Did Charles Taze Russell die a broken man?

Vanderhoven7

His 1914 predictions failed...but did he succumb to depression as a result?

Sea Breeze

I don’t think so.

He died dressed in a Roman toga fully content with having been appointed “The” Faithful and Wise Servant responsible for the salvation of all people of the earth.

He lost his mind years before and wasn’t even looking for it.

I know he was ill and in a lot of pain for quite a while before his death. Apparently he died at 64 and a person close to him on his final train ride home described him as looking older than his 88 year old father. I wonder why he died wearing a Roman toga.

Earnest

Vanderhoven7 : Apparently he died at 64 and a person close to him on his final train ride home described him as looking older than his 88 year old father.

His father died in 1897 (at 84), nineteen years before Russell's death in 1916 (at 64), so perhaps the "person close to him" wasn't quite that close.

Vanderhoven7 : I wonder why he died wearing a Roman toga.

The December 1, 1916 Watchtower gives an account of his death by Menta Sturgeon, his traveling secretary, who was with him on the train. He writes (Reprints, p.365):

Toward morning he had me make a robe for convenience sake by pinning a sheet inside of a blanket, wrapping him in it like a robe and fastening it under his chin. He stood up on the floor for this purpose, and then lay down on the couch instead of returning to his berth. I therefore sat on his bed while he lay before me. After several hours his robe proved to be rather inconvenient, because the sheet and blanket could not be kept together. It was then that he stood again and said, "Please make me a Roman toga."

Menta Sturgeon writes later that he didn't know what Russell meant by wearing the sheets as a toga. He suggests that at a time when he was too weak to talk clearly, he wore the toga to indicate he had remained faithful to death. That may be so. It might simply be that he used two sheets as the sheet and blanket could not be kept together. But whatever the case, there doesn't seem to be any indication that he was depressed.

Sea Breeze

he wore the toga to indicate he had remained faithful to death.

Except for that time he sold fake miracle wheat on the pages of the Watchtower, and

Locked himself in the bedroom of his house maid with his wife banging in the door for 10-15 minutes, and

Lied under oath about being able to read Greek and then couldn't even say the Greek alphabet, and

Revived the Arian heresy after it had been resolved for 1500 years, and

Appointed himself the savior of the world instead of Jesus.

I don't think he was a broken man, but definitely a preying man.

peacefulpete

He was idolized to the end. Had he lived long enough for Rutherford to show his ambitions and seen his church split apart, he might have felt it was all slipping away. But it seems that he was delusional and self-aggrandizing to his death.

ElderBerry

There is talk that left his wife and secretary had a long term affair with one of his assistants ,

Maybe she wrapped him in the Toga as part of their kinky fun role play?

NotFormer

"Revived the Arian heresy after it had been resolved for 1500 years,"

To be fair, Arius' version of anti-trinitarianism was different from the WT version, even though they make him out to be some sort of hero of the faith. In Arius' version, the Holy Spirit, while not being God, was still a person, not a "force".

The "holy spirit as a force" idea was stolen from John Thomas, founder of the Christadelphians.

TonusOH

Rutherford was something of a schemer. I doubt Russell would have ever caught on to his ambitions. No doubt he played the loyal stooge who was just happy to serve, until the opportunity to take over presented itself.

Something tells me that Russell would not have recognized the version of Rutherford who took over. Aside, perhaps, from the penchant for booze.

Did Charles Taze Russell die a broken man?

Share this