Didn't Russell co-edit the mag before he bought it or something ? so was it named Watchtower before he bought it ?
The magazine/legal name "Watchtower"
by truth_about_the_truth 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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punkofnice
Wobble - Ooooh, that was a bit before my time.
I do own 'Divine Plan' complete with pyramid maps and a 'winged sun' occult symbol on the front.
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OnTheWayOut
I believe Russell simply needed something with a symbol on it. He chose "Watch Tower" to be the prominent part of the title and a picture of a literal "Watch Tower" was on the cover.
JW's today forget that "Christ's Presence" was part of the title before 1914. Notice what Wikipedia says about the simple name morphing from the beginning:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Watchtower
The publication was started by Charles Taze Russell on July 1, 1879 under the title Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence. According to its first issue, the magazine's purpose was to draw attention to Russell's belief that people of the time were "living "in the last days" "the day of the Lord"—"the end" of the Gospel age," and that "the dawn of the "new" age, are facts not only discernible by the close student of the Word, led by the spirit, but the outward signs recognizable by the world bear the same testimony."
In 1908 the name was changed to The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence. In 1920, the Watch Tower Society reprinted all issues from 1879–1919 in seven volumes, known as the Watchtower Reprints, which have since been reprinted through the years by other groups. On 15 October 1931, the magazine was renamed The Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence, in January 1939, The Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Kingdom, and from March 1939 until the present, its full name has been The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom.
