Gospel Advocate

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May 2000 issue of Gospel Advocate

The Gospel Advocate is a religious magazine published monthly in Nashville, Tennessee for members of the Churches of Christ. The Advocate has enjoyed uninterrupted publication since 1866.

The Gospel Advocate was founded by Nashville-area Restoration movement preacher Tolbert Fanning. An important early contributor was Fanning's student, William Lipscomb. A few numbers of this periodical were published starting in 1855, prior to the American Civil War and its subsequent interruption of mail service, particularly in the South.

After the end of the Civil War, publication resumed in 1866 under the editorship of Fanning and William Lipscomb's younger brother David Lipscomb; Fanning soon retired and David Lipscomb became the sole editor. Lipscomb maintained a vibrant and interesting paper, with articles and issues addressing various biblical topics, even when the writer did not necessarily agree with Lipscomb. This was clearly the case with Lipscomb's pacifism, which was so intense that he declined to participate in civil government at all beyond obligations such as paying taxes; but he never enjoined his views on others with respect to conscientious objection and related matters and both published and respected views not in concurrence with his own.

Although at first unwilling to call for separation over the divisive issues of missionary societies and instrumental music in worship, Lipscomb later used his influence as Advocate editor to advance, among other things, formalization of the split between the Churches of Christ and the more-liberal Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which officially dates to 1906, but had its origins in disputes beginning decades earlier.

[edit] Influence

The GA has long been very influential in the Churches of Christ and has more-or-less defined mainstream orthodoxy in this group throughout most of its existence. As the Churches of Christ have no denominational hierarchy or "official" structures, it has tended to be defined by its publications and their publishers, a fairly unique phenomenon in American religion.

The editorial staff of the Gospel Advocate has always held "conservative" views of Biblical inspiration, meaning that the editors believe that there is no direct operation of the Holy Spirit in the current age and that the Spirit's work on Earth was completed with the revelation and compilation of the New Testament.

In 1884 a Texas preacher named Austin McGary, who had written some articles in the Gospel Advocate, began publishing the Firm Foundation, which——in contradistinction to Lipscomb's irenic manner, grace-laden theology, and more-inclusivist concept of fellowship——stridently proclaimed support for rebaptism, McGary's views on that subject being remarkably similar to those of John Thomas (1805-1871), with whom Alexander Campbell had severed fellowship. Although the controversy animated the difference between the two papers for some time, they closed ranks in opposition to missionary societies and instrumental music in worship, issues which split the churches of the Restoration Movement officially in 1906.

A controversial front page editor was Robert Henry Boll, who wrote articles on Biblical prophecy during his tenure beginning in 1909: he was ousted by other leaders in 1915. Boll's teachings on premillennialism mirrored the eschatology of some of the early Restoration Movement founders such as Alexander Campbell. By the early 20th century, however, this theology had lost favor or interest among most leaders in the Churches of Christ.

Later influential editors of the Gospel Advocate have included Benton Cordell Goodpasture (under whom the magazine reversed its earlier opposition to church-funded orphanages and missionary societies) and the current editor, Neil Anderson. The Gospel Advocate also publishes Sunday School materials and operates Christian bookstores in Nashville and Mesquite, Texas.