Russell, Charles Taze (redirected from Charles Taze Russell)

Russell, Charles Taze, 1852–1916, founder of the movement whose followers are known as Russellites, as Bible Students, and (since 1931) as Jehovah's Witnesses, b. Pittsburgh, Pa. There he predicted (1872) the second coming of Christ and the millennium. In 1878 he organized his followers as an independent church. His teachings were spread through the Watch Tower, which Russell began to publish in 1879. In 1909 he moved his headquarters to the Brooklyn Tabernacle, New York City. Russell was involved in scandals, which somewhat tarnished his reputation, but his sect, nonetheless, flourished. His writings are contained in a series of books under the title Millennial Dawn (6 vol., 1886–1904).

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Russell, Charles Taze

(born Feb. 16, 1852, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.—died Oct. 31, 1916, Pampa, Texas) U.S. religious leader who founded the International Bible Students Association, the forerunner of the Jehovah's Witnesses. He was raised in the Congregational church but rejected its teachings, unable to reconcile God's mercy with the idea of hell. Influenced by the Adventists, he adopted a doctrine of millennialism. He founded the International Bible Students Association in 1872 (renamed Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931) and taught that the final days would come in 1914 and that Christ's kingdom on earth would begin after a war between capitalism and socialism. In 1884 he founded the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, today one of the world's largest publishers. His books, pamphlets, and periodicals were widely circulated, and he won many converts despite the apparent failure of his apocalyptic prediction.

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Russell, Charles Taze (1852–1916) religious leader; born in Pittsburgh, Pa. Raised a Congregationalist, he became a traveling preacher advocating a doctrine of his own devising, and founded the International Bible Student's Association in 1872. Known as Pastor Russell though he was never ordained, he prophesied a long period of worldwide strife followed by the advent of the kingdom of Christ on earth. He founded the the Watchtower periodical in 1879. The sect he established changed its name to Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931.