The Stone-Campbell Movement: A Global History

by D. Newell Williams (Editor), Paul M. Blowers (Editor), Douglas A. Foster (Editor)

The Stone-Campbell A Global History tells the story of Christians from around the globe and across time who have sought to witness faithfully to the gospel of reconciliation. Transcending theological differences by drawing from all the major streams of the movement, this foundational book documents the movement's humble beginnings on the American frontier and growth into international churches of the twenty-first century.

Genres: Church History, History

476 pages, Hardcover

First published March 22, 2013

Reviews

[Robert D. Cornwall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following upon the publication of the Stone Campbell Encyclopedia (Eerdmans), a group of Stone-Campbell movement historians decided that there was a need for a narrative global history of the movement. Thus, scholars from all three branches of the movement worked together to tell this story. At times it reads like a lot of names, dates, and places, but it also helps us understand the complexity of this movement that sought unity among Christians, even as it divided over the means to that end. What makes this unique is the breadth of contributors, which takes away any partisan edge, and the global nature of the work. Thus, we're introduced to the multiple mission efforts around the world.

As one reads, one will find much to celebrate about the movement. But, the authors aren't afraid to reveal the dark side of the movement, especially a pervasive racism that plagued the movement during its first century of existence (and beyond).

The editors are to be commended for their excellent work.

[Shaun Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the Stone-Campbell Movement, a movement started as a unity movement, has since divided into three streams, the authors of this wonderful volume have ably demonstrated that each stream shares commitments to unity, evangelism, restoration, and peace and justice. They show this by not only looking at the SCM within North America (as many of the SCM histories do exclusively), but by looking at the SCM as a global movement with churches and schools on six continents. The Stone-Campbell Movement: A Global History is an invaluable book for understanding the SCM that will be a blessing to college and seminary classrooms and the personal libraries of pastors and scholars.

[Kyle Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book likely succeeds at being the go-to textbook for Stone-Campbell Movement studies. Its treatment of all three major streams is dense and thorough, and its ecumenical approach is well-suited to the task. Its density and thoroughness, however, lead to an exceptionally dry and cumbersome read. This is a great resource for SCM scholars, a borderline helpful resource for SCM seminary students, and a resource to be avoided by everyone else (in favor of better introductory options).

[Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this book is considered a “textbook” I found it very informative and interesting. This book was very well-written with intriguing stories about the leaders and growth of the Stone-Campbell Movement. For anyone who is looking for an easy-to-read, beginner’s level book on the Stone-Campbell Movement, this is one that I would highly recommend!

[Tanja Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, I wish this book had been around 10 years ago, when I took Disciples History and Polity in seminary. I especially liked that this book covered all three major streams of the Stone-Campbell movement, and written and edited by scholars in all three streams. This helped avoid biases that could otherwise show up in a history of a movement that was meant to focus on unity and the ending of denominations, and yet ended up splitting into at least three denominations (even though two of them don't have a formal denominational structure.)
That said, this book is clearly a textbook, and reads as such. It has lots of names and dates that at times are only slightly more interesting than all those genealogies in 1 Chronicles. That is the main reason it took me so long to slog through it.

[Rev. Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the required texts for one of my courses this Fall at Brite, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).An excellent overview of the forming and history of our denomination. One of the editors will be my instructor.