This is a collection of thoughts
on Separate Identity volume 2, which has now arrived, as a suitably doorstop-sized package.
It is nice to be able to thumb through it and examine it, and not just see
pages in isolation on a computer screen.
It has been a long wait, but the
book is not disappointing.
What aspect of the contents have I particularly
enjoyed? Here are some personal thoughts.
One is the way the book turns around perceived
accounts by delving deep into original sources.
As an example, I’ve always been interested in the
premise that CTR visited various areas and started 30 congregations in the
first year or so of ZWT. On the face of it, that sounds good and the way the
Bible Student movement ultimately grew and developed is a matter of record. But
the question remained - for these very early days, where did these people come
from? They didn’t come out of the ether. They would have to be people with a
prior interest; otherwise why would CTR go to their particular towns? Using
information from existing magazines, including Storrs’ Bible Examiner and
Barbour’s Herald, and other sources pre-dating Zion’s Watch Tower, the authors tracked
down what can be known about those people and places. There were numerous
independent local fellowships that came and went. These accepted speakers from
all over, read papers from all over, and continued to do so for some years. Ultimately
people had to choose. Some eventually chose Zion’s Watch Tower. But the
background and details, brings this period alive.
Other examples: while opposition and personal
attacks were there from the start, it was interesting to note how some clergy
from established religions gave up their living and joined the fold. And from
where did the majority of CTR’s early Allegheny Bible class come? Not the
Adventists as commonly held, but from the Methodists! And every point that
turns established concepts on their head is supported by volumous footnotes.
The other aspect I particularly enjoyed is the history
of key individuals, which will obviously come even more to the fore in volume
three. I am always happy to have detailed life stories, be they of the good,
the bad, or the downright ugly. There are so many unknown or almost forgotten
characters out there, and the bad ones are often the most interesting – at a
distance. The Society’s own histories tend to concentrate on CTR and those who
stayed with him. And quite naturally they focus on things from the early days
that tie in with their modern mission. But a wider picture can be seen by
following up the lives of some of those who started with CTR but then branched
off. The theological mindset of those who became Universalists meant that some,
like John Paton, tried hard to keep tabs on everyone. So the authors of Separate
Identity have extracted details from such sources that, while theologically suspect
for some of us today, do fill in the gaps in real history.
Still another aspect I liked is that the narrative
is not just America based. Obviously American features prominently – Allegheny,
CTR and all that – but a lot of books seem to be so America-centric it’s as if
the rest of the world outside their bubble doesn’t exist. So the foreign
language field at home and then abroad is an important section of this volume,
and fills a gap generally unfilled (until the recent European series started
appearing).
And context is also stressed. What was the world
like in that part of the world at the time? What were popular beliefs of
mainstream religion and why did people believe what they did? If you try and
superimpose modern beliefs and attitudes on the 1870s and 1880s you miss the
point that while some aspects of developing Watch Tower theology raised
conservative eyebrows, much was mainstream belief. Rightly or wrongly, it is
much of so-called mainstream belief of the day that has moved on.
It has to be noted that the book is long. One of my
correspondents baulked at the thought of over 600 pages to add onto the previous 360
plus pages, and more to come. Well, frankly, this book is not for that person.
You can’t really judge Separate Identity on the same terms as a commercial
production. A commercial production is designed to make money, through appealing
to the largest group of people who may buy it. A commercial editor would have
reduced the size, and even in academic publishing I believe would have done so.
It wouldn’t then be the same book but just another book in the WT history
shelves. The length and detail make it unique, even if that may discourage some
who could be dismissed as casual readers.
That is NOT a criticism, because the aim was to
cover the minutiae, and so the discovered details dictate the length. Probably
the only way to achieve this was by self-publishing; and as long as the
formatting and layout remain professional looking – which it does - then that
is fine.
As you describe in the introduction, there is some
overlap of material in some chapters. The plan of the book means this is
inevitable, and with two authors writing over years and not writing in
chronological order means you can’t help this happening a bit. But adding an
occasional “who we met earlier” “as discussed in chapter x” etc. (I paraphrase
here) shows the book has been proof read as a whole and you are “aware” of its
total contents. I think that is important to support the “professional” feel,
and on my last read through this has succeeded.
So if you haven’t ordered your copy (and extras for
a friends) – please, do it now!
1 comment:
you can not judge a book by looking at its cover but what inside you can thank you very much I am inside and can not go any place but have book which I can read over and over again question when is the next one agape richard
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