David Lipscomb
David Lipscomb | |
---|---|
Born | Huntland, Tennessee, U.S. | January 21, 1831
Died | November 11, 1917 Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. | (aged 86)
Known for | Founded the Nashville Bible School, which is now known as Lipscomb University |
Movement | American Restoration Movement |
David Lipscomb (January 21, 1831 – November 11, 1917) was a
Personal life
Lipscomb was born to Granville Lipscomb (born January 13, 1802, in Louisa County, Virginia, died November 16, 1853) and his second wife Ann E. Lipscomb (born January 25, 1799, in Louisa County, Virginia, died January 29, 1835, in Illinois) (called "Nancy" in some sources). Granville had previously been married, on December 14, 1825, in Spotsylvania, Virginia, to the former Ellen Guerner.
Granville and his older brother William Lipscomb were active in the Bean's Creek Baptist Church, where they were listed as the church clerks for 1828–1831 (Granville Lipscomb) and 1844–1876 (William C. Lipscomb). Attempts to convert the Bean's Creek church to Restoration Movement theology were poorly received, and Granville Lipscomb's family was expelled in 1831.[2][3] David Lipscomb was born in Huntland, Tennessee.
The Lipscomb family, originally
The Lipscombs were said to be charter members of the Old Salem church, according to Earl Irvin West's Lipscomb biography, The Life and Times of David Lipscomb.
- The Old Salem congregation began in May 1834 with two male members and two females. Also, five colored people belonged. By Christmas that year the number had grown to thirty-four whites and twelve blacks.
The Lipscomb family moved to Illinois in 1834 for the purpose of freeing their
Lipscomb's father moved the rest of the family back to Tennessee in 1835 or 1836 and he married his third wife, Jane L. Breedan (died September 8, 1885), on April 11 or August 11, 1837.[6] David's half-brother, also named Granville, was born to Jane Breedan Lipscomb. William Lipscomb would help to found Neely's Bend Church of Christ in April 1872 .[7] Granville Lipscomb Jr. would become a leader in the Lebanon Church of Christ founded in 1879 in Weakley County, Tennessee.[8]
Lipscomb was married to Margaret Zellner on July 22, 1862. Only one child was born to them. Little Zellner died at the age of 9 months of dehydration while teething. They reared, however, several foster children. David Lipscomb died on November 11, 1917, at the age of 86 years. Funeral services were held in the College Street Church, where he had been an elder for many years.[9]
Tolbert Fanning and Franklin College
Lipscomb, along with his older brother
Fanning was an enforcer of strict orthodoxy with regard to Restoration doctrines, seeing anything not specifically authorized by the New Testament as unnecessary and hence sinful addition to the "primitive" Christianity of the 1st century, which the movement was by definition dedicated to restoring.
Gospel Advocate
In this spirit, in 1855, Fanning and William Lipscomb began publishing a magazine aimed at dissemination of this view throughout the Restoration Movement, the Gospel Advocate. Following the resumption of mail service, which had been interrupted by the American Civil War, David Lipscomb revived the Gospel Advocate in July 1866, with himself and Fanning as editors: Fanning withdrew making Lipscomb the sole editor until he was joined by P. S. Fall, John T. Walsh, Jacob Creath Jr., T. W. Brents, and Carroll Kendrick in 1867.
Although the Advocate has always been conservative and Bible based, the "tone and direction" has varied as editors have changed.
Views on war and government
All the wars and strifes between tribes, races, nations, from the beginning until now, have been the result of man's effort to govern himself and the world, rather than to submit to the government of God.
David Lipscomb, On Civil Government p. 14
Lipscomb was deeply affected by the
Every one who honors and serves the human government and relies upon it, for good, more than he does upon the Divine government, worships and serves the creature more than he does the Creator.
David Lipscomb, On Civil Government p.50
The radical libertarian scholar Edward Stringham has argued that Lipscomb had independently questioned common assumptions such as these:[12]
- Governments need to make laws.
- Governments are created for the public good.
- Democracy is for the common good.
Stringham further describes Lipscomb's beliefs as follows:[12]
- Governments may seek to increase disorder to expand their power.
- People should abstain from voting, instead seeking change through persuasive and non-coercive methods.
- Peaceful civilization is not dependent on the state.
- Governments are created for the benefit of the rulers, not the people.
Nashville Bible School
Lipscomb for a time was a prosperous farmer in addition to his religious activities, at one time operating his own ferry across the Cumberland River from his farm north of Nashville to the side of the river on which the main part of the city was located. He eventually relocated to an estate south of Nashville. Today, this estate is the campus of Lipscomb University. The log house in which he lived on his former farm has been dismantled and re-erected adjacent to his later home, which is used by the university for some social occasions.
In 1891, Lipscomb and
Opposition to missionary societies and instrumental music
Neither Paul nor any other apostle, nor the Lord Jesus, nor any of the disciples for five hundred years, used instruments. This too, in the face of the fact that the Jews had used instruments in the days of their prosperity and that the Greeks and heathen nations all used them in their worship. They were dropped out with such emphasis that they were not taken up till the middle of the Dark Ages, and came in as part of the order of the Roman Catholic Church. It seems there cannot be doubt but that the use of instrumental music in connection with the worship of God, whether used as a part of the worship or as an attraction accompaniment, is unauthorized by God and violates the oft-repeated prohibition to add nothing to, take nothing from, the commandments of the Lord. They have not been authorized by God or sanctified with the blood of his Son.
— David Lipscomb, Queries and Answers[13]
Lipscomb, along with his mentor Tolbert Fanning, opposed the newly formed American Christian Missionary Society.[5] No disagreement existed over the need for evangelism, but many believed that missionary societies were not authorized by scripture and would compromise the autonomy of local congregations.[14] The use of musical instruments in worship had been discussed in journal articles as early as 1849, and initial reactions were generally unfavorable.[15]: 414 However, some congregations are known to have been using musical instruments in the 1850s and 1860s.[15]: 414 Both acceptance of instruments and discussion of the issue grew after the American Civil War.[15]: 414 Opponents argued that the New Testament provided no authorization for their use in worship, whereas supporters argued on the basis of expediency and Christian liberty.[15]: 414 Affluent, urban congregations were more likely to adopt musical instruments, while poorer and more rural congregations tended to see them as "an accommodation to the ways of the world."[15]: 414 Although Lipscomb was slow to come to a decision on the issue, articulating his final position in 1878, he came firmly to oppose the use of musical instruments in worship.[5] One biographer describes Lipscomb as taking "a firm stand against the organization of human societies for the preaching of the gospel, and he as ably contended for the simple worship without the use of instrumental music, as taught in the New Testament."[16]
A deeper theological concern for Lipscomb was the adoption of German liberal theology by many among the Disciples wing of the Restoration Movement.
As the 19th century progressed, a division gradually developed between those whose primary commitment was to unity, and those whose primary commitment was to the restoration of the primitive church.
Churches of Christ
Nothing in life has given me more pain in heart than the separation from those I have heretofore worked with and loved.
— David Lipscomb, 1899[18]
Thus in 1906, the U.S. Religious Census listed the Christian Churches and the Churches of Christ as separate and distinct groups for the first time.[19]: 251 This, however, was simply the recognition of a division that had been growing for years, with published reports as early as 1883.[19]: 252 The most obvious distinction between the two groups was the rejection of musical instruments in the Churches of Christ. The controversy over musical instruments began in 1860 with the introduction of organs in some churches. More basic were differences in the underlying approach to Biblical interpretation. For the Churches of Christ, any practices not present in accounts of New Testament worship were not permissible in the church, and they could find no New Testament documentation of the use of instrumental music in worship. For the Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ), any practices not expressly forbidden could be considered.[19]: 242–247
After the division Disciples churches used "Christian Church" as the dominant designation for congregations. The approach to missionary work and the presence or absence of mechanical instruments were the most visible issues, but some deeper, underlying ones were inextricable from those issues. The process that led to the separation had begun prior to the American Civil War.[20]: 17–18 In sum, for a movement based on Christian unity based on the Bible, one side went in the direction of unity and the other side went in the direction of Restorationism.
Legacy
According to The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement, Lipscomb's "greatest contributions came through the Nashville Bible School, the Gospel Advocate, and his other writings."[5] The Nashville Bible School is now Lipscomb University.[5]
The Gospel Advocate has long been very influential in the Churches of Christ and was, during much of the twentieth century, the most influential journal within the brotherhood, helping to shape consensus views.[11]: 362 [21]: 213 As the Churches of Christ have no denominational hierarchy, through much of its history the views of the brotherhood have been heavily influenced by its journals and their editors (although an argument can be made that since the 1980s lectureship speakers and university leaders have tended to have more influence than editors).[21]: 213
Bibliography
- Civil Government: Its Origin, Mission, and Destiny, and the Christian's Relation to It. 1866–67. Originally published as a series of articles in the Gospel Advocate from 1866 to 1867, then as a series of articles in the Christian Quarterly from 1888 to 1889, and finally collected in book form by Gospel Advocate Publishing in 1889.
- Reprinted by McQuiddy Printing, Nashville, 1913. Complete e-text in various formats or Complete HTML e-text.
- Reprinted by Doulos Christou Press, Indianapolis, 2006, as On Civil Government: Its Origin, Mission, and Destiny, and the Christian's Relation to It. ISBN 978-0-9744796-1-3
- Reprinted by Wipf & Stock, Eugene, 2011, as On Civil Government: Its Origin, Mission, and Destiny, and the Christian's Relation to It. ISBN 978-1610978736
See also
References
- ^ H. Leo Boles. "Biographical Sketch On The Life Of David Lipscomb". Archived from the original on January 3, 2015.
- ^ Therestorationmovement.com, Early Life Of David Lipscomb
- ^ Therestorationmovement.com, David Lipscomb at therestorationmovement.com
- ^ WesternKentuckyHistory.org: Trigg County Chapter 6
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on Lipscomb, David
- ^ MS 2473: The Bean's Creek Baptist Church Minute Book, 1814–1876 at the library of the University of Tennessee (Knoxville)
- ^ History of Neelys Bend Church of Christ
- ^ rootsweb.com: Lebanon Church of Christ
- ^ Biographical Sketch On The Life Of David Lipscomb Archived September 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Reid, D. G., Linder, R. D., Shelley, B. L., & Stout, H. S. (1990). Dictionary of Christianity in America. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. Entry on Lipscomb, David
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on Gospel Advocate
- ^ a b Edward Stringham (April 2009). "Working Paper: The Radical Libertarian Political Economy of 19th Century Preacher David Lipscomb" (DOC). Mercatus Center, George Mason University.
- ^ David Lipscomb, Queries and Answers by David Lipscomb p226-227, and Gospel Advocate, 1899, p. 376-377
- ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on Missionary Societies, Controversy Over, pp. 534-537
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on Instrumental Music
- ^ H. Leo Boles, Biographical Sketches Of Gospel Preachers (Gospel Advocate Company: Nashville, TN 1932)p243-247
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-23312-8, 345 pages
- ISBN 978-0-89900-909-4, 573 pages
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8272-1703-4
- ISBN 978-0-8272-2938-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on Churches of Christ
Further reading
- Robert E. Hooper, Crying in the Wilderness: A Biography of David Lipscomb (Nashville: David Lipscomb College, 1979)
- To His Excellency the President of the Confederate States of America Open Letter by David Lipscomb, November 13, 1862. Reprinted in the Appendix of the edition of On Civil Government cited above, pages 128-130.
External links
- Works by or about David Lipscomb at Internet Archive
- Munc.ca, David Lipscomb at the Restoration Movement pages at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.
- The Buford Church of Christ in Georgia, U.S.A., maintains pages about the Restoration Movement, including this one Therestorationmovement.com about David Lipscomb.
- Gospeladvocate.com, this article was adapted from A Call to Remember by Robert E. Hooper, Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1977.