Quest for Christian Unity, Peace and Purity in Thomas Campbell's Declaration and Address: Text and Studies, The

The Quest for Christian Unity, Peace and Purity in Thomas Campbell's Declaration and Address: Text and Studies. Edited by Thomas H. Olbricht and Hans Rollmann. ATLA Monograph Series, 46. Lanham, MD : The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2000. 489 pages.

This is the most thorough study of the Declaration and Address available. Although it does not replace Frederick Kershner's commentary, The Christian Union Overture, it includes two articles that look at the textual variants of the two editions of the Declaration and Address, enriched by notes in Thomas Campbell's own copy. A Scripture index and a bibliography of Campbell's works make this book indispensable certainly for the study of Campbell, but also for the entire early period of the Stone-Campbell movement.

Nineteen other chapters provide various helpful insights into the background of Campbell's life and times, as well as his contemporary influence. Sixteenth-century Reformation figures are significant sources, as are the experiences of the late eighteenth century Evangelical Society of Ulster and Westminster Presbyterianism. The Scottish Common Sense Philosophy, particularly in the rhetoric of George Campbell and the logic of George Jardine, influenced Thomas; the latter was his teacher at Glasgow. Thomas alluded to the passages of Scripture that were used as resources for the principles he wanted to expose. His hermeneutics, however, sought not to lay out only the essentials but also to describe a community in which believers could grow in faith and practice.

Sadly, there is little evidence that any of the three streams of the Stone-Campbell movement continue to be shaped directly and forcefully by the Declaration and Address. It fit its day, and in some ways does not fit ours. Its logic and the rhetoric seem out of sync, perhaps even naive. Some in the Church of Christ have read the Declaration and Address without mentioning its concern for unity. But those referred to as the Old Disciples and their inheritors find it instructive when it is read in a High Church context. I belong to that less than numerous group, and thus see the exposition of Kershner and William Robinson's views of the document as the most important interpretative essay in the volume.

Whatever one's reading, all of us in the three branches of the movement can be instructed by study of the Declaration and Address. In the world religions context of the twenty-first century church, it is good to remember that Christian unity and restoration once were paired goals. With proper refurbishment they might be again. Emphasizing what can become a part of every Christian's vision of unity, while stressing that spiritual maturity is one aspect to be restored, might put our discussions of the Declaration and Address in a different light. Such conversations demand both more humility in recognizing how naive we all are when we try to talk about God, and how only that kind of modesty can bring anyone to adopt Campbell's stance of a "gracious advocate." Whether in unity efforts or in mission, there is none other so needed and so difficult to occupy.

Frederick W. Norris

Emmanuel School of Religion

Copyright Christian Theological Seminary Summer 2003
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