Alexander Campbell (1788 - 1866)

Karen, thank you for creating and introducing me to him and others in this family,

For your consideration:

Thomas Campbell and his son, Alexander Campbell, both educated in Scotland.

Sources:

https://www.discipleshistory.org/history/brief-history-stone-campbell-tradition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_Movement

See Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830. Alexander Campbell represented Brooke County Virginia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Constitutional_Convention_of_1829%E2%80%931830

When: In 1840 Alexander Campbell established Bethany College on a hilltop of his farm at Bethany, Virginia (now West Virginia).

BOOK

INTRODUCTION

Alexander Campbell, born September 12, 1788, near Shane's Castle in County Antrim, North Ireland, emigrated to the United States at age twenty-one. His life was a major influence in the Campbell-Stone Movement which began on the American frontier in the early 1800's. As a man of the Scottish and English Enlightenment, Campbell employed his varied talents and concerns in the service of the church and the nation. He was a religious reformer, Bible translator, and scholar deeply influenced by the philosophies of John Locke and the Scottish School of Common Sense. He was author, editor, and publisher; educator and college president; preacher, lecturer, and debater; gentleman farmer and sheepbreeder. At the age of thirty Campbell founded Buffaloe Semi-nary in his home and in 1840 established Bethany College on a hilltop of his farm at Bethany, Virginia (now West Virginia). He served as delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829 which he entered because of his special concerns as an advocate of free public schools and the gradual emancipation of slaves. In that convention he became a leader in the struggle to embody the principles of Jacksonian democracy in the new constitution of Virginia. His major editorial works were The Christian Baptist, published from 1823 to 1830, and The Millennial Harbinger, started in 1830 and continuing until 1870, four years after his death on March 4, 1866.

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Committed to the uniting of Christians under the teachings of the New Testament, Campbell traveled extensively, spoke eloquently, and left an indelible mark on the Christian Church of the Nineteenth Century. His concepts of Christian unity and freedom—positing a unity without uniformity and an open world of observation and experiment and reason against a closed world of dogma and tradition—offer both challenge and fruitful suggestion to the church of the Twentieth Century.

Because of Alexander Campbell's important place in the life of the church and the nation, the Disciples of Christ Historical Society Board of Trustees in 1984 set forth a program to celebrate the 200th birth date of Campbell. It was deter-mined that a lecture series would be given in three different locations of the United States. Five lecturers from within the Campbell-Stone Movement would deliver lectures in Fort Worth, Texas; Claremont, California; and Indianapolis, Indiana. In addition a noted historian from outside the movement would be asked to deliver a Campbell lecture at only one location thus including three such historians. The Campbell celebration began with a lecture by Eva Jean Wrather at the Historical Society Dinner during the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) held in Louisville, Kentucky, in October 1987. This lecture with the lectures from the series provide the nine lectures included in this book. They were edited by Lester McAllister, Professor of Modern Church History, Emeritus. The Index was prepared by David I. McWhirter, Director of Library and Archives for the Historical Society. We wish to express sincere thanks to the lecturers for their scholarly papers and to Lester McAllister and David McWhirter for their work in preparing the manuscript. Proofing of the text was done by Bondie Thompson, Secretary at the Historical Society, and for this she deserves much credit. The Board of Trustees of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society is very pleased to offer this historical review of aspects of the life of Alexander Campbell in their continuing effort to create history as well as to preserve history.

James M. Seale, President Disciples of Christ Historical Society

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Lectures In Honor of the Alexander Campbell Bicentennial, 1788-1988, Disciples of Christ Historical Society, Nashville, TN, 1988.

Best regards,

Richard J, Amherst Co., Virginia