Leaven

Volume 7 Issue 1 Missions and the Church Article 21

1-1-1999

Stone-Campbell Biography Edwin R. Errett: Martyr to a Lost Cause

Henry Webb

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48 Leaven, Winter, 1999 Stone-Campbell Biography EDWIN R. ERRETT: Martyr to a Lost Cause

Henry Webb

Edwin R. Errett, editor of the writer of Bible school materials, and a conservative institution for ministe- from 1929 until his in the latter year he was made editor- rial education, the Bible death in 1944, is known primarily for in-chief of all Bible school publica- Institute. When that school was merged the leadership he provided to Christian tions. In 1929 he was named editor of with McGarvey Bible Institute in 1924 Churches/ during a the Christian Standard. For the next to form Cincinnati Bible Seminary, critical period in their history. A de- fifteen years, despite heavy speaking Errett served as a trustee and offered scendent of the distinguished family of agendas, every issue of the journal save his services as a teacher of classes at Henry Errett, he was the son of Will- one contained at least one of his edito- night. iam , who was a cousin rials. In 1919 three missionary agencies of , one of the founders and Edwin Errett maintained a prodi- were merged with some of the other the ultimate owner/publisher of the giously heavy speaking and travel agencies to form the United Christian Christian Standard. schedule. He loved the brotherhood Missionary Society. At the time there Edwin Reeder Errett was born near that had nurtured him, and he worked were serious misgivings in the broth- Carnegie, , on January 7, diligently to promote its interests. He erhood over what appeared to some 1891. After graduating from high lived in turbulent times and was grieved observers to be too much centraliza- school in 1907, he studied for a year at to see the dissension that erupted in his tion and concentration of power. Those Western Pennsylvania University (now day. During his student days at misgivings were exacerbated by the University of ) before trans- Bethany, the great Centennial Conven- disclosure in 1922 that some of the ferring to Bethany College to study for tion met in Pittsburgh (1909), and he missionaries in China and the Philip- ministry. Following graduation from was very much aware of the contro- pine Islands were bringing members Bethany (A.B., valedictorian) in 1911, versy that raged over the H. L. Willett into the churches who had not been im- he entered Yale University Divinity and Samuel Hardin Church speeches. mersed.' The brotherhood was en- School. The next year he accepted a He was at Standard Publishing in 1917 gulfed in bitter controversy over the position at Standard Publishing (then during the turmoil over the introduc- matter, and the annual International owned by Russell Errett, a distant tion of theological liberalism at the Conventions were arenas of conflict. cousin) to become office editor of the College of the Bible in Lexington, Ken- The liberal faction suffered a resound- Christian Standard. From 1917 until tucky. He was involved in the effort in ing defeat in the convention in Okla- 1925 he was commentator and lesson 1923 to establish a counterinfluence in homa City, Oklahoma, in 1925, only

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Missions and the Church 49

to regroup and completely outmaneu- first and subsequent North American forts to avoid a second tragic rupture ver the conservatives in Memphis in gatherings. That continued to be the within the ranks" is seen in his consis- 1926. Errett called Memphis "a con- case until 1951.3 The point of conten- tent promotion of agencies reporting vention of bad faith.'? Opponents of the tion was the mission policies of the to the International Convention; in- new developments concluded that the UCMS; that issue had no impact on the deed, one finds regular coverage of the existing organizations functioned to other agencies that had served various convention in the Standard. Reports entrench unacceptable positions and needs of the churches for decades. from many state conventions are also put their proponents beyond the reach Edwin Errett clearly understood found. Why not? They were all part of of brotherhood accountability. The fol- the Disciples to be a movement within the one brotherhood. It was "us." The lowing year the dissenters held the first Christendom at large that sought to problem was with one agency; why North American Christian Convention unite the followers of Christ on the should that one agency alienate broth- in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Christian basis of restoring the faith and prac- ers and sisters from the useful and valu- Standard gave this move unqualified tices found in the New Testament. His able services of other agencies that had support and endorsement. interests were not confined to the Dis- served the cause well for many de- It is important to keep clearly in ciples movement, which he viewed cades?"Open membership" (the objec- mind the motivation of those who against the background of Christendom tionable practice of receiving the called the first North American Con- at large. He believed that the Disciples unimmersed into membership) was a ventions. The assembly was not in- had a contribution to make to the con- theological/ecclesiological issue and tended to be divisive; rather, the hope temporary efforts toward Christian had nothing to do with benevolence, was that it would be unitive. The Inter- unity and that it was important to in- church loans, or pensions for retired national Conventions had been scenes ject that insight into efforts on behalf and needy ministers. of bitter conflict. The NACC was to be of Christian unity. Those wider inter- The matter of pensions was of par- a convention open to all, and its focus ests led him to serve as a delegate to ticular interest to the editor, who was a was to be on the historic aims of the the World Conference on Faith and vigorous advocate of the moral obli- movement and on the unitive forces in Order in Denmark in 1935 and in gation of the churches to provide for the life of the brotherhood. Divisive Edinburgh in 1937. Clearly, he did not elderly ministers whose lives had been issues were to have no place on the share the parochial outlook of some of spent in the service of the church. Pro- agenda. In retrospect that goal appears his contemporaries. Late in 1943, when motions urging congregations to enroll incredibly naive, but at the time it the Allies in World War II became in the Pension Plan pointed out that promised welcome relief from the ac- aware of the plight of the Jewish people thoughtful and bright young men rimony that had marked International in Nazi territories, Errett was asked to would turn away from the ministry on Conventions for too many years. serve as chairman of an Emergency discovery that there was no provision Edwin Errett and the Christian Stan- Committee in Cincinnati to extend help for their later years when their services dard were dedicated to the preserva- to the Jewish people in Europe. were no longer in demand. Thus it was tion of the unity of the Disciples. Edwin Errett was involved in a in the best long-term interest of the Evidence of the unitive hopes of number of other causes. He served as church to make such provision through the organizers of the convention is seen a trustee of Butler University and of the Pension Plan.Errett was also a vig- clearly in the fact that almost all of the the Christian Foundation in Indianapo- orous advocate of "independent" mis- agencies of the brotherhood (except the lis. The latter, a fund of several mil- sions, but in all other respects he saw United Christian Missionary Society lions of dollars created to underwrite himself and the churches as "brother- [UCMS)) were invited to have repre- educational agencies and institutions of hood." Under no circumstances was sentation in the display area of the con- the Disciples, was established by support of and participation in the vention. The Christian Board of Pub- Gurnie L. Reeves and Will 1. Irwin, UCMS to be a mark of "brotherhood." lication, the Pension Fund, the National close personal friends of Edwin Errett. A prime example of Edwin Errett's Benevolent Association, and numbers Errett's commitment to the contin- commitment to the unity of the Dis- of the colleges were represented at the ued unity of the Disciples and his ef- ciples is seen in his efforts on behalf

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50 Leaven, Winter, 1999

of the Commission on Restudy of the heresy. Fidelity to the gospel mandated jority of Disciples or its ministry. He Disciples. This commission was cre- that they all be repudiated. The colli- undertook to poll the 7,443 ministers ated by the International Convention sion between this point of view and the listed in the Yearbook, asking them to in 1934 to "restudy our whole Disciple older one, to which Errett and many register their approval or disapproval Movement and, if possible, to recom- older leaders subscribed, was occa- of the selection of an advocate of open mend a future program." The commis- sioned by the work of the Commission membership to a position of leadership sion followed a previous effort, the on Restudy. in the brotherhood. Of the 3,708 bal- Commission on Harmony." Both The commission met thrice annu- lots that were returned, 3,193 were emerged from a groundswell of fear ally-twice for study and once, at the considered efficacious; the result was that the Disciples were moving toward International Convention, to attend to a resounding "N 0" by a margin of more another division and that it was impera- business matters. Its work was thor- than 3.5 to 1. tive to make serious efforts to prevent ough and slow, but after almost a de- But the real problem lay within the such a development before it was too cade it was ready to "recommend a conservative ranks. The number of late. There was deep feeling, especially future program," one aimed at recon- those who wanted nothing to do with among older leaders, that Disciples ciliation of the division. For a decade anything associated with the Interna- were one people despite two forms of and a half, two conventions had been tional Convention was growing. A se- mission activity. Many congregations holding separate sessions. This tended ries of rallies held in the fall of ]943 in had demonstrated that it was possible toward polarization. Older ministers on the chapel of Cincinnati Bible Semi- to accommodate both mission pro- both sides of the cleavage who knew nary resulted in the formation of an ad grams amicably. each other personally were passing and hoc Committee on Action, chaired by The commission, created by the being replaced by younger leaders who Burris Butler, minister of Southside International Convention, was to con- were strangers to each other. It was Christian Church in Kokomo, Indiana. sist of twenty members representative clear that time was running out. The The committee of fifty ministers issued of the various shades of thought found spark that ignited action by both sides "Call For Enlistrnent'" in a five-point among Disciples. Edwin Errett was one came from a recommendation by the program for a militant stand against of the original appointees and served commission in ] 941 calling for a three- conciliation. The program was a repu- on the commission until his death. The year experiment to hold but one con- diation of the goal of healing the aims of the commission and those who vention with a program to be organized breach, the policy to which Errett and participated in its activities would be- by a joint committee from both groups. those who stood with him were com- come centers for bitter controversy in The effort to implement the experiment mitted. later years. Proponents of extremist early in 1942 met firm resistance. Op- The pivotal factor in this conflict views attacked the mediating position, ponents in both groups were alarmed of policies was Willard Mohorter, man- and Errett was caught in the middle and and moved quickly to take preventive ager of Standard Publishing Company subjected to vicious attack from his action. The leadership of both conven- and secretary of the corporation. own people. tions rejected the plan, and the reac- Mohorter's enlistment in the militant During the previous two decades, tion was severe. At their 1942 conven- goals of the committee came to light a very different orientation had tion, the Disciples elected for the first in the 4 December 1943 issue of the emerged. It held that not only was the time a president who practiced open Christian Standard, which carried an missionary society corrupt but the membership. His election was inter- announcement that the journal would whole apparatus of the International preted to be an endorsement of the con- henceforth give less attention to gen- Convention and all of the agencies con- troversial practice by the whole con- eral religious matters and would in- nected with it-including the Pension vention.? The move was an outright stead become a "rallying center for all Fund, the Board of Church Extension affront to all who were trying to heal who believe implicitly in the authority (a loan agency), and the National Be- the rupture and an embarrassment to of Christ as revealed to us in the di- nevolent Association (which main- members of the commission. Edwin vinely inspired New Testament Scrip- tained homes for widows, orphans, Errett was convinced that the move did tures." Significantly, the announcement etc.)--were infected with the virus of not represent the thinking of the ma- was made not by Errett but by

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Missions and the Church 51

Mohorter. Everybody who understood while at work in his Indianapolis bank. HENRY WEBB is professor emeri- the dynamics of the situation realized Errett still held on to hope and planned tus of church history at Milligan Col- that it was a repudiation of any effort to attend a meeting of the Christian lege in Milligan College, Tennessee. toward brotherhood unification and an Foundation on Saturday, January 29, adoption of a very militant position on 1944. Several associates in editorial po- Notes all issues of brotherhood policies. The sitions at Standard were apprised of IThe details are too complex to be re- real victims in the policy change were Errett's plans. As he left on Friday, he lated here. For more information, see the author's In Search of Christian Unity (Cin- Edwin R. Errett and those associated paused at J. D. Murch's office to say cinnati: Standard, 1990), chaps. 10, II. with him. that he thought everything would work 2 Errett, E.,"A Convention of Bad Errett sensed that· his dismissal out. The next morning he suffered a Faith," Christian Standard, 27 November from Standard was imminent, but he cerebral hemorrhage and almost instant 1926,8. was not willing to give up the cause to death. With Edwin Errett's passing, the 3The North American Christian Con- which he had devoted so much of his hope for a unified, reconciled brother- vention was not originally intended to be an annual event. It did not become an an- life. As he appraised the aggressive hood also perished. In April 1944 nual institution until 195]. change in the Christian Standard, he Burris Butler was named editor of the "The separation of the non-instrument realized that the only hope of holding Christian Standard, and the program churches is here seen as the first rupture the brotherhood together was to begin to force division was fully on. Reac- within the ranks of the movement. a new journal that would be dedicated tion to those developments was severe. 5 The Report of the Commission on to the promotion of the unity of the The Christian Foundation saw Errett's Restudy of the Disciples of Christ (India- napolis: International Convention, 1948), brotherhood. The obstacles to that op- death at fifty-three years as premature 263.

tion were enormous. The year 1943 and the result of undue pressure to 6 See Christian Standard, 24 August was wartime, and newsprint was ra- which he had been subjected. It imme- 1919,795. tioned. But the big problem was fiscal. diately cut off all funding of non-orga- 7 See H. Minard, Front Rank (St. To launch a new journal would require nization enterprises." The death of Louis: Christian Board of Publication, enormous capital. The hope for financ- Edwin R. Errett left a leadership void 1942),797. R See Christian Standard, 27 Novem- ing the new venture rested in the Chris- that was never filled. In a few years, ber 1943, ]-3. tian Foundation, of which Errett was a the voices of moderation fell silent and "The Christian Foundation had under- trustee and Will Irwin was the leading were replaced by militant programs. written the publication of a three-volume influence. That hope suffered a serious The plea for brotherhood unity had sermon series, New Testament Christian- blow on December 14, 1943, when died. ity, which featured the conservative posi- Will Irwin suffered a fatal heart attack tion of the movement. It also had provided generous funding of Cincinnati Bible Seminary and Lake James School of Min- istry.

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