Tag Archives: Thomas Campbell

Replanting a Denomination: The Original Restoration Plea

A reader posted a comment, suggesting that the original Restoration Plea was not as I characterized it in the last post of this series, asserting — In actuallity, the concept of teaching “the correct doctrines of baptism, worship, and church … Continue reading

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Backgrounds of the Restoration Movement: Positive Law

In hindsight, it’s easy to see that the doctrine taught by Stone, the Campbells, and Scott differed radically from much that was taught in the years following the Civil War. What changed? Surely they didn’t realize at the time that … Continue reading

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Backgrounds of the Restoration Movement: Baptism, Primitivism, and Heresy, Part 1

The Restoration Movement was not begun with baptism in mind. Indeed, Barton W. Stone, Thomas Campbell, and Alexander Campbell had all begun their ministries and had written some of their most famous documents long before baptism became an issue. You … Continue reading

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Backgrounds of the Restoration Movement: Barton W. Stone and Richard McNemar

We in the Churches of Christ often claim to be part of or heirs of the Restoration Movement, founded by Barton W. Stone and Thomas and Alexander Campbell. We like to recite various Restoration Movement slogans and give them very … Continue reading

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Backgrounds of the Restoration Movement: Heresy, Part 3 (French religious wars, Thomas Campbell)

Fifth Story The Catholic Church and Reformation churches felt obliged to kill heretics. The Reformers were more tolerant of heresy, as the earlier Reformers had been branded heretics themselves. But neither side allowed much in the way of dissent. Both … Continue reading

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CENI: Introduction

I’ve been planning to say something on CENI hermeneutics for years. Now I finally get to it. For those not familiar with the term, “CENI” is the internet abbreviation for Command, Example, and Necessary Inference. And CENI is the foundation … Continue reading

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One Church

Thomas Campbell’s “Declaration and Address” was written in 1809. This is one of the founding documents of the Restoration Movement, written for the purpose of calling people away from division and sectarianism to join in a common communion, a single … Continue reading

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The Future of the Progressive Churches of Christ: The Christian Standard Weighs In (Fourth Question, part 1)

How does our current historical amnesia affect the vitality of the Restoration Movement institutions? Should we care? The Standard asks, If megachurches and new churches are a prophetic whisper of who we are becoming, are we making ourselves vulnerable as … Continue reading

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The Future of the Progressive Churches of Christ: The Christian Standard Weighs In (First Question)

As I mentioned in the last post under this topic, the Christian Standard has asked 5 questions about the future of the Restoration Movement. This first is — Are we really still a movement? The Standard refers to a definition … Continue reading

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The Regulative Principle: History, Part 2 (the Landmark story)

Many of the second generation of the Restoration Movement misunderstood the Campbells. In particular, Moses Lard and Benjamin Franklin (great nephew of the Revolutionary War Benjamin Franklin) taught a much narrower doctrine of salvation (soterology), sometimes insisting on near-perfect doctrine … Continue reading

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