Our Wild Democracy — Class Drafts

Chapter 6 — Millennial Harbinger

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The Story: In 1830, Alexander Campbell pivoted from attack journalism, to building for the age to come. Millennial Harbinger became the leading journal of the movement, with its vision of societal and religious reform, science and education, and eschatology as north star.

The Idea: Our movement’s animating impulse was eschatology. Not looking backwards, but looking forwards to embody the age to come. Not just for the church, but for the world. We continue the same impulse today—NT Wright, Josh Graves telling us to live as a microcosm of the future. That’s not a new discovery, it’s one of our deepest impulses.

Connections:

• Stone saw Cane Ridge as the Spirit moving towards something
• Stone saw the Springfield Presbytery in light of the age to come
• Alexander Campbell says in his first sermon that Communion is a taste of the Millennial Church. This connects with the Communion theme throughout.
• David Lipscomb takes eschatology as reason for radical non-conformity
• Sets up Restoration & Science theme

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Narrative…

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Ideas

1. We live as a microcosm of the age to come
2. Eschatology is our tradition
3. Eschatology drives us in various ways, which may look very different

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Future

What is beautiful here? What do we carry forward?