The Churches of Christ in the 20th Century: Homer Hailey's Personal Journey of Faith

Religion and American Culture

by David Edwin Harrell Jr.

Book by Harrell Jr., Professor David Edwin

472 pages, Hardcover

First published January 11, 2000

About the author

Breeden Eminent Scholar in the Humanities David Edwin Harrell, Jr., Auburn University.

Reviews

[Micah Chandler]

That’s it, time for my church history era

[Gabe Chaves]

A must read for all those want to understand their faith a little better.

[Jeremy]

This book is definitely written for insiders of the restoration movement. Others need not apply and I wish they wouldn't because it is a largely unflattering history of the churches of Christ. Neither side of the institutional/non-institutional division is spared. Though I side with the non-institutional position I found myself regularly turned off by the faulty logic and unchristian tactics taken by many of their preachers and newspaper editors. While I am sympathetic towards the institutional movement I was stunned at how they drew lines and cut off anyone who disagreed with them often with heartbreaking results. What this book also does very well is illustrate that the divisions within the churches are based largely on socioeconomic factors more so than doctrinal differences.

However, what is true of the group is not necessarily true of all individuals within that group as the life story of Homer Hailey demonstrates. Here is a man who refused to provoke controversy and yet stood by his convictions to the end - often at great cost to himself. The book made me long for the days when men like Hailey could preach a three week gospel meeting and baptize converts in the double digits. I would recommend this book to anyone within the restoration movement. We need to understand our history so we can understand how we got to where we are and learn not to repeat the same mistakes those before us made. The life of Homer Hailey is a great story that should inspire any aspiring preacher.

[David Blankenship]

Much like Harrell's first two books on the history of the Restoration movement in the United States, this book picks up the story in the first part of the 20th century. And much like the other two books, it perhaps focuses too much upon the sources of division and seems to have only a white, male perspective. But Harrell writes well of what he knows, and in this book he is himself involved in the story of the institutional division of Churches of Christ. Half of this book tells the story of Homer Hailey's straddling the boundary between the division. It's a very readable and interesting book, though at times very depressing for those of us within Churches of Christ who have seen what petty wrangling and heresy hunting has done.

[P.A. Pursley]

I grew up in the church of Christ so I wanted to read this as a recommendation from our minister. The first half of the book gives great detail of the arguments and issues that split churches and caused theological debates among the preachers and elders. It was a difficult read.

The second half of the book is the life story of Homer Hailey. It was interesting and a must faster read.

If you are interested in the background of the churches of Christ...this book is for you.

[Ben Torno]

This is an awesome book, but it is pretty depressing.

[S]

This book won't be terribly interesting to anyone who was never a part of the church of Christ. I think the author is still a part of the church of Christ and seems to be writing for people familiar with it. He drops a lot of names as though the reader was familiar with them in the same way a gossip magazine drops the names of celebrities at this or that gala event. He doesn't go into much theology, either. That is, he will mention that one faction was on this or that side of an issue, but he doesn't spend much time explaining why each group felt the way that they did. You would think that this would be for space restrictions, but this book is hella long and repetitious. I mean, let's be clear. This is the church of Christ we're talking about here. They are not so much known for innovation as repetition. You hear one sermon, you've heard them all. And then you spend fifteen years taking thrice weekly naps so that your brains don't melt.

But I digress.

The man does relate his facts pretty objectively. He doesn't usually pick a side. It was interesting to see the roots of the organization to which I belonged for so long while having so little understanding of where it came from. I knew that there were divisions in the church, but naturally I assumed that the faction I ended up with was the correct and strong one. Aaaaas it turns out, not so much. So, this book is probably most useful for figuring out where on the tree your nut grew. My nut grew waaaaaaaay out in right field. (Florida College, folks! One of a kind institution. Who knew?)

Oh, and I totally learned why we had to hear so many dang sermons on premillennialism. Yes, yes it was because the church split over it eighty years ago and old dudes have long memories.

So. That's that book. Long sucker. J.T. Smith is in it, but nobody else I've met personally. Unfortunately, he doesn't come out very well. Oh, well. I never did like PowerPoint anyway.

[Machaia]

This book was absolutely fascinating, and about as unbiased as possible considering the writer is a member of the church of Christ. The micro and macro elements of the history were an excellent framework - talking about the broad history and then focusing on one man allowed you to see the forest and the trees. It was such an illustration of the fact that there is nothing new under the sun. And the writing and editing are excellent. I found so many gems that I highlighted. Two examples:

“We are asked, ‘What does the church teach on divorce?’ I reply, ‘The church is not the source of any teaching. God’s word says...’ I have no right to set forth my beliefs as the standard for others. What the Holy Spirit write is completely adequate for that. My own beliefs must be constantly subjected to testing by that rule.”

“They had rediscovered the restoration truism that biblical literalists often become cranky and factious.”