Founding of the Watch Tower Movement
Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society was founded in 1881 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by Charles Taze Russell who served as its founder and chief executive officer for over 45 years. Russell was born to parents of Scots-Irish descent and was raised as a Presbyterian, but left the Presbyterian faith to become a Congregationalist at age 13 (Beckford 1975). Russell’s sister described his search for theology as the result of a prophetic dream at the time he withdrew from Presbyterianism that he was called to save mankind from doctrinal error. Russell demonstrated a passion for evangelism from an early age, chalking verses from the Bible on sidewalks and fences to admonish unbelievers. At 16, Russell came to question mainline Christianity as a result of a discussion with a childhood friend on perceived problems and contradictions in Christianity, including difficulties with the Orthodox creeds and traditions not based on Scripture. Russell was unsatisfied...
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Stewart, D.G. (2019). Jehovah’s Witnesses, History. In: Gooren, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions. Religions of the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27078-4_577
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