Global InformationJoseph Franklin Rutherford information
Joseph Franklin Rutherford | |
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 Joseph Franklin Rutherford | |
| Born | November 8, 1869 Versailles, Missouri, US |
| Died | January 8, 1942 (aged 72) San Diego, California, US |
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| Movement | Jehovah's Witnesses |
| Spouse | Mary Malcolm Fetzer (m. 1891) |
| Children | 1 |
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Joseph Franklin Rutherford (November 8, 1869 – January 8, 1942), also known as Judge Rutherford, was an American religious leader and the second president of the incorporated Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. He played a primary role in the organization and doctrinal development of Jehovah's Witnesses,[1][2][3] which emerged from the Bible Student movement established by Charles Taze Russell.
Rutherford began a career in law, working as a court stenographer, trial lawyer and prosecutor. He became a special judge in the 8th/14th Judicial District of Missouri at some time after 1895.[4][5] He developed an interest in the doctrines of Watch Tower Society president Charles Taze Russell, which led to his joining the Bible Student movement, and he was baptized in 1906. He was appointed the legal counsel for the Watch Tower Society in 1907, as well as a traveling representative prior to his election as president in 1917. His early presidency was marked by a dispute with the Society's board of directors, in which four of its seven members accused him of autocratic behavior and sought to reduce his powers. The resulting leadership crisis divided the Bible Student community and contributed to the loss of one-seventh of adherents by 1919 and thousands more by 1931.[6][7][8] Rutherford and seven other Watch Tower executives were imprisoned in 1918 after charges were laid over the publication of The Finished Mystery, a book deemed seditious for its opposition to World War I.[9][10]
Rutherford introduced many organizational and doctrinal changes that helped shape the current beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses.[11][12] He imposed a centralized administrative structure on the worldwide Bible Student movement, which he later called a theocracy, requiring all adherents to distribute literature via door to door preaching and to provide regular reports of their preaching activity.[13][14] He also instituted training programs for public speaking as part of their weekly meetings for worship. He established 1914 as the date of Christ's invisible return, asserted that Christ died on a tree rather than a cross,[15][16] formulated the current Witness concept of Armageddon as God's war on the wicked, and reinforced the belief that the start of Christ's millennial reign was imminent. He condemned the observance of traditional celebrations such as Christmas and birthdays, the saluting of national flags and the singing of national anthems. He introduced the name "Jehovah's witnesses" in 1931 and the term "Kingdom Hall" for houses of worship in 1935.[17]
He wrote twenty-one Watch Tower Society books and was credited by the Society in 1942 with the distribution of almost 400 million books and booklets.[18] Despite significant decreases during the 1920s, overall membership increased more than sixfold by the end of Rutherford's 25 years as president.[19][20]
- ^ Leo P. Chall, Sociological Abstracts, vol 26 issues 1–3, "Sociology of Religion", 1978, p. 193 col 2: "Rutherford, through the Watch Tower Society, succeeded in changing all aspects of the sect from 1919 to 1932 and created Jehovah's Witnesses—a charismatic offshoot of the Bible student community."
- ^ "The Embryonic State of a Religious Sect's Development: The Jehovah's Witnesses" Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain, ed. Michael Hill, 1972, issue 5 pp 11–12: "Joseph Franklin Rutherford succeeded to Russell's position as President of Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society, but only at the expense of antagonizing a large proportion of the Watch Towers subscribers. Nevertheless, he persisted in moulding the Society to suit his own programme of activist evangelism under systematic central control, and he succeeded in creating the administrative structure of the present-day sect of Jehovah's Witnesses."
- ^ The Twentieth century, vol 153, 1953 p. 14: "This latter phenomenon, perhaps the most widely spread politico-religious movement at the present time, is linked, as are so many, with a source in America, in this case Judge Rutherford, the New York founder of Jehovah's Witnesses."
- ^ 8th Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri: The New York Times, January 17, 1919, Section I, p. 9, As Retrieved 2010-03-02. Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society 1993, p. 67.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ P.S.L. Johnson, The Present Truth and Herald of Christ's Epiphany, April 1927, p. 66: "Since the Fall of 1923 ... from 20,000 to 30,000 Truth people the world over have left the Society."
- ^ Penton 1997, p. 50
- ^ Rogerson 1969, p. 37
- ^ "Postwar Enlargement of the Theocratic Organization", The Watchtower, July 15, 1950, p. 217
- ^ Beckford 1975, p. 24
- ^ Penton 1997, p. 75
- ^ Rogerson 1969, p. 64
- ^ "Testing and Sifting in Modern Times". The Watchtower. Watch Tower Society. June 15, 1987. p. 17.
- ^ Rogerson 1969, p. 53
- ^ Riches, by J.F. Rutherford, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1936, p. 27 Archived March 8, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, "Jesus was crucified, not on a cross... Jesus was crucified by nailing his body to a tree. ...(Deuteronomy 21:22,23) ... (Galatians 3:13) ... Acts 5:30."
- ^ "Flashes of Light—Great and Small". The Watchtower. Watch Tower Society. May 15, 1995. p. 20.
- ^ Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society 1993, p. 319
- ^ "San Diego's Officials Line Up Against Earth's New Princes". Consolation. Watch Tower Society. May 27, 1942. pp. 3–16.
- ^ 1975 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses. Watch Tower Society. 1975. p. 94.
An incomplete earthwide report shows that the Memorial of Jesus Christ's death on April 5, 1917, was attended by 21,274.
- ^ Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose. Watch Tower Society. pp. 312–313.
Memorial Attendance Reported [for] 1942 ... 140,450