Philosophical influences bearing on Alexander Campbell and the beginnings of the Disciples of Christ movement

Abstract

During the early stages of research on the philosophical background of Alexander Campbell, the author attended a meeting of the Theological Commission on the Church, a part of the Commission on Faith and Order which was held at Cambridge University. The subject under discussion concerned the background of the divisions among the churches. All those present agreed that the differences were mainly theological, philosophical, social, economic, or political. Emphasis was placed upon the fact that often in the background the philosophical assumptions are unconscious.

All of these factors were important in the life and work of Alexander Campbell and the Movement which he helped to bring into existence. He inherited a theology which he greatly modified, the covenant theology. He adopted a philosophy that he rather consistently followed throughout the course of bis 111'e, the philosophy 01' John Locke and the Scottish Common Sense School of Thomas Reid, Dugald Stewart, and James Beattie. He came within the scope of social, economic and political factors which had a great deal to do with the contribution which he was able to make to the religious life of his time and to future efforts toward Christian unity.

Alexander Campbell's religious thought parallels to an amazing degree the thought of Albert Ritschl, F. D. Maurice, P. T. Forsyth and John Oman. He recovered a note which had been lost in Aristotelian thought in its passion for logical precision. It was a rediscovery of the personal relationship of God to men.

When Alexander Campbell went to the Scriptures to look for a basis for the united church he made two discoveries which were of great importance. The first ot these was the discovery that the unity of faith in the New Testament church consisted in a common loyalty to the religious leadership of a person rather than to a special set of beliefs about God. The Church was not a number of people united in certain metaphysical convictions. It was rather a union of those who sought to follow the inspiring leadership of a Master who had given them a great new insight into the loving nature of God. The second discovery was that the early church expressed this faith, not in the verbal symbols of a creed, but in the symbolic gestures of the two great Christian ordinances, one to declare the adoption of that faith and the other to declare at regular, repeated intervals its maintenance. These discoveries resulted from his realization that the Word of God is an acted word even more than it is a spoken word. In such a way, God's character and purpose are revealed through the Scripture. He had a definite realization that Revelation was 'a given' but it was 'a given' which called for a response, there was something for man to do. This led to the conviction that creeds should not divide those who are loyal to the person and purposes of Christ, that freedom of thought in matters of belief is not incompatible with loyal cooperation in the life and work of the church. He saw the desirability and need of union in organization and spirit on a basis of voluntary cooperation which would preserve the freedom ot the local congregation.

Alexander Campbell was not primarily a philosopher. His primary interest was in the study and proclamation of the scriptures but he was always concerned with the problems or both theology and philosophy. Like every other thoughtful person he accepted and acted upon certain definite philosophical and theological principles. So far as is known this 1s the first attempt to trace the interaction of the philosophy of John Locke and the Scottish School upon him. In the judgment or the writer, Alexander Campbell and his contribution to the thought of his age is more readily understood with his philosophical background in mind. Many of his important conceptions were strengthened by his philosophical adherence, and he was able to make use of his philosophy in an able defense of revealed religion.

Alexander Campbell was an ecumenical thinker. In this day when the Ecumenical Movement is such a vital part of the religious picture, a study of his thought and of the Movement in which he had such a dominant role is of importance. Perhaps no part of his thought has been so neglected as the philosophical influences bearing on him.