Do you attend a Christian Church or a Church of Christ or a Community Church in North America? If so, you have been directly or indirectly influenced by Alexander Campbell.
Campbell was born near Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, on September 12, 1788, and he died March 4, 1866 (just after the Civil War ended). He came to America in 1809 and, as a 21-year-old, after arriving in America, he read and then pledged his life to the propagation of the principles for non-denominational Christianity from a booklet his father, Thomas Campbell, had just published.
The booklet was called The Declaration and Address and it was the clearest and most prominent appeal for non-denominational Christianity in early American history. If you attend a church that says something like, “We are a non-denominational church that just follows the Bible,” then you have been directly or indirectly influenced by Alexander Campbell.
By the time the Civil War started, about fifty years after Campbell’s advocacy for New Testament Christianity, there were an estimated 200,000 people in what were called “Restoration Movement churches”—churches that followed the ideas he promoted. Today there are countless millions in the USA and around the world who follow these principles. Needless to say, Campbell is an important Christian leader in American church history.
“About fifty years after Campbell’s advocacy for New Testament Christianity, there were an estimated 200,000 people in what were called ‘Restoration Movement churches.'”
Granted, like every one of us, Campbell was limited by the understandings and ideas of his time. But he had a tremendous influence for good. It is helpful to know about him, as with others in church history, because learning how others followed Jesus in their context helps us discern how to better follow Jesus in our own. We are grateful when spiritual ancestors help us better understand and follow the Bible through the wisdom of history.
Watch the Free 45-minute segment of the Church History Course by Renew University on Alexander Campbell here:
I like and agree with the expression Sola Scriptura because it makes clear that Scripture alone is our final authority. But we are wise not to make Scripture our only authority. This is why some like the expression Prima Scriptura: Scripture is our first and final authority, but we value the wisdom of other authorities in history.[1] Here is the point: it is important not to skip over history. Instead, embrace Christian history, and take in the wisdom that comes from creeds, tradition, and even the pitfalls of those who went before us.[2]
As the adage goes, those who learn from history are less likely to repeat its mistakes. At RENEW.org Network we want you to learn about creeds, the early church fathers, councils, and historical Christian teachings so you can gain supplemental insights. They help us interpret Scripture, guard against error, and identify apostolic faith throughout history—even as they are subordinate and always evaluated against Scripture. The Bible is our “first,” “primary,” and “final” rule, while other sources nurture our faith with the wisdom and insight we gain from those who have gone before us.
“At RENEW.org we want you to learn about creeds, the early church fathers, councils, and historical Christian teachings so you can gain supplemental insights.”
In chronological order, here is how the learnings from history usually work in my life. I will typically consult:
- Scripture first,
- Top contemporary scholars, second,
- Restoration voices, like Campbell’s (1800s), third,
- Reformation voices (1500s),
- Early Christian voices (100-400s C.E.), and
- Scripture finally.
Notice how Scripture is my first and last source, so that it remains pre-eminent. But, again, I want to make sure that I learn from history, from the earliest Christians, from the Creeds, from the Reformers, from Restoration Movement leaders, and importantly, from the best scholars and spiritual voices today.
I start with Scripture and pray that God will help me get it right. Then I read or listen to the best scholars of the day, as more ancient documents, archaeology, and insight are available today than most church leaders had in the first 300 years of church history. Then, I go back through time.
What did Campbell say? What did the Reformers say? And, on big doctrinal items, what did the early church and Creeds say? Everrett Ferguson and Thomas Oden taught me to listen carefully to the earliest voices just after the scriptures were completed—what they called Paleo-Orthodoxy—because …
- They spoke and read the same language—with all of its nuances—as the apostles and others who wrote the New Testament.
- They lived in the same culture as the apostles and others who wrote the New Testament.
- Many were directly and individually discipled by the apostles.
- They were in the churches that had been established by the apostles and knew the practices that had been established in those churches.[3]
“Notice how Scripture is my first and last source, so that it remains pre-eminent.”
One of the most helpful resources for how these early “Paleo-Orthodox” church leaders (100s to early 300s) understood the big issues of the day, is the book Early Christians Speak. It is a summary by Everett Ferguson, the eminent early church history expert and Restoration Movement scholar. It is now a free download available here. I find Ferguson’s work to be not only helpful but reassuring, for it shows what the early Christians after the apostles believed—and it affirms many of Campbell’s ideas and what I see in Scripture (e.g., baptism as an expression of faith for the forgiveness of sins, weekly communion, a plurality of elders leading the local church).
Are you interested in digging into church history more deeply and learning from Campbell and other spiritual ancestors going back 2,000 years? I want to recommend the course on church history that Renew University is just now releasing. If you are not sure about the course, check out the forty-five-minute review of Alexander Campbell’s life. You will be glad that you took the time to watch it.
-click here to learn more about Renew University’s new Church History Class-
We all stand on the shoulders of the godly men and women who came before us. It is to our honor and benefit to learn from them as they teach us the hard-earned wisdom of history.
[1] I still prefer Sola Scriptura along the framework of Anthony Lane, “Sola Scriptura? Making Sense of a Post-Reformation Slogan,” in A Pathway into the Holy Scripture, by Philip E. Satterthwaite and David F. Wright (Wm. B. Eerdmans-Lightning Source, 1994). Prima Scriptura has been used by some to invoke too much authority from other sources.
[2] Restoration Movement leaders are well served by learning the lessons described in Hughes and Allen’s book, Illusions of Innocence: Protestant Primitivism in America, 1630-1875 (University of Chicago Press, 1988).
[3] Everett Ferguson, “Using Historical Foreground in New Testament Interpretation,” in The Early Church and Today, Vol, 2 (Leafwood Publishers & ACU Press, 2013).
