Preface One – By R. M. de Vienne
It’s
taken longer to write this volume of Separate Identity than we
anticipated, but little of our expectations have held up as we’ve written this
and the two previous books. We believed that a second volume would complete our
research. It has not done so. There will be, assuming we live long enough to
complete it, a third and final volume.
This
volume differs in format from its predecessor. The first volume follows a loose
chronological order. Because of its narrow focus primarily on the years 1879 to
1882, this volume is a series of essays each focusing on an aspect of Watch
Tower transition into a separate, identifiable belief system. There is a looser
chronological order here; and the chapters occasionally overlap each other in
subject matter. As before we elected to present this history in as much detail
as we can, hoping thereby to take our readers into the spirit of the times.
Omission seems to us to be misdirection.
Volume
3 will focus on the fragmentation that followed 1881. It is partially written,
but much hard research remains. And as always, we’re hampered by lack of
resources. We have few issues of key magazines. We do not have anything like a
complete run of A. P. Adams’ Spirit of the Word. We miss key years of J.
H. Paton’s The World’s Hope. A paper published in California exists as a
few clippings pasted into a scrapbook. A booklet written by Barbour seems to
have been lost. We do not have any of the first issues of Jones’ Day Star. We
appreciate help locating things like these.
Now,
let me tell you about volume two. This volume examines the continuing
controversy between Russell and Barbour. One writer suggested that it was short
lived. It lasted until Barbour’s death in 1905. We tell you the story up to the
mid 1880s. It is more complex than most writers appreciate, and in its
complexity explains the development of key Watch Tower doctrines, at least one
of which persists until today.
We
tell you about the Watch Tower’s principals struggle to preserve the body of
believers, to transition Barbourite believers into Watch Tower adherents. We
tell you about their earliest missionary journeys, drawing much of this from
sources not referenced by anyone else. We introduce you to people mentioned
only once or twice in Zion’s Watch Tower but who played an important
role in its earliest years. We tell you about the nature of the earliest
congregations and fellowships and how they were formed. Again, we draw on first
hand experiences not found in any
history of the movement. We tell you about the reaffirmation of old doctrines
and the discussions behind that.
The
movement attracted clergy to its ranks. We discuss this in some detail, naming
names, telling the story as we could uncover it of several clergy turned Watch
Tower believers. In 1881 Russell and a few others organized and provided
initial financing for the work. We provide details not found elsewhere, and we
correct a widely-spread error. We tell you about the start of the publishing
ministry and the development of the Priesthood of All Believers doctrine among
Watch Tower adherents. A key event was the printing and circulation of Food
for Thinking Christians. Though the Watchtower Society declined to share a
key document, offering no explanation as to why a document from 1881-1882 might
need to be held in secret, we offer our readers the most complete discussion of
this small book's circulation and its effects on readership. With the
circulation of Food new workers entered the field. The Watchtower
society has ignored these, especially John B. Adamson, in its histories. We do
not know why, but we think the reasons multifarious. Adamson and some others
among the earliest missionaries left the Watch Tower movement. Watchtower
writers tend to ignore the contributions of those who deflected from the
movement. It is probably safe to say that much of this history is unknown to
Watchtower researchers. It’s not their focus, and they’ve left it unexplored.
An
important part of this era’s story is the spread of Watch Tower doctrine to
various ethnic groups within the United States and to other lands. So we tell
you about work among foreign language groups in the United States. The Zechs
and a Norwegian sea captain are part of this story. We tell you about the early
work in Canada, the United Kingdom, China, and other lands. We discuss at
length the history of a man mentioned with favor in Jehovah’s Witnesses:
Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom. His story is far different from what the
author of that book presumed. We tell you about the early work in Liberia.
[This history appeared first as B. W. Schulz: “Watch Tower Faith in Liberia: A
Conflict of Faith and Authority,” Nssuka Journal of History, University
of Nigeria, Volume 4, 2017, page 31ff.] Other lands come into this picture.
Almost none of this has been published anywhere except in the original
documents.
Eighteen eighty-one was a key year in
Watch Tower history. Most of those who mention that year’s events misstate
them. We do our best to correct the misdirection and misstatement common among
recent writers. We think we provide a more complete picture of the Watch
Tower’s earliest years, a more balanced picture than found elsewhere.
Read Mr. Schulz’ Introductory Essay.
It clarifies issues that confuse some writers. It puts Russell and the Watch
Tower movement in a historical perspective often misstated or ignored by recent
writers. A later chapter takes up attempts by historians and sociologists to
place the Watch Tower movement within one of the current theoretical frameworks.
We suggest that they ignore key elements of the Watch Tower belief system so
that their theories are questionable.
We have many to thank for their
assistance:
