Notes from Norman

History of the Churches of Christ in Texas (1)

Eckstein, Stephen Daniel, Jr. History of the Churches of Christ in Texas: 1824-1950 Austin, Texas: Firm Foundation Publishing House. 1963. hardcover 378 pages.

As the Churches of Christ face tensions and conflict during the early part of the twenty-first century, it may be helpful to evaluate the past, and assess the connection between our past and the present. I recently ran across Stephen Eckstein’s book, History of the Churches of Christ in Texas: 1824-1950, among several volumes that were donated to our church library. I had never read the book, but I had always wanted to, so I decided to go through it before placing it in the library.

The book is a popular version of Eckstein’s doctoral dissertation, written to fulfill requirements for a Ph. D degree at Texas Tech University. It’s helpful to look at the history of the Churches of Christ in Texas for several reasons. For one thing, more members live in Texas than any other state in the union. For another, Texas is a microcosm of the Churches of Christ during that period of time, especially of those churches in the Southern and Southwestern part of the United States. Also it has been said that “those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.”

By no means should we regard the period from 1824 to 1950 as “the golden age” of our faith. To be quite honest, it’s a mixed bag. Sometimes our ancestors stood tall and left admirable examples of courage and faithfulness. At other times, we hang our heads in shame to know that such behavior actually characterized some of those who passed their faith along to us. Either way it can be instructive.

My review will be presented serially, so it will take several posts to cover it.

Eckstein begins by introducing his readers to the faith community we have come to think of as “The Restoration Movement.” He traces the contributions of such leaders as James O’Kelly, Rice Haggard, Abner Jones, Elias Smith, Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell, and Barton W. Stone. In one way or another, all these people passed along their views to our congregations and they have great influence over the way we think today. Many of us are not even aware of their influence, which doesn’t speak well for the rank and file in today’s churches. We ought to know how we got where we are. Some would like to reject our heritage, but they don’t really know what they are rejecting. Some doggedly defend what they think “we’ve always believed.” But what they think we’ve always believed, and what our forebearers actually taught, believed, and vigorously debated are sometimes two different things. If we don’t know how we got where we are, it will be difficult to decide what we are defending or rejecting. It will be even more difficult to plot a course for the future. However, the book is not about the work of these men. That story has been told many times in other works. It’s about how some of those people shared their same vision and brought that vision to the Texas frontier.

Throughout the book, Eckstein consistently refers to these churches as “churches of Christ.” He deliberately uses the lower case “c.” I would guess that he was respecting the widely held belief that the lower case “c” indicates undenominational status. While that is a noble objective, it would be somewhat naïve so say that all Churches of Christ are in fact undenominational churches. The Churches of Christ are a sociological entity as evidenced by the various ways that we report our statistics and activities in the public media. While that does not negate the goal of being undenominational, it at least provides a recognizable way of identifying a sociological reality. Thus I’m choosing to use the upper case “C.”

He also tends to view all Restoration churches as “Churches of Christ” prior to the division over instrumental music and the missionary society. He admits the fact that nomenclature was somewhat fluid prior to 1906.

In his introduction Eckstein notes that Churches of Christ were established during the Western Migration. The story starts in 1824 because that’s when Mexico overthrew the dictator Iturbide and elected to be governed by a constitution. Between 1824 and1836, when Texas declared its independence from Mexico, a few members came into Texas. But there was a major hindrance. When the Impresarios brought Anglo families into Texas as colonists, the Mexicans required the colonists to embrace Catholicism. While many were not practicing Catholics, they nevertheless professed their allegiance to the Catholic church in order to acquire land.

After 1836 former residents of Tennessee, Kentucky and other states along the Ohio Valley migrated to Texas in large numbers. Eckstein observes, “Amid that stream were a considerable number of members of the churches of Christ, forerunners of a religious body which today has more of its members in Texas than in any other state.”

NEXT INSTALLMENT
“Early Beginnings, 1819-1836

posted by Norman @ 7:21 PM