A People For His Name: A History of Jehovah's Witnesses and An Evaluation.

1969 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-128
Author(s):  
Timothy White
Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8 (106)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Tatiana Vagramenko

This article reconstructs the history of one KGB operation against the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Ukraine, launched by the Ukrainian security services in 1951. The operation aimed to infiltrate the Jehovah’s Witness underground organization in Ukraine and to organize a Witness country committee as a covert operation. The plan was designed such that the Soviet security service became the head of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization, and the headquarters of the official Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society became a channel in their counter-intelligence operations. This article tells about the failures and unexpected side-effects of the secret operation caused by internal conflicts within the Soviet politics of religion. Paradoxically, in the context of a disintegrated Witness underground network, caused by the post-war deportations and mass arrests, severed communication channels with the Watch Tower Society and the absence of religious literature, the Soviet security service became an alternative communication channel between the faith communities and a source of religious reproduction (including the source of the production of Watch Tower literature). This study dwells upon historical materials from recently opened SBU (former KGB) archives in Ukraine.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-85
Author(s):  
Yosef Yunandow Siahaan

Throughout the history of the church, from the early Church to the present, Christology has become the main topic of discussion, and it has often led to debates and even polemics for both the Church and those outside the church. The point of a long debate in the field of Christology is about Jesus as a creator or only as a creation. This study investigates this by using theological research, this study uses the exegesis method. The text that will be executed to provide evidence that Jesus was the Creator or creation is Colossians 1:15-20. Jehovah's Witnesses say that this text shows that Jesus was God's First creation. Whereas true Christians actually view this text as saying that Jesus is the Creator. The research used the exegesis method. The results show that Christ is the agent of creation. In building the understanding of the eldest word (Prototokos), it is not allowed to use the isolated text method. There are at least 2 meanings of this word, the first literal meaning is as the first born according to the order of time, and the second, the figurative meaning The eldest means the main, superior. Of course when looking at the context in Colossians 1:16-17, then Christ is not the first born according to chronological order, and comes from creation. Rather, He is the Creator, so it is not surprising that He is supreme or superior to all creation. Abstrak Indonesia Sepanjang sejarah gereja mulai dari Gereja mula-mula hingga kini Kristologi menjadi topik utama diskusi bahkan tak jarang menimbulkan perdebatan bahkan polemik baik bagi Gereja maupun kalangan di luar gereja. Yang menjadi titik perdebatan panjang dalam bidang Kristologi adalah Mengenai Yesus sebagai pencipta ataukah hanya sebagai ciptaan. Penelitian ini menyelidiki hal tersebut dengan menggunakan penelitian Teologi, penelitian ini menggunakan metode eksegesis. Teks yang akan dieksegesa guna untuk memberikan bukti Yesus adalah Pencipa atau ciptaan adalah Kolose 1:15-20. Saksi-saksi Yehuwa mengatakan bahwa teks ini menunjukkan bahwa Yesus adalah ciptaan Pertama dari Allah. Sedangkan Kristen sejati justru memandang teks ini mengatakan bahwa Yesus adalah Pencipta. Penelitian menggunakan metode eksegesis. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan Kristus adalah pelaku penciptaan. Dalam membangun pemahaman kata yang Sulung (Prototokos), tidak boleh menggunakan metode teks terisolasi. Paling tidak ada 2 makna dari kata ini, yang pertama makna literal adalah sebagai yang lahir pertama menurut urutan waktu, dan yang kedua, makna figuratif Yang sulung berarti yang utama, unggul. Tentu ketika melihat konteks dalam Kolose 1:16-17, maka Kristus bukanlah sang pertama lahir menurut urutan waktu, dan berasal dari ciptaan. Melainkan Ia adalah Pencipta, sehingga tidak mengherankan bahwa Ia adalah yang utama atau paling unggul di atas segala ciptaan.


2013 ◽  
pp. 183-185
Author(s):  
Petro Yarotskiy

On behalf of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (22.10.2013, number 2171) Department of History of Religion and Practical Religious Studies The Department of Religious Studies at the Institute of Philosophy named after G.S. Skovoroda of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine reviewed a letter sent by the Religious Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Ukraine requesting an analysis of the religious literature of Jehovah's Witnesses in Ukraine, which is sent free of charge to this religious center from abroad, in particular from Germany, and to provide an expert opinion: whether in its content and application, this literature is liturgical.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-26
Author(s):  
George Chryssides

The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ stance towards ecumenical and interfaith dialogue is an uncompromising one, regarding all manifestations of religion outside the Society as ‘false religion’ and part of Babylon the Great. The article discusses the history of Watch Tower Society’s stance towards Roman Catholicism, and to the formation of the Evangelical Alliance in 1846. Under Rutherford’s leadership a new understanding of Christian apostasy and other faiths emerged, based on the Protestant writer Alexander Hislop’s The Two Babylons. The second part of the article turns to the present-day dialogue movement, arguing that the key Christian ecumenical themes of baptism, eucharist and ministry, are of no concern to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Interfaith dialogue involves harmful associations, and ecumenical and interfaith worship run counter to the Witnesses’ ways of worshipping God. Finally, attention is given to Hans Küng’s global ethic, which the Watch Tower Society contrasts with its own ‘global solution’ to the world’s problems.


1977 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Régis Dericquebourg

The Watch Tower movement saw considerable expansion in northern France, especially in the mining basin where it essentially recruited Polish emigrant workers, but also French workers in lesser proportions. The author attempts to retrace the history of the spread of the movement in this region and examines the causes of its unique development in France. These causes could be linked to the social conditions of this population : social and cultural change, unsatisfied expecta tions, absence of political power, a crisis of confidence in the Catholic Church. They could also be subsumed under a more global hypothesis according to which the Watch Tower movement would have constituted a substitute home- land for the emigrant Polish workers. As for the French Jehovah's Witnesses, it was seen that they partially shared the Polish workers' fate, and individual particularities had to be taken into account.


Author(s):  
Ronald Lawson ◽  
Kenneth Xydias ◽  
Ryan T. Cragun

This chapter provides a clear but concise history of three of the more prominent proselytizing religious groups in Latin America: Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. All three were founded in the United States in the nineteenth century, but for varying reasons began a global expansion that included efforts in Latin America. The different motivations behind their global expansion are detailed in the chapter. The groups have different dates of origin, and different dates at which their international expansion into Latin America began. The chapter discusses these dates and the reasons why the groups entered Latin America when and where they did. Once full-fledged proselytizing efforts began, the three groups adjusted their messages and approaches in different ways, reflecting the broader approaches employed by them as well as their different theologies. As a result, rates of growth for these groups have differed, as have retention rates. The chapter provides current membership data for each country in Latin America, illustrating differences in retention rates and proselytizing practices. The chapter explains why Mormon membership numbers are particularly overstated, why Seventh-day Adventist numbers are relatively accurate, but also slightly overstated, and why Jehovah’s Witnesses numbers are understated. Finally, it examines growth rates over time to better understand the likely future of these groups in Latin America.


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