United Brethren In Christ

United Brethren In Christ

United Brethren In Christ was an American religious sect which originated in the last part of the 18th century under the leadership of Philip William Otterbein (1726–1813), pastor of the Second Reformed Church in Baltimore, and Martin Boehm (1725–1812), a Pennsylvanian Mennonite of Swiss descent. Otterbein and Boehm licensed some of their followers to preach and did a great work, especially through class-meetings of a Wesleyan type; in 1789 they held a formal conference at Baltimore, and in 1800, at a conference near Frederick City, Maryland, the Church was organized under its present name, and Otterbein and Boehm were chosen its first bishops or superintendents.

The ecclesiastical polity of the Church is Wesleyan and its theology is Arminian: there is no hard-and-fast rule about baptism. Bishops are elected for four years. The first delegated general conference met at Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, in 1815, and adopted a confession of faith, rules of order and a book of discipline, which were revised in 1885–1889, when women were first admitted to ordination.

In 1889, a controversy over membership in secret societies, such as the Freemasons, the proper way to modify the church's constitution, and other issues split the United Brethren into majority liberal and minority conservative blocs, the latter of which was led by Bishop Milton Wright (father of the Wright Brothers). The minority withdrew and formed the body initially known as the United Brethren in Christ of the Old Constitution, now called the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

The Liberal branch had 3732 organizations in 1906 with a total membership of 274,649. This body carried on missions in West Africa (since 1855), Japan, China, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. It had a publishing house (1834) and Bonebrake Theological Seminary (1871) at Dayton, Ohio; and supported Otterbein University (1847) at Westerville, 0.; Westfield College (1865) at Westfield, Illinois; Leander Clark College (1857) at Toledo, Iowa; York College (1890) at York, Nebraska; Philomath College (1867) at Philomath, Oregon; Lebanon Valley College (1867) at Annville, Pa.; Campbell College (1864) at Holton Kansas, and Central University (1907) at Indianapolis, Indiana.

The majority faction merged with the Evangelical Church in 1946 to form a new denomination known as the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB). This in turn merged in 1968 with The Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church (UMC).

See D. Berger, "History of the Church of the United Brethren" (1897), and his sketch (1894) in vol xii. of the "American Church History Series"; E. L. Shuey, "Handbook of the United Brethren in Christ" (1893); W. J. Shuey, "Year-Book of the United Brethren in Christ" (from 1867); and A. W. Drury, "Life of Philip William Otterbein" (1884).

References

*1911


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • United Brethren in Christ — *Church of the United Brethren in Christ, the evangelical Christian denomination *United Brethren in Christ (Cincinnati, Ohio), an historic church building ee also*United Brethren …   Wikipedia

  • United Brethren in Christ (Cincinnati, Ohio) — Infobox nrhp name = United Brethren in Christ caption = nearest city = Cincinnati, Ohio architect = architecture = added = June 13, 1978cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007 06 30|work=National… …   Wikipedia

  • Church of the United Brethren in Christ — For the historic church building near Cincinnati, see United Brethren in Christ (Ohio). The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is an evangelical Christian denomination based in Huntington, Indiana. It is a Protestant denomination of… …   Wikipedia

  • Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New Constitution) — Part of a series on the Evangelical United Brethren Background Christianity Protestantism  …   Wikipedia

  • Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Old Constitution) — The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Old Constitution is that part (a small minority) of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ which withdrew from the larger body in 1889 when the majority group adopted a new constitution. Bishop… …   Wikipedia

  • Cline's Church of the United Brethren in Christ — U.S. National Register of Historic Places …   Wikipedia

  • United Brethren — may refer to:*Apostolic United Brethren, a Mormon fundamentalist group headquartered in Bluffdale, Utah *Church of the United Brethren in Christ, an evangelical Christian denomination based in Huntington, Indiana *Church of the United Brethren in …   Wikipedia

  • united brethren — noun plural Usage: usually capitalized U&B 1. : moravians 2. : Christians of several denominations descending from the United Brethren in Christ originating among Germans in the United States during the religious awakening of the late 18th… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Brethren in Christ Church — The Brethren in Christ Church (often abbreviated BIC) is an Anabaptist Christian denomination with roots in the Mennonite church, pietism, and Wesleyan holiness. They have also been known as River Brethren and River Mennonites .BackgroundThe BIC… …   Wikipedia

  • United Brethren (England) — The United Brethren were a group of former Primitive Methodists in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, England that converted en masse to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1840.In the mid 1830s, a group of approximately 600… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”