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A Historical and Critical Analysis of the Primary Mechanisms Employed 140 Years Strong: A Historical and Critical Analysis of the Primary Mechanisms Employed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses to Grow in a Hostile World Donald Parkhurst Allen In Consideration For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of East Anglia Department of Art, Media, and American Studies Submitted 26 April 2019 "This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived therefrom must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution.” 2 Abstract For most of their existence the Jehovah’s Witnesses have rarely been the subject of academic study. The works resulting from the little interest they have received have focused on how the Witnesses have affected the world around them through their constant proselytizing, their prohibition on blood transfusions, their strident conscientious objection and other beliefs and practices. Several nations around the world have attempted to destroy the Witnesses’ very existence within their borders. The internal aspects of the Witnesses however are given little thought and the question of why they have been able to survive in what is often a hostile world has remained unanswered. A close study of the history and development of the major mechanisms they continue to use is necessary to fully comprehend how they were able to have this impact. This work answers that question by focusing on the history of the Witnesses and analyzing how they developed and use three key mechanisms to combat any issues that arise from their often contentious relations with the world at large: the Governing Body; the concept of “new light”; and their constant preaching work and what it means to their unity. Here the lens is turned from focusing on the impact that the Witnesses have had on the world to focusing on the internal mechanisms that have allowed them to continue to grow. This work provides a deeper knowledge of the Witnesses than only looking at the results of the events can. In turn it will allow for better understandings of the events themselves by future scholars, who will have a greater understanding of how the Witnesses work and a better realization that without this understanding of what allows the Witnesses to continue to impact the world, many of their achievements appear to come from nowhere. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements P. 4 Introduction P. 5 - Who are the Jehovah’s Witnesses? P. 5 - Literature Review P. 10 - Methodology P. 17 - Contents P. 24 Chapter One: Mechanisms to Grow P. 28 - Governing Body P. 31 - New Light P. 51 - Proselytizing P. 78 Chapter Two: Historical Development of the Jehovah’s Witnesses P. 104 - C.T. Russell: Founding to 1916 P. 108 - Joseph Rutherford: 1917 to 1942 P. 121 - Nathan Knorr: 1942 to 1975 P. 140 - Governing Body: 1976 to Present P. 156 Chapter Three: Relations with the World P. 175 - Government Troubles P. 177 - Local Problems P. 199 - Internal Conflicts P. 218 Conclusion P. 233 Glossary of Terms P. 237 Bibliography P. 240 4 Acknowledgements Nobody completes a work like this on their own. I have been fortunate enough to have been helped in many ways by many people, and I would like to take a quick moment here to acknowledge them. To Dr. George Chryssides and others amongst the growing list of academics who share interest in the Witnesses a big thank you for including me in your discussions and answering the questions that I have asked. I have not the space to name you all, but you have my immense gratitude. To Dr. Andrew Holman and Dr. Wing-Kai To, both of Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, for writing me recommendations that allowed me to enter the PhD program at UEA. To Dr. To in particular I owe a great debt of gratitude as he encouraged me to think about the future and indeed to go for the PhD. To my family and friends who have supported me in the five years that I have been in the UK, far from home. I love you all. And finally, to Dr. Emma Long and Dr. Geoffrey Plank, my supervisors who helped me each step of the way. This work is not just exponentially better because of their careful and considerate advice and guidance but is indeed complete because of it. 5 Introduction Who are the Jehovah’s Witnesses? In Allegheny, Pennsylvania in the late 1870s Charles Taze Russell, a young haberdasher, tired of the hellfire and brimstone of his Calvinist upbringing and unable to find any other organized religion that satisfied his spiritual needs, began a small Bible study group with close friends and family.1 Wealthy from the business he ran with his father and with plenty of time to study Russell quickly became the leader of the small group. Heavily influenced by Adventist thinking, particularly on end-time date setting, Russell calculated that the end of the world would be in a few short years.2 Nearly one hundred and forty years later this group has grown to be one of the most well-known, yet least understood, religions in the world. They are known today as Jehovah’s Witnesses. This thesis seeks to understand how the internal mechanisms that have been devised by the Witnesses have allowed them to prosper despite hostile actions, both internal and external, that have occurred during their existence. By the time of Russell’s death in 1916 his teachings and constant preaching work around the globe had grown his movement from a handful of friends to over twenty thousand adherents. While he never intended his movement to become an established religion, Russell’s creation of the primary legal corporation that the Witnesses use, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (hereafter the Society), has allowed his successors to have immediate and direct impact on the movement while presenting an unbroken continuation of the religion’s publications and proselytizing even when internal issues arose. While many of Russell’s specific doctrines have come to be revised or 1 James Parkinson, The Bible Student Movement in the Days of C.T. Russell 3rd. Ed. (Self-published, 1999), 1 (Preliminary Copy provided to author). 2 George D Chryssides, Jehovah’s Witnesses: Continuity and Change (Farnham, Surrey England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2016); see Chapter 2: Origins for a greater discussion of the Adventist beliefs Russell adopted. 6 eliminated his impact can still be felt on several important beliefs including the focus on the year 1914 as the year of Christ’s invisible return, although the significance of that year has been redefined from Russell’s original ideas. His use of the concept of continuing revelation, which Russell called “meat in due season” and today is referred to by Witnesses as “new light”, is the primary evolutionary tool used by his successors to continue to expand. Russell’s immediate successor, Joseph Rutherford, experienced a contraction of members initially as a result of legal and organizational problems. However, his reshaping of the movement into an organization controlled completely by one man and his push to get every member to preach the movement’s message resulted in an overall membership of just over one hundred thousand by the time of his death in 1942.3 Rutherford created or solidified two key mechanisms, those of new light and preaching, that the Witnesses use today to continue growing in what is a hostile world in many places. There is no question that without Rutherford’s leadership the Witnesses would not be what they are today. While his adherent numbers were small in comparison to his successors, Rutherford’s success as head of the religion is shown by what those successors were able to accomplish using his mechanisms. Rutherford took a fledgling movement based on the teachings of a single man and left it the tools needed to thrive in a hostile world. Nathan Knorr succeeded Rutherford and turned Rutherford’s system, reliant primarily on Rutherford for most things, into a well-run bureaucratic machine that, while Knorr still held all the final decision-making power, could run without his direct involvement. He turned the Witnesses from mere deliverers of Rutherford’s message into well-trained speakers who were able to get across the organization’s teachings in an 3 1943 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, 1942), 221. 7 effective and personable way. While Knorr’s power was stripped from him during his final few years by the Governing Body that he created, his creation of the Body itself was his biggest contribution to the future of the movement. No longer would the religion be controlled by a single individual, but rather by a group of faithful men who would seek to improve the Witnesses and to gather more adherents. While the Body is no longer heavily involved in the day-to-day operation of the religion’s many legal organizations, they run the movement and decide all doctrinal issues, as well as any pressing legal and business decisions that may come along that affect the religion. The Witnesses have, like any religion that lasts any length of time, many beliefs and doctrines that have evolved over the years of their existence. Within this multitude of doctrine lie several key beliefs that underpin most of the system. The primary belief is that the year 1914 marked the beginning of the end of “this system of things”, as Jesus Christ had invisibly returned and would shortly take control of the world for his millennial reign.
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