Jehovah’s Witness’ roots: An introduction to C.T. Russell

Major publications
In 1881 Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society was founded for the purpose of disseminating tracts, papers, doctrinal treatises and Bibles. All materials were printed and bound by contract with local printers, then distributed by ‘colporteurs’. The Society was officially chartered in 1884. From this point Russell’s ministry intensified. His Bible study group had grown to hundreds of local members, with followers throughout New England, the Virginias, Ohio, and elsewhere, who annually elected him “Pastor”. Other congregations that eventually formed in other nations also followed this tradition.

Russell devoted nearly a tenth of his fortune, along with contributed funds, in publishing and distributing Food for Thinking Christians in 1881 . In the same year followed The Tabernacle and its Teachings, and Tabernacle Shadows of the Better Sacrifices. In 1886, after what was reported to be a financial set-back resulting from the immense outlay on these three titles, he published the long promised The Plan of the Ages (later renamed The Divine Plan of the Ages). In the course of preparation, Russell concluded the book was to be merely the first of a seven-volume series. The remaining volumes, originally called Millennial Dawn, but later renamed Studies in the Scriptures to clarify that they were not novels, were: The Time is at Hand (1889), Thy Kingdom Come (1891), The Day of Vengeance – later retitled The Battle of Armageddon (1897), The Atonement Between God and Men (1899), and The New Creation (1904).

The delayed publishing of the seventh volume eventually became a source of great anticipation and mystery among Bible Students. Following Russell’s death in 1916, a seventh volume – entitled The Finished Mystery – was published in 1917 and advertised as his posthumous work. True to Russell’s plan, this seventh volume was a detailed interpretation of the book of Revelation, but had included interpretations of Ezekiel, and the Song of Solomon. Immediate controversy surrounded both its publishing, and contents. In a short time it was established that it was actually written and compiled by two of Russell’s associates, Clayton J. Woodworth and George H. Fisher, and edited by Joseph Franklin Rutherford.

In 1903, newspapers began publishing his written sermons. These newspaper sermons were syndicated worldwide, eventually reaching an estimated readership of twelve to fifteen million in the United States. Through the syndicated sermons, and advertising efforts made by the newspaper syndicators, Pastor Russell’s face became one of the most recognizable images in the world. Russell, however, had many critics, and was labeled a heretic, amongst other things. As he became more prominent the number of critics increased.

Theology and teachings
Following his analytical examination of the Bible, Pastor Russell, and other Bible Students, came to believe that Christian creeds and traditions were harmful errors, believing they had restored Christianity to the purity held in the first century. Such views and conclusions were viewed as heresy by many Church leaders and scholars in his day, although adopting some of his views in later decades. Pastor Russell agreed with other Protestants on the primacy of the Bible, and justification by faith alone, but thought that errors had been introduced in interpretation. Pastor Russell agreed with many 19th century Protestants, including Millerites, in the concept of a Great Apostasy that began in the first century AD. He also agreed with many other contemporary Protestants in belief in the imminent Second Coming of Christ, and Armageddon. Some of the areas in which his Scriptural interpretations differed from those of Catholics, and many Protestants, included the following:

• Russell disputed the concept of a burning Hell. He maintained that there was a heavenly resurrection of 144,000 righteous, as well as a “great multitude” , but believed that the remainder of mankind slept in death, awaiting an earthly resurrection.
• He did not accept the concept of the Trinity as usually presented. Russell believed in the divinity of Christ, but differed from orthodoxy by teaching Jesus had received that divinity as a gift from the Father, after dying on the cross. He also taught that the Holy Spirit is not a person, but the manifestation of God’s power.
• Russell calculated 1874 to be the year of Christ’s Second Coming , and until his death taught that Christ was invisibly present, and ruling from the heavens from that date. He predicted that a period known as the “gentile times” would end in 1914 and that Christ would take power of earth’s affairs at that time. He interpreted the outbreak of World War I as the beginning of Armageddon, which he viewed to be both a gradual deterioration of civilized society, and a climactic multi-national attack on a restored Israel accompanied by worldwide anarchy.
• He rejected the common chronology of the Bible, published by Bishop Usher , and used a direct approach, and deductive reasoning, to calculate the 6,000 years from Adam. Correlating it with prophetic interpretations, the year 1874 was seen to be prophetically and chronologically significant, and seen as the date of the invisible return of Christ.
• Russell backed up some calculations using pyramidology. Following the view first taught by Christian writers, such as John Taylor, Charles Piazzi Smyth and Joseph Seiss, he believed the Great Pyramid of Giza was built by the under God’s direction, to be understood only in our day. He adopted and used the English phrase, referring to it as “the Bible in stone”. Based upon certain biblical texts, such as Isaiah 19:19,20, and others, the various ascending and descending passages were viewed as representing the fall of man, the provision of the Mosaic Law, the death of Christ, and the exultation of the saints in heaven. Calculations were made using the pattern of an inch per year. Dates such as 1874, 1914, and 1948 were purported to have been found through the study of this monument.

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