A Life of Alexander Campbell by Douglas A. Foster

Abstract

Reviewed by: A Life of Alexander Campbell by Douglas A. Foster Matthew Smith A Life of Alexander Campbell. By Douglas A. Foster. Library of Religious Biography. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020. Pp. xviii, 345. Paper, $29.99, ISBN 978-0-8028-7633-1.) Alexander Campbell (1788–1866) was a study of contradiction. A theologian who sought to restore Christianity to apostolic unity, he spent much of his time embroiled in controversy. A scourge of Catholicism and infidelity, he debated figures as diverse as John Baptist Purcell, Catholic bishop of Cincinnati, and utopian socialist Robert Owen. Both men earned Campbell's friendship, but his relationship with Protestant reformers was often quite bitter. Despite his advocacy of American democracy, Campbell was intellectually prone to "elitism and arrogance," quarreling with key allies, including fellow reformer Barton Warren Stone (p. 190). An opponent of slavery, Campbell was also an unabashed white supremacist, whose oldest son fought as a Confederate cavalry officer during the Civil War. Campbell's historical reputation is surprisingly cloudy, even within the movement he inspired. The Christian Churches (Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ, and Christian Churches) number eight million followers worldwide, including three million in the United States. But as Douglas A. Foster observes, "many in all streams of Campbell's movement rejected the relevance of church history and the significance of any individual for shaping their beliefs and attitudes. That attitude has been responsible for a lack of historical consciousness among many members of the churches … then and today" (p. 325). Foster is a product of the tradition he describes (having taught church history for many years at Abilene Christian University), but this biography distinguishes itself from numerous hagiographies written over the years, encapsulating "principal parts of Campbell's life and thought to discover something of his significance for American Christianity and the worldwide movement that emerged from his work" (pp. xiv–xv). A Life of Alexander Campbell comprises five parts. Part 1 describes Campbell's formation, connecting his Presbyterian and Scottish Enlightenment influences to his ministry as an immigrant in the United States. Foster attributes Campbell's desire for Christian unity to his exposure to sectarianism in Ulster and to the struggles of his father, Presbyterian minister Thomas Campbell, to reconcile disparate Protestant factions. Part 2 explores Campbell's reform agenda, which centered on believers' baptism by immersion, a practice modeled on early church precedent but influenced by the Baptist churches with which he associated early in his career. Part 3, the longest in the book, explores the myriad theological and personal controversies of Campbell's career. Part 4 examines Campbell's final years as America descended into Civil War, a conflict that filled him with spiritual pessimism and mirrored his personal decline. The final, fifth section briefly appraises Campbell's legacy. A worthy addition to the Library of Religious Biography series, Foster's biography treats its subject with nuance. Some readers may tire of the minutiae of religious controversy, but these provide a useful roadmap of theological development. Though leading a powerful Christian fellowship, Campbell renounced sectarianism as a stumbling block to the millennium. Nevertheless, the label of "Campbellism" and suspicions that Campbell was carving out a [End Page 376] personal following tainted his ministry. Most damaging was his rift with Kentucky reformer Barton Stone, whose churches merged with Campbell's in 1832, but who warned Campbell against establishing "'another sectarian party … unchristianizing those who cordially embrace the Apostles' Creed'" (p. 167). To modern sensibilities, however, Campbell's views on slavery are likely more troubling. While preferring "'the prospects and conditions of the Free to the Slave states,'" Campbell claimed to "'sympathize much more with the owners of slaves, their heirs, and successors, than the slaves which they possess and bequeath'" (p. 274). To his credit, Foster does not shy away from Campbell's flaws, providing a critical portrait of this "complex, brilliant, indefatigable, arrogant, racist, aggressive, prolific leader" (p. 331). Matthew Smith Miami University Copyright © 2022 The Southern Historical Association