I don’t know a lot about James Penton but I think he deserves a better thread than the one currently on offer. So here goes.
James Penton, who died recently, grew up in a JW family in Canada and served as an elder. Unusually for a JW, he studied liberal arts at university and became a history professor. He wrote a positive book about JWs in Canada that was quoted in the Watchtower and he defended some JW positions, such as on blood, in the media in Canada.
Penton disagreed with the Watchtower leadership on some issues such as whether reporting time in door to door preaching was a requirement for Christians. He formed an association with other brothers over the blood issue before Watchtower set up their own arrangements. He also heard about the rumblings in Brooklyn over Raymond Franz’s exit and visited the headquarters to see what was going on. He was researching a general history of JWs at the same time and didn’t get much cooperation in his research.
I’m not sure exactly how it went down, although it is documented in a book called “Crisis of Allegiance” by James Beverley, but due to differences with Watchtower leadership and some JWs locally, Penton’s son, other family members, and various friends in the congregation and neighbouring congregations left the JWs in Calgary, Alberta, over a hundred in total, all at the same time. It was one of the biggest mass defections from the JW religion on record and Penton was perceived as being at the centre of it.
As a former JW, Penton went on to complete his history of JWs titled “Apocalypse Delayed” which has come to be the most cited academic history of JWs. It covered a lot of aspects of Watchtower history that had been swept under the carpet and was quite scathing in its approach. Some academics have criticised the book on the basis of its tone and apparent bias against JWs but it remains a useful source of information. Its most notable impact is that it has probably impacted how Watchtower, and thus how JWs understand and present their own history.
Penton wrote another book about JWs during the Third Reich intending to expose alleged Watchtower attempts to compromise with the Nazi regime. This book did raise some valid issues that Watchtower wished to forget, but also suffered from being one sided and biased and it was criticised by some academics for that reason.
Penton maintained belief in God and the Bible after his exit from JWs, apparently in association with a small network non-Trinitarian believers, although he rejected various other doctrines of JWs.
In recent years Penton spent some time living in Mexico, maintained friendships with other former JW authors and researchers, and was continuing to research the early history of Watchtower for other projects. I don’t think these were completed or published: work on biographies for Russell or Rutherford? Does anyone know?