Fred Franz as Ghostwriter for Rutherford

by slimboyfat 18 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  AuldSoul

  Sorry, TheOldHippie, but I never saw Rutherford's later books as barely coherent rants. His speeches became increasingly disjointed and tangential, but the books were obviously not the works of a drunken old sot living out his days in the luxurious environs intended for the Ancient Worthies. The defenses in known early Franz pubs are quite like the defenses in the "Rutherford" work Riches, for instance (1936). Franz' later works just showed more refinement of phrasing, but the construction of argumentation is nearly identical.

  As for the teachings of Rutherford being done away with, aside from those surrounding 1925 I can't imagine what teachings you are referring to. Doctrinally, there is little changed in the primary teachings from 1940 until now. All the key dates that were recognized then are still recognized now, the authority structure as presented then is identical to the one JWs teach now—with some modifications to titles in congregational authority, the other sheep were already classed as separate from the little flock, the little flock was already being identified as the channel, the Society had not yet taken the name Governing Body, but the concept was in full force and had been for a few decades. I don't know which to teachings you are referring. The vaccination ban was already in place, providing the basis for the later ban on blood transfusions.

  Also, the early works of Rutherford were bombastic and charismatic in a style that matched his public speaking style. Those attributed to him from about 1934 forward show a decidedly muted tone and an increased dependence on strength of argument and persuasion, rather than on repeated emphatic assertion—a primary characteristic of Rutherford's communication style until his death.

  The teachings of Russell were done away with. Almost entirely. But that was not true of Rutherford's (Franz') teachings. They survive to us nearly intact, save changes to prophetic fulfillments that failed to materialize as planned. Doctrines were added or tweaked, but few of Rutherford's (Franz') teachings were discarded.

  Respectfully,
  AuldSoul
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  TheOldHippie

  Message received. OK.

  I have listened to many of Rutherford's records, and I have been surprised he was no good speaker, he mumbled and talked like - OK, as you state. (Funny how he is introduced as JUDGE Rutherford, and then in 1942 Knorr is introduced as MISTER Knorr.)

  With the book "The New World" from 1942, the "Truth" becomes "modern" in my eyes, there you have all the teachings you have today, just some "minor" changes have been made later.

  But when I said that Rutherford's teachings had been changed, I was thinking of the statue in Daniel's peophecy, he said it was a picture of God's organisation and NOT of world empires (because the Adventists said it was empires, and they could not have the truth); the Pleiades; Pyramids (OK, he did away with that himself); the world war leading to Harmageddon; not having children; - but most of all, I find his books difficult to comprehend - what is he trying to say, what is the thread, the overall teaching? 1942 onwards, it becomes recognisable.
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  Londo111

  I wonder if anyone has tried textual analysis to test this hypothesis. There are several online tools for this. One could compare a work that it is known Franz wrote. Then compared it to something he may have ghostwritten for Rutherford.
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  slimboyfat

  Good idea.

  Early Watchtower literature could be run through plagiarism software too, because people have spotted heavy dependence on outside sources just through manual comparisons. No doubt it would reveal all sorts of interesting things about where ideas and arguments originated.
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  TheListener

  Slimboyfat that's a great idea. I never thought of running their literature through a plagiarism screen. That really would be very telling.
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  jaydee

  Worth noting what Paul Blizard had to say

  ''One could say that Franz was the molder and shaper of Watchtower theology for more than 70 years. I believe Franz ghost-wrote many books attributed to Joseph Rutherford......''
  
  http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/fred_franz.htm
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  slimboyfat

  TheListener, any idea how to do it?
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  TheListener

  I know that when my kids turn in documents for school the program automatically checks for plagiarism but I don't know how it works. I don't think it would take a full document or anything but it does show the technology it out there. Maybe a few google searches will turn something up.
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  TheListener

  This program will do up to 1,000 words for free. But, we need something that will take more text.

  http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/