A Wild Democracy (Vol. 1 of 3)
Description
A Wild Democracy begins with the separation from the Disciples of Christ/Christian Church, viewing the division from the perspective of four leaders in Churches of Christ: Daniel Sommer, David Lipscomb, Samuel W. Womack, and T. B. Larimore.
The long ordeal of separation was followed by several decades of intense identity-forming controversy - a theological free-for-all, a "wild democracy." Everyone could express their convictions and press their case; no one could dictate with any finality a list of required beliefs, though many tried. Schism was inevitable.
In the midst of this, three main traditions emerged seeking to define the new identity. Many sharp controversies ensued: The two biggest of the first decade were rebaptism and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; the most controversial one of the 1920s and 30s was premillennialism.
By the 1930s, after several decades of steady and intense, often uncivil controversy, something like a doctrinal standard emerged. For a time, it held together a loose and tenuous unity between the three traditions. But by mid-century, a major division was approaching, with others to follow - stories that volumes two and three will tell.
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Persons
John Mark Hicks is a professor of theology at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. He has taught for thirty-eight years in schools associated with the Churches of Christ. He has lectured in twenty countries and forty states, and he has published fifteen books, including Around the Bible in 80 Days, Embracing Creation, and A Gathered People.