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Declaration and Address
The Declaration and Address was written by Thomas Campbell in 1809. It was first published in Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1809. It was the founding document for the Christian Association of Washington, a religious association that was a precursor to the Restoration Movement. In many ways, Thomas Campbell was before his time. He had an ecumenical spirit long before the ecumenical movement began. The Declaration and Address is a testimony to his appeal for Christian unity.
Thomas Campbell (1763–1854) began his career as a Presbyterian minister. After serving in Ireland for a while, he migrated to the American frontier in 1807. A number of his associates from Ireland lived in Pennsylvania, and the Presbyterian church accepted his request to be stationed in Pennsylvania. He had high expectations for the American frontier; he felt it represented a new life and a new era for the church. As such, he was often seen as an unorthodox minister. His position as a minister under the Presbyterian Synod of Pennsylvania only lasted 2 years. He was reprimanded for certain "irregularities", including offering communion to Presbyterians outside of his Synod's jurisdiction.
Campbell continued his ministerial practices despite the Synod's disciplinary actions. Both his conflict with the Presbyterians and his desire for a united church led him to organize the Christian Association of Washington. This organization's main purpose was promoting "simple evangelical christianity, free from all mixture of human opinions and inventions of men." It was Campbell's hope that the Association would instigate a religious reformation. While this did not occur immediately, the Association did lead directly to the Restoration movement and the formation of the Disciples of Christ, who have been a continuing force for reformation and ecumenism.
The Christian Association of Washington consisted of Thomas Campbell and 21 of his associates. During their second meeting, the committee decided that a document should be drafted outlining the purpose and function of the Association. The Declaration and Address was drafted by Campbell and read at a special meeting in September 1809. Ideally, this association, which promoted "simple evangelical Christianity", would also create similar associations elsewhere. The founders' vision was that a grassroots movement would spring up and spread from the Eastern states to the vast expanses of the Western frontier, ushering in a brand new age for the church.
These grand expectations were never fulfilled. The Christian Association of Washington quickly abandoned the title "association" on May 4, 1811, becoming the Brush Run Church. The Declaration and Address had passed with little notice from the greater world. Similarly, the Christian Association of Washington was simply not accepted in the religious realm. Since their experiment failed to produce the desired results, Thomas Campbell (along with his more influential son Alexander) felt that they needed to become an independent church for their dreams to be realized. In many ways, this left the Declaration portion of the Declaration and Address obsolete, but the Address still maintained its rhetorical strength. Thus ended the short life of the Christian Association of Washington.
The Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington is divided into the Declaration, the Address, and the Appendix. The document is written in the style of early 19th century American religious literature, making it difficult for many to read. Paragraphs sometimes stretch on for pages at a time, while the text is unfortunately void of any subheadings. This makes Knofel Staton's 1976 paraphrase of this document particularly helpful.
The Declaration was intended to describe the form and function of the Christian Association. It begins with a brief statement revealing their personal religious conviction. "It is high time for us not only to think, but also to act... to take our measures directly and immediately from the Divine Standard [i.e. scripture]; to this alone we feel ourselves to be divinely bound." It is clear that Thomas Campbell, as well as the founders of the Christian Association, believed that scripture revealed one divinely inspired truth from which the early church could be recreated. They felt "divinely bound" to see that truth was given to the masses. This was the reason they founded the Christian Association of Washington. In the Declaration, Campbell described the function of the Christian Association in 9 points, outlined below in both Campbell's original text (modified for readability) and Staton's paraphrase.
The Address is the bulk of Campbell's argumentation, culminating in 13 propositions approximately two-thirds of the way through it. It is here that Thomas Campbell writes his argument calling for the unification of the catholic (universal) church. The Address begins with the following:
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Declaration and Address
The Declaration and Address was written by Thomas Campbell in 1809. It was first published in Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1809. It was the founding document for the Christian Association of Washington, a religious association that was a precursor to the Restoration Movement. In many ways, Thomas Campbell was before his time. He had an ecumenical spirit long before the ecumenical movement began. The Declaration and Address is a testimony to his appeal for Christian unity.
Thomas Campbell (1763–1854) began his career as a Presbyterian minister. After serving in Ireland for a while, he migrated to the American frontier in 1807. A number of his associates from Ireland lived in Pennsylvania, and the Presbyterian church accepted his request to be stationed in Pennsylvania. He had high expectations for the American frontier; he felt it represented a new life and a new era for the church. As such, he was often seen as an unorthodox minister. His position as a minister under the Presbyterian Synod of Pennsylvania only lasted 2 years. He was reprimanded for certain "irregularities", including offering communion to Presbyterians outside of his Synod's jurisdiction.
Campbell continued his ministerial practices despite the Synod's disciplinary actions. Both his conflict with the Presbyterians and his desire for a united church led him to organize the Christian Association of Washington. This organization's main purpose was promoting "simple evangelical christianity, free from all mixture of human opinions and inventions of men." It was Campbell's hope that the Association would instigate a religious reformation. While this did not occur immediately, the Association did lead directly to the Restoration movement and the formation of the Disciples of Christ, who have been a continuing force for reformation and ecumenism.
The Christian Association of Washington consisted of Thomas Campbell and 21 of his associates. During their second meeting, the committee decided that a document should be drafted outlining the purpose and function of the Association. The Declaration and Address was drafted by Campbell and read at a special meeting in September 1809. Ideally, this association, which promoted "simple evangelical Christianity", would also create similar associations elsewhere. The founders' vision was that a grassroots movement would spring up and spread from the Eastern states to the vast expanses of the Western frontier, ushering in a brand new age for the church.
These grand expectations were never fulfilled. The Christian Association of Washington quickly abandoned the title "association" on May 4, 1811, becoming the Brush Run Church. The Declaration and Address had passed with little notice from the greater world. Similarly, the Christian Association of Washington was simply not accepted in the religious realm. Since their experiment failed to produce the desired results, Thomas Campbell (along with his more influential son Alexander) felt that they needed to become an independent church for their dreams to be realized. In many ways, this left the Declaration portion of the Declaration and Address obsolete, but the Address still maintained its rhetorical strength. Thus ended the short life of the Christian Association of Washington.
The Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington is divided into the Declaration, the Address, and the Appendix. The document is written in the style of early 19th century American religious literature, making it difficult for many to read. Paragraphs sometimes stretch on for pages at a time, while the text is unfortunately void of any subheadings. This makes Knofel Staton's 1976 paraphrase of this document particularly helpful.
The Declaration was intended to describe the form and function of the Christian Association. It begins with a brief statement revealing their personal religious conviction. "It is high time for us not only to think, but also to act... to take our measures directly and immediately from the Divine Standard [i.e. scripture]; to this alone we feel ourselves to be divinely bound." It is clear that Thomas Campbell, as well as the founders of the Christian Association, believed that scripture revealed one divinely inspired truth from which the early church could be recreated. They felt "divinely bound" to see that truth was given to the masses. This was the reason they founded the Christian Association of Washington. In the Declaration, Campbell described the function of the Christian Association in 9 points, outlined below in both Campbell's original text (modified for readability) and Staton's paraphrase.
The Address is the bulk of Campbell's argumentation, culminating in 13 propositions approximately two-thirds of the way through it. It is here that Thomas Campbell writes his argument calling for the unification of the catholic (universal) church. The Address begins with the following: