Russell, Charles Taze

(1852–1916)

   Sect Founder.

   Russell was the owner of a chain of drapery shops in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. He had been brought up in the Congregational Church, but after extensive Bible study, he became convinced that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would occur in 1874 and that the end of the world was scheduled for 1914. By 1878 he was pastor of a small church in Pittsburgh and in the following year The Watchtower magazine was launched. Among his books were The Object and Manner of Our Lord’s Return, Food for Thinking Christians and the six-volume Studies in the Scriptures. Various scandals dogged his career. His wife left him in 1897; he attempted to sell ‘miracle wheat’ in aid of church funds and he was involved in two libel suits. None the less the new group, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, flourished. (In Russell’s time they were known as the International Bible Students.) Russell’s theology was developed by Joseph Franklin rutherford and today the sect boasts more than a million active members. They have stood firm against considerable prejudice in such places as Australia and downright persecution in the countries of the former Communist bloc.

   G.D. McKinney, The Theology of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (1962);

   A. Rogerson, Millions Now Living will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah’s Witnesses (1969).