Robert Henry Boll
Encyclopedia
Robert Henry Boll was a German-born American preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...

 in the Churches of Christ. Boll is most known for advancing a premillennialist
Premillennialism
Premillennialism in Christian end-times theology is the belief that Jesus will literally and physically be on the earth for his millennial reign, at his second coming. The doctrine is called premillennialism because it holds that Jesus’ physical return to earth will occur prior to the inauguration...

 eschatology
Eschatology
Eschatology is a part of theology, philosophy, and futurology concerned with what are believed to be the final events in history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world or the World to Come...

 within the Churches of Christ, in articles written during his editorship of the front page of the Gospel Advocate
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....

from 1909 to 1915 and after 1915 in Word and Work
Word and Work
Word and Work is a religious journal associated with those Churches of Christ that hold to a premillennial eschatology. It was founded in 1908 by Dr. David Lipscomb Watson.-History:...

, leading to a dispute which was a significant source of division within the Churches of Christ in the 1930s. Boll was one of the most influential advocates for the premillennial point of view, and was most singularly opposed by Foy E. Wallace Jr. By the end of the 20th century, however, the divisions caused by the debate over premillennialism were diminishing, and in the 2000 edition of the directory Churches of Christ in the United States, published by Mac Lynn, congregations holding premillennial views were no longer listed separately.

Early life in Germany and Switzerland

Boll was born in Badenweiler
Badenweiler
Badenweiler, a health resort and spa of the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, historically in the Markgräflerland. It is 28 kilometers by road and rail from Basel, 10 kilometers from the French border, and 20 kilometers away from Mulhouse...

, Germany, to "ardently" Roman Catholic parents Max Boll and the former Magdalena Ulman. His father moved the family to Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

, Switzerland, when Boll was three years old for a short period before returning to Germany, where they lived in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

 before hardship reportedly led them to move to Mühlhausen
Mühlhausen
Mühlhausen is a city in the federal state of Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the Unstrut-Hainich district, and lies along the river Unstrut. Mühlhausen had c. 37,000 inhabitants in 2006.-History:...

 and, later, Freiburg
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...

. The younger of Boll's sisters as well as his father died when Boll was 10 years old, and he entered the Lyceum
Lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...

 at age 11. His mother remarried when he was 14, prompting Boll to emigrate with a maternal aunt and friends to the United States, settling briefly in Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. The population was 25,586 at the 2000 census.Zanesville was named after Ebenezer Zane, who had constructed Zane's Trace, a pioneer road through present-day Ohio...

, in 1890. He migrated to Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 as a farm laborer; it was there that Boll was immersed by Sam Harris, of the Churches of Christ, near Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, on Sunday, April 14, 1895.

Career in the Churches of Christ

Boll entered the Nashville Bible School (later David Lipscomb College, now Lipscomb University
Lipscomb University
Lipscomb University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The campus is located in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville between Belmont Boulevard to the west and Granny White Pike on the east...

) under the presidency of James A. Harding
James A. Harding
James Alexander Harding was an early influential leader in the Churches of Christ.Several schools are named after Harding: Harding University in Searcy, AR, Harding Academy , Harding Academy , and Harding University Graduate School of Religion in Memphis.Harding helped David Lipscomb, another...

. Harding reportedly took pity on Boll, as Boll had walked 20 miles to the school in the rain, and accepted him even though all positions at the school had been filled. Boll preached his first sermon at a mission meeting in the Nashville jail
Jail
A jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...

.

Protracted meeting at "Accident"

Encouraged by friend and fellow student Bob McMahon, he planned a "protracted meeting" of three weeks' duration which would begin on 1896 June 15, at a small log schoolhouse named "Accident" near Nashville. A few days before giving the meeting he spoke to a smaller assembly at the chapel of the Nashville Bible School which included David Lipscomb
David Lipscomb
Lipscomb's beliefs on government can be classified as a radical theory of religious freedom, classical liberalism, even potentially consistent with fundamental positions of Anarcho-primitivism. Lipscomb believed in creating a peaceful, cooperative, decentralized communion in which freedom,...

, E. G. Sewell, T. W. Brents, James A. Harding
James A. Harding
James Alexander Harding was an early influential leader in the Churches of Christ.Several schools are named after Harding: Harding University in Searcy, AR, Harding Academy , Harding Academy , and Harding University Graduate School of Religion in Memphis.Harding helped David Lipscomb, another...

, J. W. Grant, and J. W. Shepherd: Boll remembered Shepherd slapping him on the back and saying, "Go right ahead; you will come out all right." In Boll's recollection the meeting began well, but in a few days interest had dwindled and Boll felt the energy ebbing from his own presentation: his friend McMahon concurred that the meeting should be wrapped up within a week. One more attempt at rallying the intensity of the meeting met with apparent failure as Boll finished a sermon he had considered to contain an hour of his strongest material in only 20 minutes. The next day, however, attendance was up: the meeting stayed open for two weeks, and "about seven" baptisms took place as a result.

Boll left Nashville Bible College in 1900 to further pursue his preaching career, delivering sermons in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, and Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

. In 1903 he visited Portland Avenue Church of Christ in Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

, where the congregation had been led for seven years by George A. Klingman, who would later write of the fractious nature of the Churches of Christ.

Portland Avenue Church of Christ

In 1904, Boll became a located minister at Portland Avenue Church of Christ in Louisville, staying until his death in 1956, with exception of a one-year period from 1910 to 1911 during which he was the Bible teacher at the high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee
Lawrenceburg, Tennessee
Lawrenceburg is a city in Lawrence County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,796 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lawrence County...

, "on behalf of" (likely underwritten by) J. H. Stribling. In Louisville he continued his education, studying Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary , located in Louisville, Kentucky, is the oldest of the six seminaries affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention . The seminary was founded in 1859, at Greenville, South Carolina. After being closed during the Civil War, it moved in 1877 to Louisville...

.

In Louisville he married Villette Schang, who also belonged to the German-American community. They had three children, all daughters, one of whom died at the age of two.

Popular writer and editor

Boll's tenure in Louisville saw him become increasingly popular as a published writer. In quick succession he became a regular contributor to Harding's The Way, then editor of the Gospel Guide published by Joe Warlick. Boll became a contributing editor to the Christian Leader in 1904.

An account of Boll's exposure to Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...

 theology has been described by one detractor:
F. L. Rowe, editor of the Christian Leader, was seeking to arrange a debate between one of our preachers and the notorious Charles Taze Russell
Charles Taze Russell
Charles Taze Russell , or Pastor Russell, was a prominent early 20th century Christian restorationist minister from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and founder of what is now known as the Bible Student movement, from which Jehovah's Witnesses and numerous independent Bible Student groups emerged...

, founder of the Millennial Dawn/Jehovah's Witness cult. Upon the recommendation of Bro. Boll and M. C. Kurfees, Bro. L. S. White of Denton, Texas
Denton, Texas
The city of Denton is the county seat of Denton County, Texas in the United States. Its population was 119,454 according to the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the eleventh largest city in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex...

 was chosen to meet Russell. The debate was conducted in Cincinnati in 1908. Rowe wrote of Russell, he "is a man of pleasing manner, and his mild, soft tones were admired by many." Kurfees judged that White did an excellent job of upholding the truth and refuting Russell. But Boll was enamored with Russell's style and embraced his millennial heresy. Bro. G. W. Riggs recalled that while visiting Boll, he found him eagerly reading one of Russell's books. Like most other premillennialists, Boll developed his own version.


Supporters of Boll, however, dismiss this influence as apocryphal, pointing out that Boll published more articles in the Gospel Advocate critical of Russell's theology than any other writer.

In 1909, Boll became the front page editor of the Gospel Advocate
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 de facto flagship publication for the Churches of Christ.

Gospel Advocate and millennial controversy

Boll's initial articles on eschatological themes in the Gospel Advocate aroused little opposition, as even his later detractors would admit that Restoration Movement
Restoration Movement
The Restoration Movement is a Christian movement that began on the American frontier during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century...

 giants Alexander Campbell, Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

, Robert Milligan, B. W. Johnson, and T. W Brents had held premillennialist views, though Boll's detractors would point out that they did not make special efforts to spread those views. A mild term used by those who disagreed with him during this period seems to have been that his writings were considered "speculative" at best.

By 1915, however, a more ambitious series of articles led to Boll's forced resignation from the Gospel Advocate by a board consisting of J. C. McQuiddy, F. W. Smith, H. Leo Boles, A. B. Lipscomb, M. C. Kurfees, and G. Dallas Smith:
All understood Boll to promise to hold his views on that subject as a personal opinion which he would not publish or promote. Thus he was reinstated, but almost immediately renewed his hobby. His resignation was called for and accepted.


Another view, common among friends and admirers of Boll, is that jealousy of Boll on the part of some of the other editors contributed to the expulsion.

In 1916, after Boll's resignation of the front page editorship of the Gospel Advocate, he purchased an existing publication, Word and Work
Word and Work
Word and Work is a religious journal associated with those Churches of Christ that hold to a premillennial eschatology. It was founded in 1908 by Dr. David Lipscomb Watson.-History:...

(founded in 1908 by Dr. David Lipscomb Watson), from its owner, Stanford Chambers, in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

, and moved the journal to Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

, to continue advancing his theology in print as well as from the pulpit. Like the original Sand Creek Address and Declaration, which did not mention instrumental music, the premier issue of Word and Work under Boll's editorship did not list differences over the millennium as a raison-d'être of the new venue for Boll's views; rather, the explicit emphasis was on themes like openness and grace
Divine grace
In Christian theology, grace is God’s gift of God’s self to humankind. It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" - that takes the form of divine favour, love and clemency. It is an attribute of God that is most...

.

Tensions among the congregations, especially in and around Louisville, became ruffled, but were hardly so fractious as they would become in the 1930s. Following the publication of a sharp critique by R. L. Whiteside and C. R. Nichol, of Clifton, Texas
Clifton, Texas
Clifton is the largest city in Bosque County in Central Texas. The city's population was 3,542 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Clifton is located at ....

, Boll participated in a written debate with H. Leo Boles in the Gospel Advocate in 1927. At the conclusion of this debate on Unfulfilled Prophecy, both principals harmoniously concurred that the issue was not worth further discussion and should not be a cause for disfellowship.

Later developments

Nonetheless, in 1933 Foy E. Wallace
Foy E. Wallace
Foy Esco Wallace was an influential figure among American Churches of Christ in the early to middle 20th century. Through his writing and speaking, Wallace gathered a considerable following among this autonomous group of churches; his combination of the skilled use of logic combined with charisma...

, responding to an invitation from Boll associate Charles McKendree Neal to debate the millennial issue, entered into the rambunctious Neal-Wallace Discussion on the Thousand Years Reign, held at Winchester, Kentucky
Winchester, Kentucky
Winchester is a city in and the county seat of Clark County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 16,724 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...

, in January 1933; this debate jarred open a fissure which roiled congregations not only in Kentucky but also in other parts of the United States as well as overseas. Ensuing disputations, notably Wallace's 1934 debate with Baptist premillennialist J. Frank Norris
J. Frank Norris
John Franklyn Norris was a flamboyant Baptist preacher, one of the most controversial figures in the history of fundamentalism.-Biography:...

, further rendered peaceful solution of the controversy untenable. It became a major controversy and source of division in Churches of Christ for decades.

It is not an easy task to read all that was written about the furor. The strength of emotion that was felt on both sides permeates the literature, and it seems no less raw nearly a century later. Much of the material from the anti-Boll side is written in the fire and brimstone
Fire and brimstone
Fire and brimstone is an idiomatic expression of signs of God's wrath in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. In the Bible, they often appear in reference to the fate of the unfaithful. "Brimstone," possibly the ancient name for sulfur, evokes the acrid odor of volcanic activity...

 style of the times, with repeated bitter and personal attacks upon Boll and his followers. The converse is true from the other side to some extent, though the pleas for continued fellowship in the face of what could be seen as a non-essential disagreement are especially pathetic and depressing to read in light of their historical failure to prevent a division. Part polemic, part legal brief, the arguments and exhortations on either side run to many pages in length. Church of Christ preachers had long been trained in parsing Greek and Latin grammar, and were regularly praised or condemned on the strengths of their ability to parse key New Testament proof texts to the greatest analytical precision possible within their hermeneutic.

Boll was strongly defended by others in print during the 1930s and 1940s.

Legacy

The Portland Christian School
Portland Christian School
The Portland Christian School System, based in Louisville, Kentucky, with campuses in the Portland and Eastside neighborhoods of Louisville, is a private Christian school traditionally supported and affiliated with those churches of Christ which held to a premillennial eschatology characteristic of...

 system, founded in 1924, is the most visible sign of Boll's influence among Churches of Christ in Louisville, Kentucky. Among various geographical areas, congregations which bear Boll's premillennialist and other influences can most easily be found in Louisville, southern Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, and in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. Tensions over millennial
Millennium
A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....

 differences among Churches of Christ began widely subsiding by the end of the 20th century.

External links

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