Search

Christadelphians (meaning “Christ’s brothers,” with allusion to Heb. 2:11) are fellowships that claim to have kept the early Christian faith in its original and unfalsified form (Primitive Christian Community). They arose from the teachings of John Thomas (1805–71), a doctor who emigrated from England to the United States and who originally joined Thomas Campbell and his son, Alexander (Christian Church [Disciples of Christ]; Churches of Christ). In studying Scripture, Thomas concluded that there were…

1. The Temple Society is a small Christian fellowship that was apocalyptic at first but then became interested in social and international reforms. It stands for a Christianity free of dogma; its main concern is setting up the kingdom of God on earth by creating a Christian outlook and a Christian society (first focused on Palestine) under the symbol of the temple (§2; see Eph. 2:21). 2. The society was founded by a Württemberg Pietist (Pietism 2.7), theologian C. Hoffmann (1815–85), and he was closely identified with its early beginning and development. Comin…