Date of Award:
5-2019
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Arts (MA)
Department:
History
Committee Chair(s)
Kyle Bulthuis
Committee
Kyle Bulthuis
Committee
Angela Diaz
Committee
Norm Jones
Abstract
Historical research involving the schism within the German Baptist Brethren Church in the 1880s has only been found within broad, general histories of the church. The explanations given by historians relating to the cause of the split have previously centered on individuals and the church publications between 1850 and 1883, and on contemporaries who argued among themselves about whether to adopt practices common among surrounding American religions and society. No known project has focused directly on the content within the publications as it relates to the way these brethren used the Bible and other religious and spiritual rhetoric to substantiate their arguments on either side.
My research focussed on the Brethren periodicals during the decades between roughly 1850 and 1880. I selected four of the most prominent papers of the period: the Gospel Visitor, the Christian Family Companion, the Vindicator, and the Progressive Christian. Each of these periodicals contained arguments for or against adopting practices not previously accepted within the church. Within their pages I found that every argument, for or against a particular practice, was based on scriptural interpretation, or other religious commentary used to persuade readers.
Checksum
b335414b0cc626da13bb58bc32b7c97c
Recommended Citation
Weller, Daniel S., "Of One Divided Mind: Fundamental Causes of the Nineteenth-Century Brethren Schism, 1850-1880" (2019). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023. 7448.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/7448
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