Russellites (Called Today - Jehovah's Witnesses)
This
name was adopted in 1931 by the movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the
1870s. Russell was born in 1852 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His family were
Congregationalists, but Russell reacted strongly against his religious
upbringing. At the age of eighteen he started a Bible class in Pittsburgh, and
this group grew into the organization which we now know as the Jehovah's
Witnesses. In 1876 Russell became the group's pastor, and in 1879 he started a
magazine, Zion's Watchtower, the forerunner of today's Watchtower. Russell's
organization became the Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society in 1884. In 1908
Russell moved the headquarters of his organization to Brooklyn, New York. The
organization has been based in Brooklyn ever since.
In 1886 Russell published the first of a
series of seven books entitled Studies in the Scriptures. Volume 6 appeared in
1904 and the seventh volume in 1917, a year after Russell's death. The
publication of Volume 7 of Studies in the Scriptures led to a schism in the
organization. The majority of members followed J. F. Rutherford, while a
smaller group formed itself into the Dawn Bible Student's Association. This
group is still in existence and publishes the Dawn magazine, which has a
circulation of about 30,000 copies. The larger group following Rutherford
became today's Jehovah's Witnesses. Their magazine, The Watchtower, has a
circulation of over 64 million worldwide.
Following Russell's death in 1916 Judge
Joseph Franklin Rutherford became the leader of the organization. An able
organizer, he developed the group into its present organization. Rutherford
wrote over a hundred books and fundamentally shaped the group's theology. He
increased its hostility toward organized religion and developed a variety of
highly successful missionary methods. Rutherford, who was born in 1869, died in
1942, leaving behind an organization which has continued to grow at a
remarkable rate.
In 1981 the Jehovah's Witnesses were shaken
by a series of schisms which led to a large number leaving the organization.
The leader of the opposition to the Brooklyn headquarters group was Professor
James Penton, a Canadian, whose family had been among Russell's earliest
converts. Penton and those who sided with him sought to reemphasize the
doctrine of justification by faith and return the group to its original
interest in Bible study. The intention of Penton and other Witnesses who shared
his ideas appears to have been to reform the group from within. The Brooklyn
leadership strongly rejected their arguments and expelled anyone who supported
their views. Although this division was a serious one, it appears that the
majority of Witnesses remained within the official organization, which retained
control over all of the group's assets.
As a religious organization the Jehovah's
Witnesses are typical of many nineteenth century groups. Although their
theology bears some resemblance to that of the Arians in early church history,
they are essentially a modern group strongly influenced by rationalism. Like
many other new religions in the nineteenth century the Witnesses represent a
strong reaction to the scientific world view. The rationalism of the group can
be seen in their rejection of Trinitarian doctrines and traditional teachings
about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Their rationalistic attitude toward
the Bible comes out in their literal interpretation of prophecy and failure to
appreciate the symbolic character of biblical language. Their rejection of blood
transfusions reflects this rejection of modern science as well as the extreme
literalism of their exegesis.
In attempting to justify their interpretation
of Christianity and rejection of orthodoxy the Witnesses produced their own
translation of the Bible, The New World Translation of the Christian Greek
Scriptures and The New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, in 1950.
Although this work claims to be a translation, the Witnesses have yet to name
the translators or prove their credentials as competent scholars. What one
finds in fact is a rendering of the Bible in terms of the theology of the
organization.
Probably the best introduction to the
theology of the Jehovah's Witnesses is their book Let God Be True. In addition to
their rejection of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity they teach a number of
distinct doctrines. In their view the atonement is a ransom paid to the God
Jehovah by Jesus Christ which removes the effects of Adam's sin, laying the
foundation for a new righteousness and enabling men to save themselves by their
good works. They teach that Jesus was resurrected a divine spirit after
offering this ransom to God. At death humans either sleep until the
resurrection or, if they are evil, suffer annihilation. In their view Jesus
Christ returned to earth spiritually in 1914 and is now proceeding to overthrow
Satan's worldly organization and to establish a theocratic millennial kingdom.
This kingdom will arrive in the near future with the battle of Armageddon. After
Armageddon true believers will be resurrected to a life on earth while a select
group of 144,000 will rule in heaven with Christ. In addition to holding these
doctrines Jehovah's Witnesses reject a professional ministry and, until
recently, the idea of church buildings. They are pacifists and call upon their
members to have nothing to do with worldly politics.
Today there are over three million Witnesses
worldwide, the Witnesses have suffered severe persecution. In others,
especially North America, they are rapidly coming to resemble a reasonably
sized religious denomination. See
also CULTS.