Lockney Christian College (7): The Ledlow Years and the End of LCC

In the summer of 1914, evangelist W. F. Ledlow held what was then called a "protracted meeting" (an extended series of sermons) at the Lockney Church of Christ. While he was in town, Ledlow met with leaders of Lockney Christian College and agreed to serve as the next president of the school. Associates of the college knew well that the most successful past presidents brought strong academics and good public relations. Both were vital. Ledlow had just completed a master's degree at the University of Texas and was a gifted speaker. The leaders of the school were thrilled to bring him on board as the new president.[1]

Ledlow soon initiated a number of projects, building up the library and improving some of the school's facilities. His first year at Lockney came at a time when both the town and the school were experiencing noticeable growth. By the end of the academic year in 1915, student enrollment stood at 166. That summer, President Ledlow announced in the pages of the Firm Foundation that the school would be offering a standard junior college course of study.[2] It was an exciting time. But the relationship between the new president and the school was not to last.

During his second year at Lockney, in the fall of 1915 the secular press reported that W. F. Ledlow had been offered a position at the University of Texas. The president did his best to quell the rumors about a resignation, and even announced some of his plans for the coming year. But by the summer of 1916, the Firm Foundation included a note in which Ledlow stated, "we have moved to Thorp Spring, and have begun life in our new home.  . . . I love the Lockney people and have hundreds of friends there, but Thorp Spring offers me better opportunities."[3] He was now serving as the president of the faculty at Thorp Spring Christian College under the leadership of C. R. Nichol.[4]

Significantly, after Ledlow's announcement of his move, it appears that the Firm Foundation never mentioned Lockney Christian College again. Later in 1916, a publication known as Christian Higher Education issued a number that contained historical sketches of ten schools with connections to the Churches of Christ. But it never mentions L.C.C.[5] By 1918, the school finally closed. In his brief survey of the history of the school, Norvel Young offered several reasons why:

Lockney was a small town and unable to support the college well enough for it to gain accreditation. Abilene Christian College and Thorp Spring Christian College gained recognition as standard junior colleges and attracted many students away from Lockney. The dislocation caused by the war further added to the school's problems, . . . Ledlow attributed the closing to the above factors as well as to "peculiar views and local dissension."

Notes

[1] Platt, "History of Lockney Christian College," 35.

[2] Ibid., 36-37.

[3] Ibid., 38-39.

[4] Ibid., 39.

[5] Ibid., 39-40.

[6] M. Norvel Young, A History of Colleges Established and Controlled by Members of the Churches of Christ (Kansas City, MO: Old Paths Book Club, 1949), 151-52. For the quotation, Young cites William Franklin Ledlow, "History of Protestant Education in Texas" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1926), 403.

Lockney Christian College (6): Two Brief Presidencies

At the end of the school year in the spring of 1911, James L. German resigned as president of Lockney Christian College. From that time on, the school witnessed a period of uncertainty and rapid turnover in leadership until it permanently closed its doors seven years later.[1]

German's successor was one J. C. Estes, a graduate of the Nashville Bible School. The Estes administration, which lasted two years, seems to have had its problems. The school did not issue a catalog for the 1911-1912 session, and by 1912 not one member of the faculty who served under President German remained at the school.[2]

In the late summer of 1913, the Firm Foundation informed its readers that 27-year-old T. W. Croom had agreed to become Lockney's next president. Croom was quoted as saying that he intended "to build up a great institution in this place for the training of those energetic young men and women who will have so much to do in shaping the future of the west." The same announcement stated that Lockney, now a town of 1200, had "no saloons and kindred evils so common in our larger cities."[3]

One of the more interesting events in the story of Lockney dates from the new president's brief tenure. Not long after Croom began his work at the school, G. H. P. Showalter, one of the former presidents of the school and now the editor of the Firm Foundation, published a favorable review of a book by W. F. Lemmons titled The Evils of Socialism. In reply to Showalter's review, seventeen men from Lockney wrote in asserting that Lemmons's book contained false statements and that it twisted the Scriptures. In response to their challenge, they asserted, the editor ought to "put up or shut up."

Not one to back down, Showalter responded in the Firm Foundation dated March 17, 1914, calling the men the "Socialists of Lockney."[4] It seems that in the early twentieth century, the sentiments of leftist politics had not all faded away in West Texas. As late as 1914, the Socialist Labor Party in Texas fielded a candidate for governor. At that time, the party outranked the Republicans in Texas. Second only to the mighty Democrats, the Socialists were the next largest political party in the state.[5]

Notes

[1] Robert M. Platt, "History of Lockney Christian College," 1960, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Research Center, Canyon, TX, 32.

[2] Ibid., 33.

[3] Ibid., 34.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Handbook of Texas Online, Alwyn Barr, "SOCIALIST PARTY," accessed February 21, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/was01.

Lockney Christian College (5): The James L. German Years

By the time he came to Lockney, not yet thirty years old, German had already traveled widely and established a strong record of academics and service to the church. He was a graduate of Grayson College in Texas, and later attended both the Nashville Bible School and the University of Chicago. He helped to establish Southwestern Christian College in Denton, Texas, and served on the school's board of regents. For two years, he taught languages at Southwestern, working there during the presidency of A. G. Freed. In addition, he was the song leader for T. B. Larimore during his evangelistic tour of Canada.[1] In at least one gospel meeting, during the summer of 1906, for two weeks, German preached twice a day and led the singing.[2]

As president of Lockney Christian College, German set out to reach at least two goals. He wanted to strengthen the faculty and to make at least part of the school a true college. These goals were now possible, necessary, and compelling. They were possible because for over a decade, starting at the elementary level, the school had been developing a group of students who were now prepared to do college work. The goals were necessary because as the State of Texas developed its public colleges, the growing competition in higher education now meant that the school at Lockney had to either keep up or abandon the idea of being a college. Finally, German's goals were compelling because secularized public schools in America typically did not teach the Bible. Where they did teach the Bible, to quote Lockney's catalog, they sowed "the seeds of infidelity . . . in the hearts of our boys and girls."[3] According to the school's leaders, the best practice was to teach the Bible in a non-sectarian way. Moral teaching should come by

a study of God's Word - getting the student to think God' thoughts. We purpose to teach no sectarian doctrine, but desire to impress what is written only. The college is not a 'preacher factory'; but we help all to teach and preach in private and public and we assist young men to qualify themselves for the ministry of the Word.[4]

During the three full years of President German's administration, from 1909 to 1911, enrollment levels remained steady with 129, 139, and 136 students. More significantly, during those years Lockney Christian began issuing bachelors degrees in six of the eight disciplines in their college curriculum. And, in much the same way that old Bethany College taught the Bible yet had no School of Theology, Lockney issued no Bachelor of Bible degree. Also by this time, the school's third building to serve as the main facility was now a two-story concrete block structure, 85 by 90 feet.[5] It seems that in many ways the German administration was the high-water mark in the history of the school.

Notes

[1] Robert M. Platt, "History of Lockney Christian College," 24-25. On Grayson College, see Donald W. Whisenhunt, Encyclopedia of Texas Colleges and Universities (Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1986), 55. On Southwestern Christian College, see the brief entry for "Clebarro College" in Whisenhunt, 32. A more extensive overview of the history of Southwestern Christian College can be found in M. Norvel Young, A History of Colleges Established and Controlled by Members of the Churches of Christ (Kansas City, MO: Old Paths Book Club, 1949), 161-64.

[2] James L. German, Jr., "Texas," Gospel Advocate (August 16, 1906), 525.

[3] Platt, "History of Lockney Christian College," 25-28. For important insights on the historical context discussed here, see Whisenhunt, Encyclopedia of Texas Colleges and Universities, iii-iv.

[4] Catalogue of Lockney College and Bible School, Sixteenth Session, 1910-11 (Lockney, TX: Beacon Prose, 1910), 7-8, as quoted in Platt, "History of Lockney Christian College," 28.

[5] Platt, "History of Lockney Christian College," 30-31.

Lockney Christian College (4): The Return of Showalter and Later Developments

The summer of 1904 must have been an exciting time in Lockney, Texas. Several issues of the Firm Foundation carried announcements that Lockney Christian College would begin its tenth session on September 6, and that G. H. P. Showalter was returning as president.

Even before the start of the new school year, on August 25, Lockney played host to a debate between a Baptist preacher named J. N. Hall and one of the greatest debaters among the Churches of Christ, Joe S. Warlick. Approximately 1,500 people, roughly three times the population of the town, attended, and the president of the college served as Warlick's moderator. In addition to his debating, Warlick preached three sermons in Lockney. Within days, 40 people were baptized into Christ.[1]

It likely came as a blow when, in 1906, Showalter announced for a second time that he would be leaving Lockney to help establish yet another Christian school. This time he was going to Sabinal, Texas, about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio on the Southern Pacific Railroad. There Showalter would help to found Sabinal Christian College.[2]

Showalter was succeeded at Lockney by James A. Sisco, whose tenure lasted only a year and a half. Not long after Sisco resigned in the middle of the 1907-08 school year, a certain J. F. Smith visited the town and observed the college, now under the direction of its new president, James L. German. The February 27, 1908 issue of the Gospel Advocate included Smith's impressions. Lockney was a town of five hundred people, he wrote. About 75 percent of the people in the town and the local area were "faithful Christians." The school was off to a good start with its new president, and several young men in attendance were studying to preach. In addition, a number of supporters of the school were planning to construct "a good school building, estimated to cost ten thousand dollars, which is very much needed in this undertaking."[3]

Notes

[1] Robert M. Platt, "A History of Lockney Christian College," 21-22. For a brief description of the Hall-Warlick debate, which appears to be a contemporary report, see the following URL, accessed Feb. 17, 2019, http://www.thelordsway.com/site19/custompage.asp?CongregationID=1202&CustomPageID=1025#.XGoCS-hKjIU

[2] Platt, "A History of Lockney Christian College," 23. For a brief history of Sabinal Christian College (1907-1917), see M. Norvel Young, A History of Colleges Established and Controlled by Members of the Churches of Christ (Kansas City, MO: Old Paths Book Club, 1949), 158-61.

[3] J. F. Smith, "Lockney Bible College," Gospel Advocate (February 27, 1908), 139. Platt, "A History of Lockney Christian College," 23-24.

Lockney Christian College (3): Apparent Troubles

Following five years of successful work as president of Lockney Christian College, G.H.P. Showalter resigned and moved to Bethel, New Mexico, near Portales. He explained that he was going there to help S.W. Smith, a co-founder of the school at Lockney, to establish another school.[1]

In retrospect, this move seems related to a string of events, all of which reflected and made for instability. In 1902, the year Showalter resigned, W.O. Hines, Arthur S. Kennamer, and N.L. Clark purchased Lockney Christian College. The new owners changed the name to Lockney College and Bible School.

The next year, Clark, who was then serving as president, announced that he would be moving to Grayson County, Texas, some 300 miles to the east. Clark was moving there to become president of Gunter Bible College, a school that was always controlled by non-Sunday School advocates among the Churches of Christ, and that eventually trained hundreds of students of that persuasion, including 150 preachers. Then, during the 1903-04 school year, Lockney Christian College was apparently never in session.[2]

Were these unexpected changes at Lockney connected to the fact that over the next few years, N.L. Clark, one of the new owners, and who succeeded Showalter as president, would emerge as a prominent leader among non-Sunday School advocates? The details are not easy to track down. But it may be noteworthy that in 1904, when Showalter returned to serve a second time as president, his first act was to restore the name of the school to Lockney Christian College.[3] It might also be significant that, to this day, in the towns of Lockney and nearby Floydada, both of which have been dwindling in population for decades, there are congregations of the non-class persuasion and congregations with separate Bible classes.

Notes

[1] Handbook of Texas Online, R. L. Roberts, "LOCKNEY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE," accessed February 12, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kbl14.

[2] Ibid. See also Robert M. Platt, "A History of Lockney Christian College," 1960, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Research Center, Canyon, TX, 17-21. For more on N.L. Clark and Gunter Bible College, see M. Norvel Young, A History of Colleges Established and Controlled by Members of the Churches of Christ (Kansas City, MO: Old Paths Book Club, 1949), 152-58; and Handbook of Texas Online, N. L. Clark, "GUNTER BIBLE COLLEGE," accessed February 16, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kbg22.

[3] Platt, "A History of Lockney Christian College," 21.

Lockney Christian College (2): After the Start

At least two factors led to the growth of Lockney Christian College during its first few years. In 1895, a local public school closed and most if not all of its former students enrolled at the college. Then, in 1897, G.H.P. Showalter was named president of the school. A native of Virginia who earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Milligan College in East Tennessee, Showalter was a capable man and a natural leader. He would go on serve at the editor of the Firm Foundation from 1908 until his death in 1954.

J. T. Showalter and sons, including G.H.P. (front row, far right) and M.V. (top row, third from left) at Snowville, VA in 1906. G.H.P. served twice as president of Lockney Christian College. M.V. also served on the faculty of the school.

As the new president of the institution, which was functioning as the public elementary school for the moment, Showalter proved himself adaptable. Scores of young students, many of them with no connection to the Churches of Christ, was not what the founders of Lockney Christian College had in mind. Nevertheless, the new president reorganized the school and focused on elementary education. Under his leadership, the student body grew. In 1898, the school constructed a second frame building. The next year, enrollment stood at 425. Showalter and other staff at the school recruited students and asked for contributions by way of regular notices they sent to the Firm Foundation under the title "Lockney Links."[1]

In 1900, one such notice quoted from the college catalog as follows: "All human beings are creatures of education and they are happy and useful to the extent that they are properly educated. The knowledge acquired during the first twenty years of life, in a large measure shapes the future life of that person. A few rise above these earthly environments, but the many do not. We are convinced after several years of observation, that the impression made upon the mind during the period of development are never wholly effaced. . . We should labor unceasingly to throw around the child those environments only which will conduce its usefulness and happiness. . . . What book could take the place of the Bible in our curriculum?"[2]

Notes

[1] Handbook of Texas Online, R. L. Roberts, "LOCKNEY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE," accessed February 12, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kbl14. See also M. Norvel Young, A History of Colleges Established and Controlled by Members of the Churches of Christ (Kansas City, MO: Old Paths Book Club, 1949), 149-50; and Robert M. Platt, "A History of Lockney Christian College," 1960, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Research Center, Canyon, TX, 8-11.

[2] Firm Foundation, April 24, 1900, as quoted in Robert M. Platt, "A History of Lockney Christian College," 14.

Lockney Christian College (1): Early Beginnings

Construction begins for Lockney Christian College 1894 (click for larger view)

Among the earliest settlers in Floyd County, Texas, were Charles Walker Smith and St. Clair W. (S. W.) Smith. Contrary to some reports, the two were not brothers. Charles Walker was born in Holmes County, Mississippi, and S. W. hailed from Weakley County, Tennessee.[1] Yet the two men did recognize a spiritual kinship. Both were members of the Church of Christ, and both took an interest in Christian education.

In the fall of 1894, they established Lockney Christian College, "a school in which the Bible was taught daily in connection with a regular academic course."[2] With an announcement they titled "To the Brotherhood and Friends of Lockney Christian College," the Smiths made their appeal to like-minded believers to support their project. Some did. Above all, the Firm Foundation, a popular church journal published from Austin, Texas, edited by its founder, Austin McGary, provided consistent encouragement. In the fall of 1894, just as the school was opening, the journal included an announcement that heralded the school and that described Lockney as "a beautiful and healthful location. . . in the heart of the plains, one of the natural wonders of Texas." Partly because of that kind of publicity, both the college and the town grew.[3]

In a new, frame two-story building twenty-four by forty-eight feet, classes began on October 2 with sixteen students. Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Burleson of Uvalde, Texas, moved to Lockney to serve as some of the first teachers.[4] Although the school was called a college, it offered no college-level courses at first. During its early years, Lockney Christian College taught courses only at the primary and secondary levels. Today, we would likely call it a Christian academy. But it aspired to be a college in every sense of the word. One day it would achieve that status.

Notes

[1] Handbook of Texas Online, Charles G. Davis, "SMITH, CHARLES WALKER," accessed February 12, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fsm06. For information on St. Clair W. [S. W.] Smith, see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smith-113351, accessed February 12, 2019.

[2] M. Norvel Young, A History of Colleges Established and Controlled by Members of the Churches of Christ (Kansas City, MO: Old Paths Book Club, 1949), 148.

[3] Robert M. Platt, "A History of Lockney Christian College," 1960, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Research Center, Canyon, TX,  6-7.

[4] Ibid, 6-8. See also Handbook of Texas Online, R. L. Roberts, "LOCKNEY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE," accessed February 12, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kbl14.

Origins of Floyd County, Texas

In May of 1875, Quanah Parker, a magisterial figure among the Quahadi Comanches, led more than 400 men, women, and children out of the Texas panhandle and into Indian Territory. At the end of the somber trek of some 200 miles, having traveled for nearly a month, the group arrived at a place called Signal Station just west of Fort Sill. Standing before U.S. military authorities, the Indians surrendered themselves, their weapons, and fifteen hundred horses.[1] The Red River War of the previous year had come to an end, and the region known as the Panhandle-Plains was now open land just waiting for white settlement.

The very next year, in 1876, the Texas legislature created Floyd County, which covers 992 square miles and includes approximately 500,000 acres of arable land. Already by that time, ranchers had moved their free-range cattle operations to the region. But the first settlers did not begin to arrive until the mid-1880s. By 1889, there were at least two communities in the county: Della Plain and its brand new rival, a town that was named for the father of one of the recently-arrived settlers, a Mr. J. F. Lockney.[2] During the 1890s, in spite of hardships brought on by drought, grasshopper plagues, and the financial downturn known as the Panic of 1893, Floyd County grew from 529 residents to more than 2,000, a growth rate for the decade of more than 280 percent.[3]

In 1910, the Santa Fe Railroad added to the excitement when the company built a branch line from Plainview, Texas, to Lockney and Floydada, the county seat. Around that same time, the future of agriculture in the region began to look brighter when local farmers began digging irrigation wells.[4]

Notes

[1] S. C. Gwynne, Empire of the Summer Moon (New York: Scribner, 2010), 286.

[2] Handbook of Texas Online, H. Allen Anderson and Christopher Long, "FLOYD COUNTY," accessed February 11, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcf05; and Kline A. Nall, "LOCKNEY, TX," accessed February 11, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hjl11

[3] Anderson and Long, "FLOYD COUNTY." See also, Wikipedia contributors, "Floyd County, Texas," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Floyd_County,_Texas&oldid=851509818 (accessed February 11, 2019).

[4] Anderson and Long, "FLOYD COUNTY," and Nall, "LOCKNEY, TX."

Why the Past, and Remembering the Past, Matter

"Although most people usually take it for granted and devote little time to studying or thinking about it, in fact the past is responsible for everything we are. It is the core of our humanity. The past is the world out of which we have come, the multitude of events and experiences that have shaped our conscious selves and the social worlds we inhabit. To understand how and why we live as we do, we cannot avoid appealing to the past to explain how and why we got to be this way.

"But it is not the past alone that plays this crucial role in shaping our identities. No less important is the act of remembering the past, the backward reflective gaze in which we self-consciously seek to recall the world we have lost, the vanished landscape of our former selves and lives, in order to gather the signposts by which we find our way and keep ourselves from becoming lost. If the past is the place from which we have come, then memory and history are the tools we use for recollecting that place so we can know who and where we are."

William Cronon, "Why the Past Matters," Wisconsin Magazine of History 84, no. 1 (Autumn 2000), 4.

Sports at Hereford College, c. 1908

Like several of the the other small colleges in northwest Texas, Hereford College had its sports teams. The main sport was baseball. But students also played tennis, basketball, and for a few years, football.

In the early 1900s, schools in the region spent no money on sports programs. If students played, depending on what game it was, they first had to clear and mark a field, or set up a court with a tennis net or basketball goals. In addition, student athletes paid for their own equipment and provided their own transportation. On occasion, students were able to persuade townspeople to contribute to the local college team. But for the most part, players spent their own money in order to practice and compete.

Some of the more interesting tidbits of information relate to the Hereford football team. In that time and place, uniforms were simple jerseys and trousers, with no protective gear like thigh pads and shoulder pads. Apparently, some players didn't own a leather helmet.

Hard, open-field hits were not common. A typical play from scrimmage involved hiking the ball to the quarterback who would run down the field surrounded by his teammates. Once the defense surrounded the ball carrier and his blockers, the large throng of players would begin to slow and one or more of the defenders would break through and make the tackle. Scoring was also much different than it is today. Typically, when the offense pushed deep into the other team's territory, they attempted a drop-kick field goal. However, because a touchdown scored more points, some teams preferred to maintain the offensive attack. In order to overcome a strong goal-line stand, some offenses resorted to a risky play. Within a few feet of the goal, they would hike the ball to the quarterback, then pick him up and throw him over the defense and into the end zone. This tactic sometimes produced a touchdown. But just as often it resulted in a painful injury for the ball carrier. Not long after it became common, officials outlawed this play.

Source

W. M. Stoker, A Pictorial History of Early Higher Education in the Texas Panhandle (Canyon, TX: West Texas State University, 1976), 26, 30.

Christian Colleges and Disciple Division: Hereford and Lockney

To what degree were the Disciples of Christ distinguished from the Churches of Christ before the U.S. Census Bureau listed them separately beginning in 1906?

The historiography of two Christian colleges established in northwest Texas prior to the recognition of the split suggests that division predated the founding of these schools by a number of years. For example, in his 1955 book, The Story of Texas Schools, C. E. Evans identifies "Pan-Handle Christian College," sometimes called Hereford College, which began in 1902, as a Christian School, while Lockney Christian College, established in 1894, is listed as a Church of Christ School.[1]

Likewise, in his 2018 book, Higher Education in Texas, Charles R. Matthews, Chancellor Emeritus of the Texas State University System, places Hereford Christian College among schools established by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and Lockney Christian College among schools established by the Church of Christ.[2]

Although W. M. Stoker in his Pictorial History of Early Higher Education in the Texas Panhandle does not take up the history of the college at Lockney, he does refer to Hereford Christian College's affiliation with the Disciples of Christ.[3]

Scholars writing denominational history, as opposed to educational history, make exactly the same distinction. For example, in his book A History of Colleges Established and Controlled by Members of the Churches of Christ, M. Norvel Young discusses Lockney Christian College, but not the college at Hereford.[4] In the same way, History of the Churches of Christ in Texas, 1824-1950, by Stephen Eckstein Jr., provides information about Lockney Christian College, but does not mention Hereford Christian College.[5]

By the same token, in Religion on the Texas Frontier, Carter Boren, who traces the history of the Disciples in the Lone Star State, offers a section titled "Panhandle Christian College, 1902-1911," but says nothing of the college at Lockney.[6] Again, in his book The Disciples Colleges: A History, D. Duane Cummins includes a table listing "Church of Christ Colleges" in one column and "Disciples Colleges" in another. He places "Lockney College" in the Church of Christ column and "Hereford-Panhandle Christian College" in the Disciples column.[7]

Of course, it is possible for later sources to simply project into the past a division that did not exist at the earlier time in question. But in this case, the overall evidence suggests that these two Christian colleges were typical of a division that had existed for some time. Beginning in the late-nineteenth century, some leaders and historians of the Restoration Movement in America insisted that the Civil War did not result in immediate division. In fact, they said, the coherence of the Disciples movement was remarkable. But it is much more likely that the radical autonomy of the congregations in the movement made it more difficult for observers to perceive division. Along this line, as early as 1965, Restoration historian Bill Humble concluded:

The Civil War . . . so shattered the sense of brotherhood between northern and southern Christians that they could never again be called 'one people' in any meaningful sense.  . . . What had happened was that two threads of alienation--sectional bitterness and antagonistic understandings of the restoration principle--had become tangled together and had shattered the Christians' oneness.[8]

Notes

[1] C. E. Evans, The Story of Texas Schools (Austin, TX: Steck Company, 1955), 352, 355.

[2] Charles R. Matthews, Higher Education in Texas: Its Beginnings to 1970 (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2018), 87-90, 295, 297.

[3] W. M. Stoker, A Pictorial History of Early Higher Education in the Texas Panhandle (Canyon, TX: West Texas State University, 1976), 16.

[4] M. Norvel Young, A History of Colleges Established and Controlled by Members of the Churches of Christ (Kansas City, MO: Old Paths Book Club, 1949), 148-52.

[5] Stephen Daniel Eckstein Jr., History of the Churches of Christ in Texas, 1824-1950 (Austin, TX: Firm Foundation Publishing House, 1963), 166, 170, 209, 217, and 310.

[6] Carter E. Boren, Religion on the Texas Frontier (San Antonio, TX: Naylor Company, 1968), 250-51.

[7] D. Duane Cummins, The Disciples Colleges: A History (St. Louis: CBP Press, 1987), 84.

[8] B. J. Humble, "The Influence of the Civil War," Restoration Quarterly 8 (Fourth Quarter 1965), 246. Along this line, see also Jonathan Franklin Woodall, "The Post-Termination Rhetoric of the American Restoration Movement," PhD diss., University of Memphis, 2014.

Why Should a Christian Learn Church History?

What follows here is a bit of material I might use in introducing the study of Christian history. . . .

What are some reasons for a Christian studying the history of the church? Why are we doing this? In response to that sort of question, I want to offer two ideas. My hope is that these two concepts can frame and set the tone for everything that follows.

1. The first point is general: We study Christian history because in the same way that memory is vital to personal identity, knowing a shared history is vital to group identity. If a movement is going to remain vibrant, then the people within that movement must know the basics of their history. Along this line, British historian John Tosh writes that no society or movement "can sustain an identity or a common sense of purpose without 'social memory' -- that is, an agreed [upon] picture of a shared past, which in most cases will be positive, if not inspiring."[1] Knowledge of a shared past is basic to identity, and so the church should know its history. A good bit of literature stands behind this view. If someone is looking for scriptural support for this idea, consider the fact that many of the momentous sermons in the Bible include an historical prologue. So, whether it is Moses or Joshua or Samuel speaking to the ancient Israelites, or it's the Apostles preaching in the Book of Acts, many of these sermons begin with the history of the people of God.[2]

2. The second point is directly and distinctively Christian: We study Christian history because many of the episodes teach us lessons and offer examples of people who exhibited true faith. People who are attempting to live a true Christian life need good models of other people who have been, in the words of Romans 12, "joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer" (verse 12). We often see and hear that very thing whenever we delve into the history of the church. Which is to say that the study of Christian history can have a devotional quality to it, and be spiritually rewarding.

Notes

[1] John Tosh, Historians on History, 2nd ed. (Harlow, England: Pearson Educational Limited, 2009), 6.

[2] See, for example, Deuteronomy 1:6-3:29; Joshua 24: 2-13; 1 Samuel 12:6-11; and Acts 13:17-25.