John Mark Hicks

The church in Murfreesboro was divided over the war. Previously Fanning had published a letter from Lillard, Harding and Ransome, and he had printed an article by “Disciple” who responded to that letter from within the same church. Fanning now feels compelled to comment on their exchange. He uses the occasion to clarify his position. […]

By November 1861 the Confederate States and the Union were well settled into their warring camps and bloody conflict was in full swing. By mid-February of 1862, Ft. Henry on the Tennessee River and Ft. Donelson on the Cumberland would fall to Federal forces. By the end of February, Nashville was in Union hands. Rather […]

After printing the questions of some of his critics and then responding to them, Fanning counsels his readers about “suitable labor for Christians in these perilous times” (Gospel Advocate 7.9 [September 1861] 281-286). What is a Christian to do in these trying times? Fanning laments that the disciples who have long “maintained that the word […]

Fanning printed a critical response to his peacemaking articles in the September issue of the Gospel Advocate, but not without his own reply to their questions (“Reply to Brethren Lillard, Harding and Ransome,” Gospel Advocate 7.9 [September 1861] 265-276). Fanning characterized his previous articles for peacemaking as an attempt to be as “wise as serpents and […]

Tennessee, a member of the Confederate States of America since July 1861, was now a full participant in an American bloody Civil War. Fanning had pursued every recourse to persuade disciples from joining the fight on either side. Three disciples from Murfreesboro in Rutherford County penned a response to Fanning’s several articles, particularly his three […]

With Tennessee now a Confederate state and at war with the Union, Fanning published an article entitled “Taking up the Cross,” in the August issue of the Gospel Advocate 7.8 (1861), 244-245. What did it mean to “take up the cross” in August 1861 for Tennesseans, Confederates or Unionists? On the one hand, it meant abandoning […]

Below is the last of three articles Fanning wrote for the July 1861 Gospel Advocate where he attempts to persuade his audience (which extends from Virginia to Alabama to Texas) to resist the temptation to enter the fray between the Confederacy and the Union.  Christians, according to Fanning, must not participate in war “against their […]

Though the overwhelming sentiment of western and middle Tennessee favored the decision of the state government to join the Confederacy and enter the war against the Union on July 2, 1861, Fanning pleads for Christians to stand apart in three lengthy and significant articles in the July issue of the Gospel Advocate. His theology for […]

On June 8, 1861, Tennesseans voted for secession. On July 2 the state joined the Confederacy and, consequently, entered the war against the Union. Tolbert Fanning floods the July issue of the Gospel Advocate with three rather lengthy articles on war, peace and “world powers.” The first, “The Kingdom of God Triumphant Over the Kingdoms of […]

After the Confederacy’s seizure of Ft. Sumter in Charleston harbor and Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers in April 1861, Tennessee–scheduled to vote on secession in early June–will be the last state to join the Confederacy. That same month Tolbert Fanning penned a brief but poignant plea for peace by appealing to the role of kingdom people amidst […]