December 9, 2025
Restore & Renew: Preserving the Legacy of Alexander Campbell
A major new initiative is underway to preserve one of the most significant collections in the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement: The Alexander Campbell Papers.
Alexander Campbell
Alexander Campbell features articles exploring the life, teaching, and influence of Alexander Campbell within the Stone-Campbell/Restoration Movement. Read historical reflections, biographical highlights, and research-informed discussions that help you understand Campbell’s role in shaping key convictions such as Christian unity, biblical authority, and the renewal of the church. This hub gathers content that provides context for Campbell’s writings and leadership, and considers how his ideas continue to inform church life and ministry today.
October 25, 2023
RENEW.org, College Press Partnering to Re-release Novel about Alexander Campbell
RENEW.org and College Press are collaborating on the re-release of "The Fool of God," a novel that tells the story of Alexander Campbell, a key pioneer of the Restoration Movement. The book is a factual retelling of Campbell’s life. It will be available at ICOM . . .
March 1, 2021
The Understanding Distance
In January 1846, Alexander Campbell wrote an article on biblical interpretation for the Millennial Harbinger with a message that is as relevant now as it was then. There is a distance which is properly called the speaking distance, or the hearing distance, beyond which the voice reaches not, and the ear hears not. To hear another, we must come within that circle which the voice audibly fills. Now, we may with propriety say that as it respects God there is an understanding distance, Campbell asserted. All within that distance can easily understand God in all matters of piety and morality,
November 19, 2020
A Study of Alexander Campbell (Part 2)
And now, part 2 of John L. Morrison’s series on Alexander Campbell from 1967.
November 12, 2020
A Study of Alexander Campbell (Part 1)
I spoke with a former Christian college professor a couple of times in the past few weeks. John L. Morrison is a pleasant gentleman enjoying retirement in California. Through the years, he taught at San Jose Bible College (now William Jessup University), Milligan College (now Milligan University), and Puget Sound College of the Bible (now closed). I can’t recall Mr. Morrison’s exact age, but it’s in the neighborhood of 90. Mr. Morrison told me he had written for Christian Standard a number of times. I became curious and checked into this. Sure enough, I found articles by him from the
February 20, 2020
Studying Scripture with Alexander Campbell (Part 2)
Today we conclude this two-part article from 1940 explaining the “four aspects” of Alexander Campbell’s Bible study. Today’s article covers aspects three and four. _ _ _ Alexander Campbell’s Contribution to Bible Study (Part 2) By Howard Elmo Short, B.D. (Hartford);Minister, Church of Christ, Cuyahoga Falls, O.;February 10, 1940; p. 5 . . . There is no finer contribution that Mr. Campbell has made to Bible study than this insistence upon original thinking. How often we read, leafing through, just to find the “pet” verses which prove the point we are arguing at the moment! The admonition of Mr. Campbell
February 13, 2020
Studying Scripture with Alexander Campbell (Part 1)
Restoration pioneer Alexander Campbell’s Bible study methods might be of interest to readers and leaders. A notation above the headline of this article indicated this was “a paper read before a Bible-study conference of the churches in the Akron (O.) area some months ago.” We will break this into two parts, plus edit it a bit for length. Part one will cover the first two of “four aspects of Mr. Campbell’s Bible study.” _ _ _ Alexander Campbell’s Contribution to Bible Study (Part 1) By Howard Elmo Short, B.D. (Hartford);Minister, Church of Christ, Cuyahoga Falls, O.;February 10, 1940; p. 5
February 14, 2019
An Epistle on Debt from Mrs. Alexander Campbell
This brief article by and about the second wife of Alexander Campbell developed in a roundabout way. The February issue of Christian Standard deals with finances, including “In the Arena” articles by Matt Merold and Chris Philbeck that take stands on the question, “Should churches embrace and utilize debt?” (Matt says yes; Chris says no.) I wondered if writers from the magazine’s past had weighed in on this subject, so I dug into the archives of the Christian Standard’s first 100 years of publication. I turned to the listing for DEBT—an obvious place to begin the search—and was surprised to
February 2, 2019
The Financing of the Restoration Movement (Part 2 of 3)
(Part two in a three-part series) By Steve Carr In our digital society, postage stamps seem archaic. But in Alexander Campbell’s day, they symbolized wealth. And as postmaster at Buffaloe, Virginia, he was able to wield this wealth to benefit the Restoration Movement. During the colonial era, postal service was sketchy. It was so costly and inconsistent that the United States made it an official government institution after the Revolutionary War. As the country expanded westward, mail became essential in providing access to critical information, thoughts, and ideas. As a result, postmasters became among America’s most important citizens. Campbell
