The Bible Student movement is a Millennialist Restorationist Christian movement. It emerged in the United States from the teachings and ministry of Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916), also known as Pastor Russell, and his founding of the Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society in 1881. Members of the movement have variously referred to themselves as Bible Students, International Bible Students, Associated Bible Students, or Independent Bible Students.
Several schisms developed within the congregations of Bible Students associated with the Watch Tower Society between 1909 and 1932. The most significant split began in 1917 following the election of Joseph Franklin Rutherford as president of the Watch Tower Society two months after Russell's death. The schism began with Rutherford's controversial replacement of four of the Society's board of directors and publication of The Finished Mystery in July 1917.
Thousands of members left congregations of Bible Students associated with the Watch Tower Society during the 1920s, prompted in part by Rutherford's failed predictions for the year 1925, increasing disillusionment with his ongoing doctrinal and organizational changes, and his campaign for centralized control of the movement. William Schnell, author and former Jehovah's Witness, claims that three-quarters of the original Bible Students who had been associating with the Watch Tower Society in 1919 had left by 1931. In 1930, Rutherford stated that "the total number of those who have withdrawn from the Society... is comparatively large."The Watch Tower November 15, 1930 p. 342 col 1.
Between 1918 and 1929, several factions formed their own independent groups, including the Stand Fast Movement, the Pastoral Bible Institute, the Laymen's Home Missionary Movement founded by Paul Johnson, and the Dawn Bible Students Association. These groups range from conservative (claiming to be Russell's true followers) to more liberal (claiming that Russell's role is not as important as once believed). Rutherford's faction of the movement retained control of the Watch Tower Society and adopted the name "Jehovah's witnesses" in July 1931. By , Jehovah's Witnesses reported an estimated membership of , while other independent Bible Student groups had an estimated total of less than 75,000.Present Truth February, 2006 pp 9–13.
Foundation
In 1869, Charles Russell viewed a presentation by Advent Christian preacher Jonas Wendell pointed to 1873 for the time of Christ's visible return. (influenced by the Millerites) and soon after began attending an Adventist Bible study group in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, led by George Stetson. Russell acknowledged the influence of Adventist ministers including George Storrs, an old acquaintance of William Miller and semi-regular attendee at the Bible study group in Allegheny.Watch Tower, 1906, as cited by .
In early January 1876, Russell met independent Adventist preachers Nelson H. Barbour and John H. Paton, publishers of the Herald of the Morning, who convinced him that Christ had returned invisibly in 1874.. Russell provided financial backing for Barbour and became co-editor of Herald of the Morning; the pair jointly issued Three Worlds and the Harvest of This World (1877), written mostly by Barbour.. Various concepts in the book are still taught by the Bible Student movement and Jehovah's Witnesses, including a 2520-year period termed "the Gentile Times" predicted to end in 1914. Deviating from most Second Adventists, the book taught that the earth would not be burned up when Christ returned, but that humankind since Adam would eventually be resurrected to the earth and given the opportunity to attain eternal perfect human life if obedient. It also revealed an expectation that all of the "saints" would be taken to heaven in April 1878.Three Worlds, pp. 184–85.
Russell continued to develop his interpretations of biblical chronology. In 1877, he published 50,000 copies of the pamphlet The Object and Manner of Our Lord's Return, teaching that Christ would return invisibly before the battle of Armageddon. By 1878, he was teaching the Adventist view that the "time of the end" had begun in 1799,"The 'Time of the End,' a period of one hundred and fifteen (115) years, from A.D. 1799 to A.D. 1914, is particularly marked in the Scriptures." Thy Kingdom Come, 1890, p. 23. and that Christ had returned invisibly in 1874 and had been crowned in heaven as king in 1878. Russell believed that 1878 also marked the resurrection of the "sleeping saints" (all faithful Christians who had died up to that time) and the "fall of Babylon" which he taught to be God's final judgment of unfaithful Christendom.Thy Kingdom Come (1890), Volume 3 of Studies in the Scriptures, pp. 305–8."This spuing out, or casting off, of the nominal church as an organization in 1878, we then understood, and still proclaim, to be the date of the commencement of Babylon's fall..."—"The Consummation of Our Hope" in Zion's Watch Tower, April 1883. Reprints pp. 474–5. October 1914 was held as the end of a harvest period that would culminate in the beginning of Armageddon, manifested by the emergence of worldwide anarchy and the decline and destruction of civilized society. The Watch Tower, July 1881, "Future Work and Glory""Things to Come—And The Present European Situation" , The Watch Tower, January 15, 1892, Reprints, p. 1355
Russell broke with Barbour in July 1879 over the doctrine of substitutionary atonement and began publishing his own monthly magazine, Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence (now known as The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom), and the pair competed through their rival publications for the minds of their readers.Russell explained his side of the break with Barbour in the first issue of the Watch Tower . (Semi-monthly publication of the magazine began in 1892.)
In early 1881, Russell predicted that the churches ('Babylon') would begin to fall apart and that the rapture of the saints would take place that year, although they would remain on earth as materialized spirit beings. In 1882, he outlined his nontrinitarian views concluding that the doctrine is not taught in the Bible.
Readers of Zion's Watch Tower formed thirty Bible study groups in seven states in the United States in 1879–80, with each congregation electing its own elders. In 1880, Russell visited the congregations to conduct six-hour study sessions, teaching each congregation how to carry out topical Bible study.
Watch Tower Society In 1881, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was formed as an unincorporated administrative agency for the purpose of disseminating tracts, papers, doctrinal treatises, and Bibles, with Russell as secretary and William Henry Conley as president."Modern History of Jehovah’s Witnesses", Watchtower, January 15, 1955, page 14. Three years later, on December 15, 1884, Russell became president of the society when it was legally incorporated in Pennsylvania.Holden, A. (2002) Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement. (p. 18) (The society was renamed Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in September 1896). Russell wrote many articles, books, pamphlets, and sermons, which by his death totaled 50,000 printed pages, with almost 20 million copies of his books printed and distributed around the world. In 1886, he wrote the first of what would become a six-volume Bible textbook series called Millennial Dawn, later renamed Studies in the Scriptures,Yearbook 1975, Watch Tower Society, 1975. which presented his fundamental doctrines. As a consequence, the Bible Students were sometimes called Millennial Dawnists.
Russell advertised for 1000 preachers in 1881, and encouraged all who were members of "the body of Christ" to preach to their neighbors, to gather the "little flock" of saints while the vast majority of mankind would be given the opportunity to gain salvation during Christ's 1000-year reign. Russell's supporters gathered as autonomous congregations to study the Bible and his writings. Russell rejected the concept of a formal organization as "wholly unnecessary" for his followers and declared that his group had no record of its members' names, no creeds, and no sectarian name. He wrote in February 1884: "By whatsoever names men may call us, it matters not to us... we call ourselves simply Christians." and cited by .
Elders and deacons were elected by congregations and Russell tolerated a great latitude of belief among members. He opposed formal disciplinary procedures by congregation elders, claiming this was beyond their authority,, as cited by , "The Lord's word does not authorize any court of Elders, or anyone else, to become busybodies. This would be going back to the practices of the Dark Ages during the Inquisition and we would be showing the same spirit as did the inquisitors." instead recommending that an individual who continued in a wrong course be judged by the entire congregation, which could ultimately "withdraw from him its fellowship" if the undesirable behavior continued. Disfellowshipping did not mean the wrongdoer was to be shunned in all social circumstances or by all Bible Students, though fellowship would be limited. From 1895, Russell encouraged congregations to study his Bible textbook series, Studies in the Scriptures, paragraph by paragraph to properly discern God's plan for humanity. In 1905, he recommended replacing verse-by-verse Bible studies with what he called "Berean Studies" of topics he chose.
The Watch Tower Society opened overseas branches in London (1900),Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1959, page 32. Germany (1903), and Australia and Switzerland (1904)."The First One a Hundred Years Ago", Awake, December 22, 2000. The Society's headquarters were transferred to Brooklyn, New York in 1909."Organized Testimony to the New World", Watchtower, July 15, 1950, page 215.
In January 1914, the Bible Students began public showings of The Photo-Drama of Creation.Slides and film from the Photo-Drama can be viewed online at AGS Consulting ; the book is available online at Herald . It presented Russell's views of God's plan from the creation of the earth through to the establishment and administration of God's kingdom on earth. The Photo-Drama represented a significant advancement in film production, as the first major presentation to synchronize motion pictures with audio by use of phonograph records. Worldwide attendance in 1914 exceeded nine million.American Movie Classics, "Timeline of Influential Milestones... 1910s" , Retrieved 2009-04-15.
International Bible Students Association In 1910, Russell introduced the name International Bible Students Association as a means of identifying his worldwide community of Bible study groups. He wrote:
Russell explained that the Association would be directed and managed by the Peoples Pulpit Association which, in turn, represented the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. All Bible Student classes using Watch Tower Society publications could consider themselves identified with the Association and were authorized to use the name International Bible Students Association in connection with their meetings. The name was also used when advertising and conducting Bible Students conventions.
Formative influences In addition to Russell other early influences include: Nelson H. Barbour (1824–1905) John Nelson Darby (1800–1882) Henry Dunn (1801–1878) Henry Grew (1781–1862) Dunbar Isidore Heath (1816–1888) William Miller (1782–1849) George Stetson (1814–1879) George Storrs (1796–1879) Randolph E. Streeter (1847–1924) Jonas Wendell (1815–1873) Joseph Seiss (1823–1904)
First schism