Person

J. H. Garrison

1842 — 1931 · minister, editor, publisher, unity activist

James Harvey Garrison (1842–1931) was a Disciples minister, editor, publisher, and unity activist — founder and thirty-year editor of The Christian-Evangelist, which under him became the preeminent journal shaping religious opinion among Disciples and one of the most influential organs of the movement's progressive wing.

A theological moderate and a man of deep piety, Garrison gave the Disciples' plea its unity-forward voice. He endorsed instrumental music and missionary societies, defended — with reservations — the critical study of Scripture, and played the decisive role in bringing the Disciples into the Federal Council of Churches, later the National Council.

He is the necessary counterweight to Daniel Sommer and Benjamin Franklin in any honest telling of the division. Both wings believed they were keeping faith with the founding plea: one by refusing every human addition to the congregation, the other by refusing to let the plea for unity end at the movement's own borders.


Relationships

  • Carried forward the editorial line of: Isaac Errett
    Errett's Christian Standard and Garrison's Christian-Evangelist together defined the movement's progressive wing.