On occasion, I will link my blog to several interesting historical and theological posts or resources within the Stone-Campbell Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement). Here are some interesting links from the past several weeks.
Tom Lawson of Ozark Christian College provides some interesting charts on Stone-Campbell liturgy. Early liturgies were Word and Table with the Table as the crenscendo of the service, but after the influence of Finney’s Revivalism, Stone-Campbell liturgy became a hybrid. The “invitation song” (see the article by Olbricht on the invitation itself) is a late 19th century innovation among Stone-Campbell churches under the influence of Finney (among others) which had the effect of displacing the Lord’s Supper as the climactic moment in the liturgy. Lawson’s chart parallel quite nicely some of the emphases of my A Gathered People (co-authored with Bobby Valentine and Johnny Melton).
Mac Ice provides Alexander Campbell’s description of the “Minister’s Library.” It is clear that Campbell stressed knowing the original language of the biblical text for ministers.
DisciplesWorld anticipates 3000 Christians at the World Convention in Nashville, Tennessee this August.
Kyle Colvett surveys the attitudes of Stone-Campbell leaders (especially among Churches of Christ) to Catholicism in light of Pope Benedict XVI’s recent visit to the US. He discusses the Campbell-Purcell debate, G. C. Brewer, B. C. Goodpasture and Batsell Barrett Baxter among others.
Mission Memo has just completed a five-part series on the numerical state of the International Churches of Christ.
Jay Guin has begun a series entitled Amazing Grace/Churches of Christ in Decline?: Rescuing the Churches of Christ. Some of the background for this series is available in one of his previous posts.
Terry Laudett notes the recent release of the “Evangelical Manifesto.” An interesting discussion is in process at Generous Orthodoxy Think Tank and see the links at The Logos Became Flesh.
Bobby Valentine recently commented on the irony of Moses Lard for contemporary Churches of Christ–a hero of conservatives who does not fit the conservative mold in every respect.
A 10 minute video on You Tube offers a succint history of African American Churches of Christ beginning in the late 19th century.
A 10 minute video also on You Tube provides a broad introduction to the beginnings of the Stone-Campbell Movement.
