era , daybreak was forbidden and many supporters were sent to the concentration camp. Dawn was also forbidden in the GDR . As the publisher in 1944 from New York to New Jersey changed, it became the Dawn Bible Students Association ( Dawn Bible Students Association ).
To this day, the association has published “ The Six Volumes of Scripture Studies ”, “The Tabernacle”, “ The Photo-Drama of Creation ” and many other brochures and tracts. Among other things, the magazine Der Tagesanbruch appears every two months . Radio and television programs are also produced. The association works closely with the Pastoral Bible Institute to jointly provide Christian literature to Serious Bible Students around the world.
The organization of the religious community is classically congregational with great autonomy of the individual assembly , i.e. the local congregation, which chooses its own leader and organizes its concerns. The headquarters in Rutherford, to which the Tagesanbruch publishing house is affiliated, cannot demand any account. The board of directors at this headquarters is filled every year. The management of the publishing house is in the hands of a three-person committee, which is newly elected every year.
Since the daybreak Christians mostly also belong to an older church, it is difficult to estimate their number. In Germany, as of 1965, a membership of 1000 is occupied. Worldwide, their size was estimated at 20,000 to 30,000 members in 1970.
Teaching
Daybreak largely follows the teachings of Russell, especially Volumes I through IV of his Scripture Studies. Accordingly, the divine plan for the salvation of mankind spans three ages, namely the first of Adam's creation in 4128 BC. BC to the Flood, the second from the Flood to the beginning of the Millennium in 1914, and finally the Millennium and the following Eternity. This plan is supported by numerous apocalyptic and biblically calculated dates. The beginning of the millennium in 1914, predicted by Russell, is interpreted as a prediction of the First World War, which brought about the overthrow of many ruling dynasties. Christ is only a creature of God, originally an angel who became man and rose spiritually, not physically. Baptism, according to the teachings of Russell, is practiced as adult baptism by immersion. The Lord's Supper is celebrated once a year as a memorial meal.
literature
- Horst Reller (Hrsg.): Handbook of Religious Communities: Free Churches, Special Communities, Sects, Weltanschauungsgemeinschaften, New Religions. Edited for VELKD working group Religious Communities on behalf of the Lutheran Church Office. Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1978, 2nd edition 1979, ISBN 3-579-03585-1 , pp. 454-462
Web links
Single receipts
- ↑ Russell, a merchant, did not receive theological training in a seminary, but he was referred to by his followers as a "pastor" in the sense of a God-appointed pastor.
- ↑ The Scriptures, all 6 volumes available online. Dawn Biblical Studies Association