Lipscomb on the Urban Poor II

May 28, 2012

Lipscomb’s response to the notice in the Apostolic Times did not go unchallenged. The Apostolic Times quickly replied and Lipscomb reprinted the article in the May 19, 1873 Gospel Advocate under the title “Preaching to the Poor” (pp. 508-509). However, the question is quickly diverted. Instead, it becomes a discussion of how best to send “preachers” among the […]


The Nashville Establishment?

February 29, 2012

My friend, Chris Cotten, along with Mac Ice, have a significant interest in the history of Nashville Churches of Christ. Both of their blogs have wonderful pieces on that history. Yesterday I read Chris’s piece on the “Nashville Establishment,” which identifies one aspect of the institutional growth of Churches of Christ in the middle of the 20th […]


Voting More Evil than Dancing, says David Lipscomb

January 2, 2012

In 1875 David Lipscomb was asked a question about whether one should exclude those who voted from the local congregation as a test of fellowship, just as some advocated should be done with those who participate in dancing and drunkenness. Below is Lipscomb’s response in part (Gospel Advocate, 1875, 399-402).      We suppose we […]


Struggle for the Soul of Churches of Christ (1897-1907)

June 25, 2009

When the division between Churches of Christ and the Christian Churches was recognized by the religious census of 1906, the theological perspectives among the Churches of Christ were fairly diverse. While there was an ecclesiological consensus to separate from the Christian Churches, there was considerable diversity between the three major representative “traditions” among Churches of […]