Jehovah's Witnesses are a breakaway

HowTheBibleWasCreated

Let me follow the trial. In 1931 Rutherford started Jehovah's Witnesses. be before that.. Bible Student and they merged before 1917 with Russelites and they merge with Adventists, And then Miller in 1844.Before that be disperse into Baptist and other denominations. Oh wow I all leads back to Catholicism Then before 200 AD to Gnosticism.. Then Judaism, then Zoroastrianism then Caaanism then,... well go back o nothing

Ultimate Axiom

A breakaway, or a takeover? Whenever the question arises as to who founded Jehovah’s Witnesses, I always answer Rutherford, not Russell. Russell founded the Watchtower and the IBSA (and a few other entities), and after he died Rutherford hijacked the lot. Once full autocratic control was established, and most links to the past were either modified or cut, he changed the name and the religion of JWs was born.

Phizzy

Rutherford took over in a Business Coup of doubtful legal force, and got away with it, by being a bully I would guess.

Many who had followed Russell, and still called themselves Bible Students left, especially after the 1925 debacle, about which Rutherford admitted " I made a bit of an ass of myself didn't I ?". ( I think he meant arse).

The followers of Rutherford were not much greater in number than the Bible Students when Rutherford strove to distance himself from them, and further from Russell, by instituting a new name.

His successor, Knorr, followed the methods of Corporate America, and drove the business model to success, via profitable printing and selling of literature, and making money from Conventions.

If Rutherford and Knorr had not been so interested in $$$ and more interested in really being a Christian Org. the JW's would probably not number many at all today.

With regard to your points in the O.P. the line you trace is more accurate and truthful than what I saw in the WT mag a few years ago where they traced back through Russell and then selected religious figures during the intervening Centuries until they got back to the 1st Century, a most spurious Line of Succession and History indeed !

dropoffyourkeylee

In complete agreement, Phizzy.

One comment to add, that is that Knorr's business model moved him to push it out to other markets outside the US. The fact that the US is not where the majority of JWs live has its foundation in Knorr's business expansion.

slimboyfat

I agree with Phizzy. The organisation as it exists today is the creation of Knorr, and much of the peculiar points of biblical interpretation is the work of Fred Franz. In partnership those two men created the modern day religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In many ways, if you want to know what the organisation would have looked like today without their influence, then look at the Christadelphians: much smaller (around 50,000) focussed in the US, UK, and Australia. Their organisation consists of independent ecclesias and there is little change in how they operate over many decades.

hoser

The franchise business model is what led to the Jws success. Go to any McDonald’s restaurant in the world and the Big Mac is consistently the same hamburger. Go to any Kingdom Hall and the watchtower study is the same world wide.

vienne

Russell was never an Adventist. He was an Age to Come Millennialist. His doctrines came from that source. Separate Identity, both volumes, considers this in detail. At one point Russell tells his readers that while he knew Miller's failed chronology, he never read anything Miller wrote.

On the other hand, he tells his readers that he read The Restitution, an Age to Come newspaper. He mentions various books that he read, including J. A. Seiss' Last Times. Seiss was a then prominent Lutheran, whose books are still reprinted. He quotes various periodicals, none of them Adventist or Millerite.

Surprisingly, most of his earliest followers were Methodists. Not Adventists of any sort.

Rocketman123

One could correctly say the JWS religion was a breakaway from the International Bible Students Association, the doctrines that were created at the time (1931) were still derived from the IBSA, proliferated from the Watchtower Corporation publishing company and its directing leaders.

slimboyfat

Exactly so hoser. JWs are a prime example of the McDonalization process discussed by sociologist George Ritzer,

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

And of religion in particular, discussed by John Drane. The “McDonaldized” church is characterised by: efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. Arguably this model fits JWs better than any other large church orgsnization. (Possible exceptions include the Iglesia ni Cristo who are like JWs, but even more so).

JWs meetings are extremely concerned with:

efficiently (timing, segmentation, utility, knowledge review)

calculability (attendance and preaching activity meticulously documented, literature sales, building projects)

predictability (every aspect of the meeting is planned and uniform worldwide, deviations of any kind unwelcome)

control (all activities strictly controlled by a clear chain of command, and actions prescribed down to minute details)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/McDonaldization-Church-Spirituality-Creativity-Future/dp/0232522596

https://alisonmorgan.co.uk/Books/Drane%202000.pdf

https://www.thoughtco.com/mcdonaldization-of-society-3026751

vienne I see a few problems with saying Russell was influenced by Age to Come Millennialist rather than Adventists.

1) Russell was hugely influenced by Barbour and he was clearly an Adventist. George Storrs was another Adventist influence on Russell.

2) I don’t find the term “Age to Come Millennialist” in religious encyclopaedia or textbooks.

3) The most senior scholars of religion, including Gordon Melton, describe Russell as being influenced by the Adventist tradition.

Vidiot

It’s breakaways all the way down. 😊

Jehovah's Witnesses are a breakaway

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