1. Thomas A. Langford, “N. L. Clark: Early Firm Foundation Editor and College President” in The Christian Academic: Exercising Faith in the University Setting. Ketch Publishing: Bloomington, Indiana, 2007.

2. Larry Hart, “Brief History of a Minor Restorationist Group,” Restoration Quarterly 22 (1979), pages 212-232.

3. Thomas A. Langford, “An Insider’s View of Non-Sunday School Churches,” Restoration Quarterly 45 (2003), pages 181-192.

4. [Roy Deaver and Lester Hathaway] Debate on the Bible Class Question and Women Teachers in Some of Those Classes. Chronicle Publishing Company, Inc.: Abilene, 1952.

5. [L. W. Hayhurst, Alva Johnson, Logan Buchanan and Van Bonneau] Debate on the Bible Class Question J. R. Chisolm and Jimmy Wood: Brownfield, TX, 1950.

Comments and additions to this list are earnestly solicited.

Members of the Central church of Christ, Nashville, Tenn., met for the first time on Sunday, October 4. The first meeting was devoted to worship and organization, and was a very significant service because of its simplicity and spirituality. Humility and reverence characterized everything said and done. The Central congregation is meeting for the present in a residence located on the church property. The buildings which will house the activities of the church later are under construction, but will not be available for sixty or ninety days. In the meantime the congregation will continue to meet in the residence building at 143 Fifth Avenue, North. The Central congregation is beginning its meetings at this time, in advance of the completion of its buildings, border “to take heed to itself” and study the all-important subjects of Christian grace and growth. It has planned an extensive program of gospel teaching and preaching, coupled with an equally extensive program of good works. The brethren joining hands and hearts in this work realize that consistent service in the name of Christ requires a high degree of individual Christlike devotion, spirituaI-mindedness, and godliness of character. Hence, the Central congregation is resolved to look very carefully to itself, and is making the most of present opportunities to build itself up in spiritual understanding and grace, whereby it can “offer service well pleasing to God with reverence and awe.” The present congregation will work and pray for the grace to imitate the apostle Paul, who said: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Its meetings will be planned with this purpose in view. The elders of the Central church of Christ are Dr. J. S. Ward, C. E. W. Dorris, J. E. Acuff, and E. H. Ijams. After a prolonged period of study and prayer, these brethren were chosen with the unanimous approval of the congregation. No doubt their selection will be quite generally approved wherever these brethren are known. Dr. Ward was for more than twenty years associated with David Lipscomb and others in the work of the Nashville Bible School and of David Lipscomb College. Brother Acuff is one of the trustees of Burritt College and is well and favorably known as an elder and preacher in the church of Christ. Brother Dorris has contributed many fine articles to the Gospel Advocate during the many years in which he has preached and lived the truth of Christ. Brother Ijams is a member of the present faculty of David Lipscomb College and an experienced teacher. With these loyal and mature brethren as elders, nothing can be expected of the Central church of Christ but unquestioned loyalty and steadfastness to Christian truth and purpose.  The program of work outlined by the Central congregation ought to appeal to the best aspirations of every Christian. It is located in a field of abundant opportunity.  It will have in the heart of the city an auditorium in which to hold gospel services every day in the week.  Every day except Sunday these services will be broadcast by radio station WDAD. The congregation is also preparing to systematically seek the sick and the needy and minister to their necessities. It is also planning to “go teach” the erring and the unsaved and try to bring them to a knowledge of the truth. Daily Bible lessons will be given to all high-school or college students who will attend them in the afternoon after school. Several able Christian teachers have agreed to give night lessons to those who want to prepare for some definite form of Christian service or leadership. In addition to all this, the congregation will try to give constant heed to the language of the great commission, which says: “Go teach all nations.” In pursuance of this purpose, the congregation has already taken over in full or in part the support of these brethren laboring in mission fields: C. M. Sitman, Jr., Amite, La.; J. P. Sanders, Jackson, Miss.; W. O. Norton, Hartselle, Ala.; Hugh E. Garrett, Columbus, Ga.; C. W. Landers, Pensacola, Fla.; T. H. Burton, Union, S. C.; J. W. Shepherd, Richmond, Va.; Roy Vaughn, Mississippi; J. A. Hines, Fort Collins, Col.; John Sherriff, South Africa; W. Percy Pittman, North India. In short, the Central church of Christ proposes to emphasize “doing” the word, as well as “hearing” it, and to make the doing humble, godly, and in every respect consistent with all the teaching of the New Testament. The congregation hopes to show its faith by its work. Brother A. M. Burton and the other brethren associated with him in undertaking this work have set these high standards of achievement with the clear understanding that they can be accomplished, not with material means or with organization, but only through the personal devotion, sacrifice, and zeal of men and women whose minds and hearts are truly converted to the gospel of Christ.  Sustained effort to serve God with works of faith and righteousness must depend on the God-given strength which comes to the sincere, spiritual-minded followers of Christ. Therefore, the members of the Central church of Christ ask the prayers of brethren everywhere to the end that they may, individually and collectively, offer fruitful service to God with reverence and humility. The elders will be glad to have encouragement and counsel from any fellow worker in the vineyard of the Lord.  Address any of them at 143 Fifth Avenue, North, Nashville, Tenn.  It is perhaps well for brethren at large to remember that the Central congregation at present has very limited quarters in which to work and worship. Much of the work which it plans to do must be deferred until its buildings and equipment are in place. It cannot at present invite the general public to its services. However, reports of progress will be given out from time to time, and announcements made as rapidly as preparations are made to take up the different phases of the work. In the meantime the Central congregation very earnestly requests the prayers of all God’s people.

Gospel Advocate, October 8, 1925, p. 976

—Thanks to Hugh Fulford for emailing me this item in digital form.  I have in my files a color postcard of the buildings which housed Central Church (not the building you see now at 145 5th Avenue, North).  One of my favorite antique-store postcard finds, above is scan of it.  These buildings were purchased from the Timothy family (owners of a downtown Nashville dry goods firm) by Andrew Mizell Burton et al. in the summer of 1925.  Both had lots behind the buildings on which, in late fall of 1925 as the article indicates, an auditorium was constructed.  When ground for it was broken the congregation was having around 150 per Sunday.  It could seat 1000 and by the end of the decade it would be full most weeks.  Until the construction was complete they met in the parlor of the mansion…I believe…on the right.  The postcard shows the auditorium behind the row house on the left…it is the one-story addition running straight back to the alley.  In December 1928 the ‘Administration Building’ of five stories plus basement was completed with Nicholas Brodie Hardeman preaching in a special dedication meeting.  It is/was art-deco and was built by famed local firm Foster & Creighton.  In about 1987 the facade was bricked and new windows installed.  Across Commerce Street towards Broadway (and almost directly across the street from the Ryman Auditorium) stood an old hotel/boarding house which Burton purchased for use as the “Girls’ Home.”  Boys lived in dormitory space above the administration building; girls in the Girls’ Home.  Many romances developed as you would imagine.  I have spoken to dozens of former residents, some now dead, of these homes and they remember it was a very special time of their lives.The photograph below appeared in Burton’s 1932 book Gleanings.

Some months have passed since I last posted to this blog.  Truth be told, I haven’t even looked at this blog more than six times in the last six months.  I’m not exaggerating, I really haven’t.  I have checked email occasionally thus far into 2011, but not too much.  I researched little and cared to research even less.  What scant reading I’ve done has been on longhunters in the middle Cumberland area and all of that reading has been of a purely technical nature: enough to pass muster on my handmade kit of 18th century accouterments.  [I should mention that I have thoroughly enjoyed it.  It has been nice to have a bright spot.]

But…

But….I think I might be in the mood for some Nashville research.  Eric’s book has re-sparked my interest.  I very much–very much– appreciate his generosity in sending me a copy (with a very kind inscription and autograph!).  I am working my way through it and intend to post my review to this blog by and by.

Lately I have been living in the 18th century.  We scythed, gathered, threshed and winnowed wheat for the City of Goodlettsville.  I’ve done a fair bit of smithing about the forge, and we managed to get crops of corn, cotton, tobacco (burley and dark-fire both) and pumpkins in the ground.  Throughout the process we lived and worked according to weather and nature’s schedule so haven’t been in much of a hurry about anything.  My own garden is all in…tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, beans, broccoli, okra, sunflowers, watermelon, onions, squash, basil, rosemary and thyme, and a hill of strawberries.  All in and filling out mighty nicely.  It is 100 per cent organic and shows all the signs of health and vitality.

All that to say, the review shall come.  Wait for it, it shall come.

S. H. Hall remembers James A. Harding

Part 3 (of 3) of Samuel Henry Hall’s reminiscences of three men who significantly influenced his life and ministry: David Lipscomb, T. B. Larimore and James A. Harding. I prefaced the first installment, on David Lipscomb, with a brief biographical sketch on Hall. By way of footnotes I again insert a few clarifying details. Additional information about Hall is available at here.

—–

Excerpted from chapter 3 of S. H. Hall, Sixty-Five Years in the Pulpit, Or, Compound Interest in Religion. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1959. Pages 15-16.

JAMES A. HARDING – So different was he to either Lipscomb or Larimore.  Lipscomb was always deeply serious and grave; Larimore quiet, gentle, and exceedingly kind in looks and manners; but Harding was exuberant, abounding in faith and his face aglow with joy.  When I got into James A. Harding’s life I got into the field of faith and undoubting confidence in God’s love and care for his children here on earth.  Special providence was his hobby, if it be right to call it a hobby, and I came to go along with him all the way in his faith and trust in the Father’s taking care of his children here on earth.  He was often criticized by some as going too far in such faith, but when you listened to him talk about his Father in heaven and describe the beauties of the heavenly home, as a rule, you were made a believer.  How often have I been lifted almost out of myself as I listened to him talk about his Father’s love and special interest in his people!  Yes, I listened when he quoted Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  He would then hurry to Psalm 84:11, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” How he could emphasize, “NO GOOD THING WILL HE WITHHOLD FROM THEM THAT WALK UPRIGHTLY!” Then to Ephesians 3:20, looking up with tears coming down on his cheeks, he would exclaim, “He does for us exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think.”  Well, Harding made a full convert out of me, and made me wish that every child of God on earth has the faith and confidence in God’s love and care for his people that James A. Harding had.  Yes, he was criticized by some for his special /16/ providence “hobby,” as some called it, and even Brother Lipscomb who loved him dearly felt that he sometimes went too far with it.   But let me have his faith – it enabled me see as I had never seen before, and to rejoice as I had never rejoiced before in the consciousness that God is near, that his angels surround us, and that they are sent out as ministering spirits to God’s own here on earth.  Brother Harding saw good in all of his experiences.

            One other thing about him, and I close, but could write all day about him.  Due to the condition of his mind he did not seem to remember from one Lord’s day to the next what he had preached on the previous Lord’s day, but was continually discussing special providence or talking about heaven.  Therefore, we had to persuade him to give up pulpit work, a service which he had rendered for about a year after moving to Atlanta with what was then called the South Pryor Street Congregation.  After being out of the pulpit for quite awhile, one Lord’s Day morning he said to his wife, “Let’s go over and hear Brother Hall at West End Avenue today.”[1]  So here they came.  I knew how his heart yearned to get back in the pulpit, so asked my elders to let me use him that day because many people were there who had never heard him preach and, if he talked about heaven or special providence, it would be new to them and we who had heard him on these subjects would enjoy it.  I could never tire of hearing him speak.  I had promised to speak on the “Home” that morning, so to help him take that subject for study and stay with it I had informed him that this was the subject for study and he had expressed his delight to discuss it.  To make it easier for him to stay with the subject I made some preliminary remarks to get him to think along that line, and then turned the subject over to him.  A more coherent, logical line of thinking I had never heard that when he spoke of the different members of the home – father, mother, sons and daughters, and their respective duties to each other.  Then he said, “If we live as God tells us, some of these days” – now raising his hand and pointing toward heaven – “we will all be – Home, Home, that is Home!”  He never got out of heaven and not a dry eye was seen in that audience.

            Well, we have to stop here, but if I were to talk and write from now until then end of life comes, I could not tell all that these great men have meant to me.  I thank God that he, in his providence, brought them into my life.

S. H. Hall remembers T. B. Larimore

Part 2 of Samuel Henry Hall’s reminiscences of three men who significantly influenced his life and ministry: David Lipscomb, T. B. Larimore and James A. Harding.  I prefaced the first installment, on David Lipscomb, with a brief biographical sketch on Hall.  By way of footnotes I again insert a few clarifying details.    Additional information about Hall is available at here.

—–

Excerpted from chapter 3 of S. H. Hall, Sixty-Five Years in the Pulpit, Or, Compound Interest in Religion. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1959. Pages 14-15.

T. B. LARIMORE – He was at his best when I began to preach.  I heard so much about him and it was so favorable that I wondered if T. B. Larimore would leave this old world as did Enoch and Elijah and be relieved to what is known as death’s transition.  I have not the words to express the powerful influence he had on me.  We were blessed in our Atlanta work – I believe it was the third year – by having him there for a revival.[1]  He had his peculiarities, which never did any harm to a human soul, but sometimes embarrassed his friends.

            Brother O. B. Curtis, who perhaps knew Larimore as but few knew him, having been with him and led the singing the whole time he lived in Washington, D.C.[2], and who is now out very efficient song leader at Arcadia, California, made the statement a few days ago that he never heard Larimore say one harmful thing about anyone.  This made me think of a little of my experience with him.  I was preaching regularly once a month and doing all the mission work in the summer for a congregation[3] that once had on its board of elders a very shrewd lawyer, who took a position as legal adviser to the leader of a very strong religious cult that believed in Triune Immersion.  He was immersed in this way, doubtless, to please the one who was paying him a big salary.  But his services ended and he returned to his home town and, it seemed, expected to be received in full fellowship and to be recognized as an elder as he was before he left; however, he was not recognized.  He came to my room almost every day complaining about the treatment he was receiving, and spoke of what E. A. Elam, T. B. Larimore and others thought of him.  Some of our best were they, and I was just a very young preacher.  This was just before our move to Atlanta, Georgia.  He had a great deal to say about prophecy and gave me one position which he stated he also gave to Larimore, for which, Larimore said he never thought of before and thanked him most graciously for the thought.  While Larimore was in a revival in Nashville the lawyer chanced to be in Nashville also, and learning of Larimore’s being there and where he was preaching, decided to go and hear him.[4]  He got there a little late, and as he entered the building he was pleased to hear Larimore discussing the very point in prophecy that he has pointed out to him.  So, Larimore, seeing this great lawyer coming down the aisle, at once stopped his sermon and stated: “Friends, since beginning this sermon, I see a friend of mine is here and he knows more about this subject than I do, and I am inviting him to the stand to discuss it in my stead.”  This lawyer had related this a number of times to show what great men such as Larimore had thought of him, and as a rebuke to his elders at home for repudiating him as an elder.  He related this to me a number of times, and deep down in my heart I /15/ did not believe it and made up my mind if I ever met Larimore, I would ask him about it.  So one Christmas, as I was changing trains in Nashville, I met Brother Larimore in the waiting room.  After a little conversation about where I had been and where I was going, I stated, “Brother Larimore, I have a question that I want to ask you, and I hope you will not think it out of place for me to ask it.” I related the whole story, then stated, “I have wondered, Brother Larimore, if you did do this.” Get this – he raised those long arms and gently placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me straight in the eye – his eyes were so gentle and beamed with kindness, and said, “Brother Hall, you will never be any worse off if you never know.  Miss Emma Page is in the women’s waiting room, would you not like to speak to her?”  Into that room we went and I visited awhile and then took my train for home wondering what did he mean by saying, “Brother Hall, you will never be any worse off if you never know.”  My only conclusion was he feared that if he stated the whole story was false, I would abuse the information and say too much about it.  But that’s that.

            What did Larimore mean to me?  Well, I got this great lesson – you need absolutely nothing to be a good preacher of the gospel except to know the Book, the exact sayings of our Lord, and tell it to the people.  If ever a man spoke where the Bible speaks and stayed silent where it is silent, Larimore did just that.

S. H. Hall remembers David Lipscomb

Samuel Henry Hall was born in Smyrna, TN 23 December 1877.  Baptized by F. W. Smith in a meeting at Rock Spring Church of Christ in 1892, he began preaching a few years later in 1896.  By the time he entered Nashville Bible School in 1902 he had been preaching about six years, had taught school, was married and had a young son.  While a student at NBS he roomed with H. Leo Boles.  When these memoirs were published, first in 1955 under the title Sixty Years in the Pulpit (privately printed by John Allen Hudson of Old Paths Book Club), Hall had lived in Los Angeles for five years.  Hall preached often in revivals and gospel meetings throughout his career, and earlier at Sichel Street Church of Christ, Los Angeles, from 1920-1922.  His brief stay in California came between two long ministries, first at West End Church of Christ in Atlanta from 1906-1920 and at Russell Street Church of Christ in Nashville from 1922-1950.  During his ministries in Atlanta and Nashville, both churches grew to considerable size.  West End Church in Atlanta grew to about 350 members (large for a Church of Christ in Georgia at that time) and Russell Street in Nashville, with over 1000 members, was among the largest congregations of any group in Nashville.  He served on the Board of Directors at David Lipscomb College prior to his move west in 1950.  Additional information is available at here.

—–

Excerpted from chapter 3 of S. H. Hall, Sixty-Five Years in the Pulpit, Or, Compound Interest in Religion. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1959. Pages 13-14. 

DAVID LIPSCOMB, whom I first came really to know after entering the Nashville Bible School.  When I entered that school[1] I had deep-seated prejudice against him because of the influence of the “A. McGary and Lipscomb controversy” over what was called “rebaptism” and “shaking them in,” the latter being the expression used by McGary against Lipscomb and the former the word used in speaking of those who stood with McGary.  My father was a regular reader of the Firm Foundation and took a radical stand for McGary’s side of the question, and it was through his influence that prejudice against Lipscomb found a strong place in my heart.  I took a class under Brother Lipscomb, primarily to give him all the trouble I could when such questions came up.

            But, let me state that this is where I got what I sometimes call “my second conversion.”  I found Lipscomb so everlastingly fair in all that he said about other religious bodies and those of our brethren who differed with him that it revealed something within me that was all wrong and led me to see how utterly wrong I was in taking a position and holding to it with bull-dog tenacity instead of studying the question with the sole desire to get the truth, even when it condemned me.  It was the influence of Lipscomb that planted, never to be rooted up, the following scriptures – Micah 6:8, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to lover mercy (kindness), and to walk humbly with thy God?”  Jeremiah 5:1, “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.”  To be absolutely just in representing others, never falsely accusing them, and to be as fair in stating their positions as you are in stating your own, was the lesson I got from Lipscomb—and it saved me.  For had I continued with the unfair and prejudiced way I had been handling questions with those whom I differed, I would have been lost—no doubt about this.  The awful danger of our “receiving not the love of the truth, that we might be saved” about which we are warned in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 had never dawned upon my heart.  Lipscomb planted that warning, and he lived what he tried to get over to his students.  He is the only editor—there may be one or two exceptions—who, occasionally, in his writing would take up some statement that he had formerly made and state, “I am sure I was mistaken in the position I took on this scripture and want to now correct it.”  He looked for his own mistakes as well as the mistakes of others.  Hw often did I hear him in the class, when some young preacher would start off on a tirade /14/ against the Baptist or Methodist on some position, gently say, “You are mistaken there—here is their position,[2] and he would give it exactly as their best scholars taught it.  All liars shall have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone, so the Book declares.  So far as I know, it is just as bad to lie about others by accusing them of believing something they do not believe as it is to lie in a horse swap.  If not, why not?

I have in some form or other been involved in teaching or preaching on an almost weekly basis for fifteen years.  I began teaching a 7th-8th grade Sunday School class the Sunday after I graduated from high school, and have been at it more or less every week since.  My academic training in biblical studies, church history and theology has been in tandem with my practice of the teaching ministry.  I wouldn’t have had it any other way then, and if I had it to do over again I would.  I’m not doing it over again, but I am back at it again.  I am teaching again, almost weekly, at Smyrna Church in both the teen and adult education ministries.  So this exploration in teaching isn’t now, nor has it ever really been, an exclusively academic interest.

My earliest teaching experience was as a so-called ”volunteer.”  I’m loathe to use that word now.  I prefer a member-of-the-Body-exercising-a-gift-of-the-Spirit-for-the-good-of-the-Body-to-the-glory-of-God.  But MOTBEAGOTSFGOTBTTGOG doen’t roll off the tongue like volunteer does.  (I actually do say the word, just not fond of the connotations it has).  Then came a couple summers of youth ministry internships.  Bless them, they confirmed that I had no business in “youth ministry” as I then construed it.  Then came more volunteer teaching until my dozen-year ministry with Central Church in downtown Nashville with seven overlapping years at Ezell-Harding (which was really youth ministry, if you catch my drift).  DCHS was a ministry in its own right, but my teaching there was more indirect.  For the sake of these reflections I have in mind the teaching ministry of a local congregation.  At some point I will likely blog about the ministry of history…its simmering for now.  I remain committed to a local congregation and have no intentions to the contrary…and not just nominal membership, but active engagement in the mission of a local congregation for mutual ministry, worship, study and service.

At one time I may have been intrigued by methods, strategies and what I would call now, clever salesmanship.  But how to be a mature teacher, theologically informed, pastorally  responsible and self-aware…such are my concerns now.   The teaching ministry in a congregational context is vitally important, something I think is self-evidently plain.   But how to move into the deeper waters?  I think Pullias and Young can help here.  Their book isn’t meant for the Sunday School teacher, per se.  It ain’t even religious, dear friends, at least not overtly.  But then again it is, in a much more subtle way, and I am eager to look through it and reflect on it on the pages of this blog.

To be a historian is to discover the facts in context, to discover what things mean, to lay before the reader your reconstruction of time, place, mood, to empathize even when you disagree. You read all the relevant material, you synthesize all the books, you speak to all the people you can, and then you write down what you know about the period. You feel you own it.

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I am disappointed that the Holy See (Vatican City) hasn’t checked in yet this year. The Pope evidently got all he needed on his one visit last year. But I understand… when you’re the Pope, you’re a busy man.

I have in 2010, as the blog reflects, looked into Stone-Campbell materials on Google Books. There is much here that has not been previously available elsewhere on the web, a few things not otherwise easily available in hard copy, and some of it just plain hard to get anywhere.  In this way Google has opened a new vista for research-from-your-desktop.  I haven’t blogged about the fine material on Hans Rollmann’s RM pages, though some of it is now available through Google Books in PDF. Hans’ pages and Scott Harp’s pages remain very useful; Google’s advantage comes because of the bulk of the material they are scanning (for example…tons of material from Harvard Divinity Library).  By casting a wide net, they catch some interesting fish once in a while.  But, Hans and Scott have items that Google doesn’t (and might not have for some time yet).  Google’s approach likely serves the majority of the information needs of a broad slice of the researching public, but there is a ton of Stone-Campbell material that isn’t online.  A ton.  All that to say…be careful about drawing conclusions based on research done from your desktop via Google Books.  But I digress.

In 2010, I suppose due to the several items I posted by or about him, my references to John William McGarvey earned me a spot on the ‘external links’ section of his Wikipedia article.  I have a few more similar things I’d like to post (specifically McGarvey items) not to mention the files upon files of CEW Dorris, JW Shepherd and “Nashville” stuff.  If this blog is quiet is isn’t for lack of material, just time to digest it and post it.  I intended to post an average of 5 posts per week for 2010.  I probably acheived that one week. 

Total hits for eScriptorium stand at just over 19,600…which far, far exceeds anything I would have ever expected, especially since, again this year, just like last year, I didn’t mention anything on the blog that would generate hits for reasons political, entertainment or otherwise scandalous. Its mainly me rambling about Restoration movement books. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…:)

But, the point is that I enjoy tinkering around with this little blog and it generates some good conversation once in a while.  Though the comments haven’t lit up like they do on other blogs, I have had several emails and have very much enjoyed those conversations. 

I think this blog justifies the little time I spend with it and retains its potential for neat things in the coming year.  Though we may be few in number, there are a few of us interested in old Restoration Movement stuff.  Wonder what 2011 holds, friends? Whatever it holds for you, my wish for you grace and peace.

—–

No bibliography of Stone-Campbell material exists.

The closest thing is the combined card catalogs and online databases at several schools and institutions: DCHS, ACU’s Center for Restoration Studies and the Churches of Christ Heritage Center at Pepperdine, Harding University Graduate School of Religion Library, Christian Theological Seminary, Lipscomb University, Emmanuel School of Religion, Disciples Seminary Foundation, Bethany College Special Collections and Lexington Theological Seminary.  There are no doubt many Stone-Campbell items in other locations, but a combined catalog of the above will capture the majority of the stuff.

The first Curator of Disciples of Christ Historical Society, Claude Spencer (rest his soul), attempted to compile one.  His Author Catalog (1946) was built from the card catalog of the Henry Barton Robison Collection at Culver-Stockton College Library.  In other words, he started with what he had on the shelf…which wasn’t much at all.  From there he accomplished a monumental feat.  What he did with 3×5 cards and a sharp pencil, and a lot of miles traveled, can now be done with a few clicks of a mouse from your desktop.   He says this in the introduction:

This catalog grew out of necessity.  In 1924 the Library of Culver-Stockton College started a project to collect the literature produced by the religious groups which grew out of the reformation and restoration movements in the American religious scene in the early nineteenth century.  The project was handicapped from the start because of a lack of bibliographical tools which gave knowledge concerning the books and pamphlets that had been published.  The Literature of the Disciples of Christ, a study by J. W. Monser, 1906, and The Literature of the Disciples of Christ, by W. E. Garrison, 1922, were available but were far from comprehensive in scope and lacked the details necessary for use as a collecting and cataloguing guides. 

For several years the compiler worked on a want list, adding new titles as he found items in catalogs and periodicals; always making as complete an entry as possible for each title.  This want list combined with the catalog of books in the college library became the nucleus of An Author Catalog of Disciples of Christ and Related Religious Groups.  At first there was no intention to publish this listing as it was compiled  solely for use in the Henry Barton Robison Collection, the name by which the collectin of Disciples literature at Culver-Stockton was known.

…

The following libraries were visited during the preparation of the catalog: Bethany College, Butler University School of Religion, Christian Board of Publication, College of the Bible, The Disciples Divinity House, Drake University College of the Bible, The Gospel Advocate Company, The Kentucky Female Orphan Home, The Shepherd Library, The Standard Publishing Company, The United Christian Missionary Society, and The University of Chicago.

He arranged it alphabetically by author, giving place and date of birth and death where known.  He located the author with ‘c’ for Christian Church/Disciples and ‘cc’ for Churches of Christ so as to give us a basic orientation to the orbit in which the author moved.  For each author he listed “Separate titles, Analytics, Introductions, Joint works, Books edited and compiled, Joint editors and Books about” and followed standard library cataloging practice where his information allowed.

Spencer envisioned this project, which contains above 10,000 entries in 366 8.5 by 11 pages, to be the first step in a larger project…a union catalog of all known Stone-Campbell material.  Spencer envisioned all the material fully catalogued and cross-referenced according to the library or institution holding copies.  What Spencer was trying to do was to build a bibliographical skeleton upon which hundreds of years of research could be conducted with unprecedented ease and simplicity.  In the 1930′s much of what is now in libraries and archives was still in attics, basements and private collections.  And much of what is now known (thanks to Spencer) was then unknown.  If a name turns up in your reading you can ‘go to Spencer’ to see what, if anything, this person published…and there you go down a little research by-way.  Now you can go to WorldCat, but even so, I keep his Author Catalog within reach of my desk.  Spencer was a visionary with a heart for the researchers and scholars. 

But Spencer’s final check-list hasn’t materialized, and given this digital age we’re in, probably won’t and might not even be worth it to publish (I’d buy it, though!).  When Spencer passed in 1979 we lost the person who probably knew our literature the best.  Folks tell me Don Meredith and Don Haymes know Churches of Christ material like Claude knew the old Disciples stuff.  I’ve met both Don’s in person and we have corresponded by email.  They are indeed experts and their expertise has come, I’m sure, by spending years immersed in the material…handling it, reading it, cataloging it, noting variant printings and editions, and learing where such treasure comes to be stashed.  In this way they carry on in fine Spencerian tradition.

For the rest of us, we have to have some help in wading through the books.  Here’s my first attempt to bring together some of the places worth starting if you’re interested in Restoration literature.

Claude E. Spencer, An Author Catalog of Disciples of Christ and Related Religious Groups. Canton, MO: Disciples of Christ Historical Society, 1946.

Leslie R. Galbraith and Heather F. Day, The Disciples and American Culture, A Bibliography of Works by Disciples of Christ Members 1866-1984. ATLA Bibliography Series No. 26. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1990.

There are a number of helpful resources for dissertations and periodicals which I will save for future posts.

These three surveys have helpful bibliographies:

Henry E. Webb, In Search of Christian Unity, A History of the Restoration Movement. Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Company, 1990.

M. Eugene Boring, Disciples and the Bible, A History of Disciples Biblical Interpretation in North America.  St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1997.

D. Duane Cummins, The Disciples, A Struggle for Reformation. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2009.

As always, comments, suggestions and corrections earnestly solicited and eagerly received.