Religious leader, the founder of what is commonly called the Bible Student Movement, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. As a Congregationalist, he struggled with the concept of eternal torment, his subsequent Bible studies leading him to conclude that the Biblical hell is oblivion, that the Millennium began in 1874, and that a period of social and political upheaval would lead to a peaceable kingdom on Earth. After his death, many followers abandoned his Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (1879), which under the leadership of Joseph Rutherford moved in other directions and ultimately became known as Jehovah's Witnesses (1931).
Charles Russell in 1911Charles Taze Russell (February 16, 1852 – October 31, 1916), known as Pastor Russell, was an American evangelist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who founded what is known as the Bible Student movement. He is known for founding the religious journal Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence in 1879, as well as one of the first Bible Societies in America, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society, in 1881.
Early life
Charles Taze Russell was born to Joseph Lytel Russell and Ann Eliza Birney on Monday, February 16, 1852 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA. The other Russell children included Thomas, (1850–September 4, 1855), Margaret ("Mae", married name Margaret Land) who died in the late 1940s, Lucinda (1857–July 21, 1858), and Joseph Lytel, Jr.
The Russells had lived in Philadelphia, as well as Allegheny. Once established in Pittsburgh, the Russells became respected members of the Presbyterian Church. In his earlier youth, Russell would chalk Bible verses on the downtown sidewalks to draw attention to the punishment of hell awaiting the unfaithful. Wendell focused on what Russell considered to be rational, logical matters relating to Biblical prophecy and chronology, drawing attention to the future date of 1874 as the supposed date for Christ's return.
Ministry
Beginnings
From 1870 through 1875 the Russell family, and others, participated in an analytical study of both the Bible and the origins of Christian doctrine, creed, and tradition. Russell's group believed they had found significant errors in common Christian belief. As a result of such study, the Russell family believed they had gained a clearer understanding of true Christianity, and were re-baptized in 1874.
In the Spring of 1876, while on business in Philadelphia, Russell found a copy of "Herald of the Morning", published out of Rochester, New York by Nelson H. (1824-1908) Russell contacted Barbour to set up a meeting in Philadelphia to compare notes. Barbour introduced him to some new views that convinced Russell, amongst other things, the Rapture would occur in April 1878. Russell was moved to devote his life to what he believed were now the last two years before the return of Christ. A text Russell had written in 1874, entitled "The Object and Manner of our Lord's Return", was published the same year. Russell's desire to lead a Christian revival was evidenced by his calling two separate meetings of every Christian leader in Pittsburgh. Russell's ideas, and stressing of the Rapture's imminence, was rejected both times.
Split with Barbour
In April 1878, the Rapture did not occur as Russell, Barbour, and their associates had anticipated. According to the book Faith on the March, page 27, written by one of Russell's associates, A.H. Macmillan, "While talking with Russell about the events of 1878, I told him that Pittsburgh papers had reported he was on the Sixth Street bridge dressed in a white robe on the night of the Memorial of Christ's death, expecting to be taken to heaven together with many others. Russell laughed heartily and said: "I was in bed that night between 10:30 and 11:00 P.M. Neither did I expect to be taken to heaven at that time, for I felt there was much work to be done preaching the Kingdom message to the peoples of the earth before the church would be taken away.""
Confused by what was perceived to be an error in calculation, Russell re-examined the doctrine to see if he could determine that it had Biblical origins, or if it was, in his view, simply Christian tradition. Barbour, however, highly embarrassed by the failure of their expectations, rejected Russell's explanation, and a debate ensued in each monthly issue of the journal from the Spring of 1878 through to the Summer of 1879. In a matter of months Barbour's embarrassment led to a recanting of some of the views he and Russell had previously shared, including any reliance upon prophetic chronology. Russell removed his financial support, and started his own journal, entitled "Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence," with the first issue July, 1879, while Barbour formed "The Church of the Strangers" that same year, continuing to publish the "Herald of the Morning." Barbour for a more detailed history)
Russell's marriage
On March 13, 1879, Russell married Maria (pronounced 'moriah') Frances Ackley (1850-1938) after merely a few months' acquaintance. Russell recorded his version of events in the July 15, 1906 issue that can be read here. Maria Russell, as she was named in her obituary, died in St. Petersburg, Florida in August of 1938 from Hodgkin's disease.
Major publications
In 1881 Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was founded for the purpose of disseminating tracts, papers, doctrinal treatises and Bibles. From this point Russell's ministry intensified.
Russell devoted nearly a tenth of his fortune, along with contributed funds, in publishing and distributing Food for Thinking Christians in 1881. In the course of preparation, Russell concluded the book was to be merely the first of a seven-volume series. The remaining volumes, originally called Millennial Dawn, but later renamed Studies in the Scriptures to clarify that they were not novels, were:
The Time is at Hand (1889) Thy Kingdom Come (1891) The Day of Vengeance" later retitled "The Battle of Armageddon'' (1897) The At-one-ment Between God and Men (1899) The New Creation (1904)The delayed publishing of the seventh volume eventually became a source of great anticipation and mystery among Bible Students. Following Russell's death in 1916, a seventh volume entitled The Finished Mystery, was published in 1917 and advertised as his "posthumous work". True to Russell's plan, this seventh volume was a detailed interpretation of the book of Revelation, but had included interpretations of Ezekiel, and the Song of Solomon. In a short time it was established that it was actually written and compiled by two of Russell's associates, Clayton J.
In 1903, newspapers began publishing his written sermons. Through the syndicated sermons, and advertising efforts made by the newspaper syndicators, Pastor Russell's face became one of the most recognizable images in the world. Russell, however, had many critics, and was labeled a heretic, amongst other things.
Death, aftermath, and legacy
During his return from a ministerial tour of the western and southwestern United States, the already ill Pastor Russell died from the result of multiple ailments on the night of October 31, 1916 in a train car as it approached Pampa, Texas.
In January 1917 Joseph Franklin Rutherford was successfully elected second president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society despite a series of disputes over the election process. Further disputes arose over interpretation of sections in Russell's Last Will & For many Bible Students, Rutherford's rejection of the Great Pyramid in November, 1928, and Russell's role in restoration of the truth in February, 1927, was considered the last straw. Many of those Bible Students who had ceased association with the changing Watchtower Society attempted to regroup in 1929 with the First Annual Bible Students Convention held in the old Pittsburgh "Bible House" long used by Pastor Russell.
(See the article Bible Student movement for a more detailed history)
Several Protestant denominations have either formed around, or adopted some style of, Pastor Russell's views, among them the Worldwide Church of God, the Concordant Publishing Concern, the Assemblies of Yahweh. Among the numerous Bible Student off-shoot groups include the Pastoral Bible Institute, the Layman's Home Missionary Movement and others.
Theology and teachings
Following his analytical examination of the Bible, Pastor Russell, and other Bible Students, came to believe that Christian creeds and traditions were harmful errors, believing they had restored Christianity to the purity held in the first century. Pastor Russell agreed with other Protestants on the primacy of the Bible, and justification by faith alone, but thought that errors had been introduced in interpretation. Pastor Russell agreed with many 19th century Protestants, including Millerites, in the concept of a Great Apostasy that began in the first century AD. Russell believed in the divinity of Christ, but differed from orthodoxy by teaching Jesus had received that divinity as a gift from the Father, after dying on the cross. Russell calculated 1874 to be the year of Christ's Second Coming, and until his death taught that Christ was invisibly present, and ruling from the heavens from that date. Russell backed up some calculations using pyramidology. Russell was one of the earliest of Christian preachers to promote what was later termed Zionism. Russell believed that the land of Palestine belonged to the Jewish race, God was now calling them back to their land, and that they would be the center of earthly leadership under God's Kingdom. Early in Russell's ministry he believed Jews would flock to Palestine and form their own nation by 1910, but this did not occur. (see also Christian Zionism)
Criticisms and controversies
As early as 1892 Russell's views and management style were strongly criticized by certain individuals associated with his ministry. It expressed concern that Russell was a dictatorial leader, a shrewd businessman who appeared eager to collect funds from the selling of the "Millennial Dawn" books, cheated one of them out of financial gains, and issued thousands of Millennial Dawn books under a female pseudonym. A booklet entitled A Conspiracy Exposed and Harvest Siftings was written by Russell and issued as an extra to the April, 1894 Zion's Watch Tower magazine in order to pre-empt attempts to have their views circulated to a wider audience of Bible Students. Russell printed copies of letters he had received from these former associates in order to show that their claims were trumped up, and those involved were guided by Satan in an attempt to subvert his work as a "minister of the gospel".
In 1897 Russell's wife left him after disagreeing over the management of Zion's Watch Tower magazine. The separation was ultimately granted in 1906, with Russell charged to pay alimony. During the trial her attorney made the claim that Russell had been inappropriately intimate with Rose Ball, a young woman the Russells had cared for as a "foster daughter" since age ten. She alleged that Ball had told her Russell claimed to be a "jellyfish floating around" to different women until someone responded to his intimacy. Russell defended himself by claiming that not only was she "poisoned" by the women's suffrage movement, but that all her claims were false. Following her attorney's claim, page 10 of the court transcript records that Mrs. Russell was asked by the Judge to clarify if she was, in fact, accusing her husband of adultery, and replied "No". The Washington Post and Chicago Mission Friend reprinted the claim that Russell was a "jellyfish", and was sued by him for libel. After appealing this decision, Russell received a cash settlement of $15,000 (the same buying power as $310,000 in 2005) as well as payment of all court costs, an agreement for an article of retraction defending his character, and an agreement that his weekly syndicated sermons be published in their newspapers.
On March 22, 1911, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, a tabloid newspaper, began publishing articles accusing Russell of gaining profit from a strain of wheat named "Miracle Wheat" by its discoverer, K.B. Once other newspapers read this claim, many critics began to insist that Russell had deceived and defrauded many by selling this supposedly advanced strain of wheat for $60 a bushel, far above the average cost of wheat for the day. Throughout 1912 and 1913 the Eagle continued to report on this alleged fraud on Russell's part. Russell defended himself publicly, and in writing, by claiming that the wheat was donated to the Watch Tower Society, and although sold for $1 per pound Mr. Stoner routinely sold it for a $1.25 per pound. Russell claimed to have no financial connection to the wheat, and that any who were dissatisfied by their purchase and donation were offered a refund as much as one year following purchase. Russell had taken Ross to court on the charge of libel. Ross attempted to show that when Russell was asked in trial if he possessed knowledge of the Greek alphabet he first claimed he did, then retracted the claim when cross-examined and shown the alphabet. Ross also claimed that Russell blatantly lied when asked if he was an ordained minister by answering "yes". In answer to Ross's accusations, Russell stated that he never claimed knowledge of the Greek language, merely the alphabet, and that due to the Judge's objection to the line of questioning, the book was taken away before he could even see it.
In recent times, Russell has been accused of having had close ties with Freemasonry. In his writings, Russell stated that membership in Freemasonry, Knights of Pythias, Theosophy, and other similar groups are unscriptural.
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