James Penton speaks about the origins of the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses

Witnesses are taught that Charles Taze Russell originated all the teachings that make Jehovah's Witnesses stand out from the other religions in Christendom. This turns out to be untrue. In fact, it will surprise most Witnesses to learn that their millenarian teachings come from a Catholic priest, a Jesuit no less. James Penton, a Canadian history professor and author of several scholarly books on Jehovah's Witnesses takes us back three centuries to the origin of many of the doctrines Witnesses mistakenly believe are theirs alone.

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Comment by Leonardo Josephus on 2019-12-28 12:09:46
Hi Eric. Thanks so much for arranging this. All the background stuff is so helpful. Interesting to note the connection to the Plymouth Brethren, which I was totally unaware of.
Thanks for the Aldbury Park link too.
A lot about Russell was what I had concluded, namely that he hi-jacked ideas from others.
Am I right that much of this information is in James Penton's book ?
- Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2020-01-09 13:34:46
  That's correct. It's in Apocalypse Delayed

Comment by Chet on 2019-12-30 11:51:09
Great information. What I find most interesting is that many religions are now finding their teachings scrutinized as the Internet makes information more readily available.

It’s obvious that the Witnesses are not what they would claim to be. Their origins are not nearly so concise as they would have us believe. There’s nothing surprising about this. The 18th and 19th centuries were a time when many religious speculations were born and all sorts of new ideas came to light. I don’t think of this as bad, in and of itself, because people were resisting the hegemony of the religious establishment and paving the way for reform.

The bad part is when people decide that these new movements should be followed without question. I can see no evidence that God is behind any of these movements. What is good, is that people are questioning and striving to see beyond the traditions of men.