Disciples of Christ
Disciples of Christ
Protestant sect, organized 1832 at Lexington, Kentucky, as the result of the union of the followers of Barton W. Stone and of Alexander Campbell. When a name was to be adopted Stone favored Christians, and Campbell Disciples, but no definite action was taken, both names being used until the International Convention adopted the name of Disciples of Christ. Their doctrine teaches belief in the New Testament, emphasizes “the Divine Sonship of Jesus, as the fundamental fact of Holy Scriptures, the essential creed of Christianity, and the one article of faith in order to baptism and church membership.” They celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Sunday “as a memorial feast.” The Disciples of Christ are congregational in their government. Forty-one periodicals are published by them. Their foreign mission work is carried on through the Foreign Christian Missionary Society and the Christian Woman’s Board of Missions, in India, China , Japan, Africa, Puerto Rico , Cuba , South America, New Zealand, Tibet, Philippine Islands, Mexico , Canada , and Jamaica.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Disciples of Christ
A sect founded in the United States of America by Alexander Campbell. Although the largest portion of his life and prodigious activity was spent in the United States, Alexander Campbell was born, 12 September, 1788, in the County Antrim, Ireland. On his father’s side he was of Scottish extraction; his mother, Jane Corneigle, was of Huguenot descent. Both parents are reported to have been persons of deep piety and high literary culture. His father, after serving as minister to the Anti-Burgher Church in Ahorey and director of a prosperous academy at Richhill, emigrated to the United States and engaged in the oft-attempted and ever futile effort “to unite All Christians as one communion on a purely scriptural basis”, the hallucination of so many noble minds, the only outcome of which must always be against the will of the Founder, to increase the discord of Christendom by the creation of a new sect. In 1808 Alexander embarked with the family to join his father, but was shipwrecked on the Scottish coast and took the opportunity to prepare himself for the ministry at the University of Glasgow. In 1809 he migrated to the United States, and found in Washington County, Pennsylvania, the nucleus of the new movement in the “Christian Association of Washington”, under the auspices of which was issued a “Declaration and Address”, setting forth the objects of the association. It was proposed “to establish no new sect, but to persuade Christian to abandon party names and creeds, sectarian usages and denominational strifes, and associate in Christian fellowship, in the common faith in a divine Lord, with no other terms of religious communion than faith in and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ”.
An independent church was formed at Brush Run on the principles of the association, and, 1 January, 1812, Alexander was “ordained”. His earnestness is attested by the record of one hundred and six sermons preached in one year; but he wrecked every prospect of success by finding in his reading of the Scriptures the invalidity of infant baptism, and the necessity of baptism by immersion, thus excluding from the Christian discipleship the vast majority of believing Christians. On 12 June, 1812, with his wife, father, mother, and three others, Alexander was rebaptized by immersion. Nothing was left him now but to seek association with one or other of the numerous Baptist sects. This he did, but with the proviso that he should be allowed to preach and teach whatever he learned from the Holy Scriptures. The Baptists never took him cordially; and in 1817, after five years of herculean labours, his followers, whom he wished to be known by the appellation of “Disciples of Christ”, but who were generally styled “Campbellites”, numbered only one hundred and fifty persons. Campbell’s mission as a messenger of peace was a failure; as time went on he developed a polemical nature, and became a sharp critic in speech and in writing of the weaknesses and vagaries of the Protestant sects. Only once did he come in direct contact with the Catholics, on the occasion of his five days’ debate, in 1837, with Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati, which excited great interest at the time but is now forgotten. His sixty volumes are of no interest. Campbell was twice married and was the father of twelve children. He died at Bethany, West Virginia, where he had established a seminary, 4 March, 1866.
According to their census prepared in 1906 the sect then had 6475 ministers, 11,633 churches, and a membership of 1,235,294. It is strongest in the West and Southwest, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio having the largest bodies. J.H. Garrison, editor of their organ “The Christian Evangelist”, outlined (1906) the belief of his sect. According to their investigations of the New Testament the confession of faith made by Simon Peter, on which Jesus declared he would build His Church, namely “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God”, was the creed of Christianity and the essential faith, and that all those who would make this confession from the heart, being penitent of their past sins, were to be admitted by baptism into the membership of the early Church; that baptism in the early Church consisted of a burial of a penitent believer in the water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and that only such were fit subjects for baptism; that the form of church government was congregational; that each congregation had its deacons and elders or bishops, the former to look after the temporal and the latter the spiritual interests of the church. They practise weekly communion and consider it not as a sacrament but as a memorial feast. While they hold both New and Old Testaments to be equally inspired, both are not equally binding upon Christians. Accepting the Bible as an all-sufficient revelation of the Divine will, they repudiate all authoritative creeds and human grounds of fellowship.
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JAMES F. LOUGHLIN Transcribed by Christine J. Murray
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VCopyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Disciples of Christ
or, as they prefer to call themselves, “The Church of Christ,” a body of Baptists sometimes called by their opponents “Campbellites,” assumed a distinct ecclesiastical organization about the year 1827. In 1808 Thomas Campbell migrated from Ireland, and settled in Western Pennsylvania as a minister of the “Seceders.” He was a conscientious advocate of religious reform, and contended for a restoration of the Christian Church to apostolic practice and precept.: SEE CAMPBELL, THOMAS. In 1809 he was joined by his son Alexander, who heartily sympathized with him in his views of religious reform. SEE CAMPBELI, ALEXANDER.
The first practical movement was to form a small association of disciples for the special study of the Scriptures, with the pledge that, rejecting all creeds and confessions of faith, they would strictly conform their practice to the teachings of ‘the divine Word. This was a practical separation from the “Seceders,” and resulted in the organization of a small congregation in Washington County, Pennslvania, known as the Brush Run Church, September 10, 1810. Thomas Campbell was one of the original elders of this congregation, and by it his son Alexander was first ordained to the ministry. It was not long till the question of baptism engaged their attention, and, after a thorough investigation among themselves, the father and son, with five others, reached the conclusion that the Scriptures taught the “immersion of believers.” Accordingly, on the 2d of June, 1812, they were immersed by a Baptist minister. In 1815 they had increased to some five or six congregations, when they attached themselves to the Redstone (Baptist) Association, stipulating, however, in writing, that no “terms of union or communion other than the Holy Scriptures should be required.” To many of the Baptist preachers this union was distasteful from the first, and it finally resulted in the withdrawal of these congregations, who then joined the Mahoning (Ohio) Association, which more nearly accorded with them, and which finally became thoroughly identified with the movement.
In 1823 Alexander Campbell established the Christian Baptist.” Through this monthly, and several public oral debates on baptism, and extensive tours of preaching, his views spread rapidly and widely among the Baptists. But personal opposition at last took the form of ecclesiastical action, and in 1827 the Dover Association of Virginia decreed the excommunication from Baptist fellowship of all who held and advocated the views of Alexander Campbell. This was the beginning of a general action among the Baptists; and the Reformers, as they were called, were compelled to associate in a separate organization, which rapidly increased, especially in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Virginia. Churches were also formed in .the British Provinces of North America, in England, Wales, Ireland, and Australia. They are increasing in all these countries, and in England are rapidly becoming numerous.
II. Principles and Practice. The Disciples profess to reject all creeds and confessions of faith as of human origin and divisive in their influence, and to take the Holy Scriptures, and these alone, as the only authority in faith and practice binding upon Christians. “Faith in the testimony of God, and obedience to the commandments of Christ, are the only bond of union.” The subtle speculations of theology are not to be forced upon the faith or conscience of Christians, and Bible themes are to be presented in Bible terms. For objecting to many of the terms of theology, such as “trinity,” “eternally begotten,” co-essential,” and “consubstantial,” they have been by some charged with being Unitarians.” But on this subject there is now perhaps no respectable doubt of their entire “orthodoxy.” They break the loaf, in commemoration of the sacrifice of the Savior, every first day of the week. This practice, they contend, has the warrant of apostolic example, and is therefore of divine obligation. It is claimed that it was the chief object of the meetings of the first Christians on the Lord’s day, and its peculiar sanctification. They hold that faith and repentance are the divinely-appointed antecedents to baptism, and that it is the privilege and the duty of the Christian minister to say to all who believe and repent, “Be immersed, every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” They are congregational in their organization, and recognize three classes of officers: 1, elders, presbyters, or bishops; 2, deacons; 3, evangelists. These last constitute the itinerating ministry or the missionaries of the Church, and are supported by voluntary contributions. The Disciples acknowledge the obligation to provide for the preaching of the Gospel to be of the highest kind, and are very active in evangelical labor. In questions of speculative opinion they allow the widest differences, but contend earnestly for the unity of a practical acknowledgment of one faith, one Lord, one immersion, one hope, one body, one spirit, one God and Father of all. On the subjects of the atonement, the resurrection, and the future judgment, they hold the common faith of evangelical Christians.
III. The Disciples, according to the U.S. census of 1890, numbered 641,051 members. They are distinguished for their interest in education, and have a large number of academies and seminaries, and several colleges of high standing. Among these the most prominent are Bethany College, founded by A. Campbell, and presided over by him until his death; Kentucky University, and the Northwestern Christian University, at Indianapolis; Eureka College, Illinois, and Hiram College, Ohio. They have 25 periodicals, viz. 9 weeklies, 15 monthlies, and 1 quarterly. Of these, two (monthlies) are published, one in Great Britain and one in Canada; all the rest in the United States. The most representative of the latter are The Millennial Harbinger (monthly), Bethany; M.E. Lard’s Quarterly, Lexington, Ky.; The Review, Cincinnati, Ohio, and The Standard, Cleveland, Ohio (weeklies).
Literature.
1. The writings of Alexander Campbell (see art.);
2. The Christian Baptist, 7 volumes;
3. The Millennial Harbinger, 38 volumes;
4. Jeter, Campbellism Examined (N.Y. 12mo), and Lard’s Review of Jeter;
5. McGarvey’s Commentary on Acts;
6. Milligan, Faith and Reason;
7. Lamar, Interpretation;
8. Christian Review, January 1855; and 1856, page 480; Princeton Review, 1845, page 183; American Bib. Repository, 2d series, 1:94, 295; 3:203.