A friend of mine pointed me to a doctoral dissertion, available in full text online, by John C. Hardin, titled Common Cause: B. C. Goodpasture, The Gospel Advocate, and Churches of Christ in the Twentieth Century. It’s an excellent read and highly recommended.
When I was a student at David Lipscomb College (1972-1975), I had a couple of occasions to hear Br. Goodpasture speak, and he was among my favorite preachers during a time when I heard preachers very nearly every day. Although he was very advanced in years, we students went out of our way to hear him speak, not only because of his legendary status, but because he was just a delightful speaker. I also remember my father telling me about the role Br. Goodpasture paid in the non-institutional controversy of the 1950s. I was excited to find a recent study of Br. Goodpasture’s life’s work.
And so I read the dissertation with great interest. The author brings to the subject a vast knowledge of the times and of the periodicals and private conversations of those years.
Most Restoration Movement histories end around 1906 or World War II. This book takes us from the 1940s to the mid-1970s — years that are surely the most important in the history of the Churches of Christ. We are are introduced to such men as Foy Wallace, G. C. Brewer, Ira North, and Ira Rice.
The books is written by a historian and not a theologian, and so the discussion is more objective than some earlier works. It’s fascinating to see how the Churches’ views toward government, war, and institutions changed over those years.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at how many times the Gospel Advocate found itself accused of “modernism” and “liberalism” by its opponents. (We really need to come up with a new word for “someone I very strongly disagree with”!) And it’s interesting to see how Goodpasture began his editorship by promising to be open to publishing contrary views and found himself later publishing only his own views — with very few exceptions.
The books further illustrates the cantakerous, belligerant attitudes that prevailed in those days and that remain with us — and how hard it was for Goodpasture not to descend to the level of his critics.
It’s a fascinating read.
There is also a book called “A Distinct People” that deals with the churches of Christ in the 20th century that I found very good. I look forward to reading this dissertation. Thank you for the good work you do.
Fascinating dissertation. The most amazing fact being that we have been locked in the same viscious cycle for forty years with no resolution one way or the other of the issues we have been struggling to debate – unity, translations, the Holy Spirit, CENI.
I know the focus was on brother Goodpasture but I wish the author had given us more of the “after” story.
Oh and when you read this thing, check the footnotes, some interesting additional factoids such as the Church having 199 men placed in work camps during WWII as conscientious objectors. Apparently though wounded the spirit of pacifism was still around then and was in fact supported by Goodpasture. (this connects to the resident aliens conversation as well.)
interesting, thanks for the link