Saturday, May 9, 2009

Isaac Errett's "Our Position"


Isaac Errett was the editor of the Christian Standard and a strong second-generation leader of the Stone-Campbell movement. One of the most enduring pieces he wrote was "Our Position" which fairly succinctly described how the Stone-Campbell movement was similar and how it differed from other Protestant groups. You can find the PBB at www.calhabig.com/pbb.html.

The Christian System

I have produced for public use, The Christian System (by Alexander Campbell)-the pagination on this one is a bit odd, but it is still totally functional. The longest PBB I have done to date.

It is downloadable on my website (www.calhabig.com/PBB.html).

If you have no idea what I am talking about (Libronix, PBBs, American Restoration Movement) don’t sweat it. It only appeals to a narrow band on nerds like me, I understand! But it is my small piece of contributing to historical study.

McGarvey's Treeatise on the Eldership

I have linked to several Restoration Movement .pbbs that I have built. They have to be used within the Logos/Libronix Bible software. But today I uploaded J.W. McGarvey’s Treatise on the Eldership to my website.

If you have Libronix and want to download the file, you can find it here. (As before, the link is toward the bottom of the page and you will need to right click it and “Save as” to wherever your Libronix Resources directory is located on your computer).

Per the request of some who have asked me who this is and why it is important:

McGarvey was for many years professor at the School of the Bible in Lexington, KY. Here is a brief bio. This book was
seminal in many churches’ understanding of the biblical role of eldership in the late 1800's even up until the middle of the 20th century. He is also known for his works: The Fourfold Gospel, his Commentary on Acts and Lands of the Bible (along with many others).

He was affiliated with the Restoration Movement (Stone-Campbell movement) which is the common heritage of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ; the Churches of Christ (non-instrumental); and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The original movement was a unity movement based on the philosophy of restoring the church found in the New Testament. It was
(until the upsurge of the Mormons) the largest church body indigenous to North America, and in recent years the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ have been the fastest growing church body in the nation. (That stat is 2-3 years old, so may be out of date).

I have checked and double and triple checked the .pbb, but if you find errors, please let me know (I'm sure you will!) I BELIEVE that this time I have
uploaded the right file. We'll see... (Again, I have no doubts you will let me know!)

Libronix Personal Book of Cicero’s The Orator

libronixIf you have the Bible software put out by Logos using the Libronix engine, you are probably familiar with PBBs: Personal Book Builder. It is a tool that allows you to build books that can be used from within the Logos software. I mostly use it to produce books that have been of historical importance within the Restoration Movement (the fellowship of which I am a part).

But in checking out the original of “The Orator” for my previous post, I produced a simple PBB of Cicero’s De Optimo Genere Oratorum (“On the Best Style of Orators).

If you have Logos software and can “read” PBBs (it take a special key that is only in boxed sets of Logos software), you are welcome to download Cicero’s “The Orator.”

You can find it at www.calhabig.com/articles.html. The Cicero PBB is located toward the bottom of the page.

Sand Creek Declaration Documents


I have recently created a PBB, which is probably the most obscure one to date. The fellowship of churches to which I am a part (American Restoration Movement or Stone/Campbell Movement) has “officially” divided twice. Once between the non-instrumental churches of Christ and the rest of the movement (1906) and then with the formation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination and the rest of the movement (1967). (This is my not-unprejudiced slant on it, here…).

The first division “unofficially” began with the Civil War: cultural differences between churches in the South (predominantly non-instrumental churches of Christ) and churches in the North (more often instrumental) created natural tensions.

The outward battles did not begin, however, until the 1880s with a document called “The Sand Creed Address and Declaration.” It was a document mostly written by Daniel Sommers (pictured) dis-fellowshipping any churches who (among several offenses) used instrumental music. The battle raged for twenty years or so, until 1906, when the non-instrumental churches of Christ asked the census bureau to list them as a separate church “group” (how that differs from a denomination, I’ll never know).

The late A.K.Guthrie of Lynchburg, VA did all of us a great favor by compiling several documents relating to “The Sand Creed Address and Declaration.” A couple of contradictory version of it exist and several periodicals of the time commented on it (mostly negatively). Included in Guthrie’s collection is a history of the Sand Creek church.

You can find the PBB at my website: www.calhabig.com/PBB.html.