Essay Topics

Preamble:

The sole reason for setting an essay task is that you come to grips more intimately with what the founders of this "Movement within the main stream church" that has become Churches of Christ in this country, were about.

The essay task:

I want you to read source documents from the founders of the movement, not later papers about what they thought. Try and get inside the founders mind set, what they were saying on the subject you choose, then comment on what that means today, how we have changed over time and whether we would even agree with them today.

You will need to take account of the context:

The society (milieu) what was the situation in life of the day, I've included a couple of papers in the reader to help you with that.

The church - What was the motivation behind the movement. Clearly Unity was a key issue and excerpts from the "Declaration and Address" by Thomas Campbell will inform you of that.

ESSAY TOPICS and some references to read and pursue:

1. Baptism

A sub theme to look at here is whether our founders thought of baptism as essential to salvation? Also- How do we handle those of infant baptism traditions, as they enter our churches?

Links to SOME possible references:

Works of Elder BW Stone Chapter III

Alexander Campbell: The Christian System Chapter XVI

Alexander Campbell: Baptism with its antecedents and consequents This is a large paper. Maybe have a browse in Books IV, V and Chapter VIII of Book VI.