RUSSELL, CHARLES TAZE

born Feb. 16, 1852, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S. died Oct. 31, 1916, Pampa, Texas byname Pastor Russell founder of the International Bible Students Association, forerunner of the Jehovah's Witnesses (q.v.). By the time he was 20, Russell had left both Presbyterianism and Congregationalism because he could not reconcile the idea of an eternal hell with God's mercy. He had drifted into skepticism when a chance encounter with some Adventists introduced him to the idea that the Bible could be used to predict God's plan of salvation, especially as the plan related to the end of the world. With the help of tutors, Russell managed to master the use of Hebrew and Greek dictionaries to study the Bible. The Scriptures fascinated him far more than did his haberdashery in Pittsburgh, and he left the business world to form his first Bible classes in 1872. Basing his judgment on complex biblical calculations, he preached from 1877 that Christ's invisible return had occurred in 1874 and that the end of the Gentile times would come in 1914, followed by war between capitalism and communism or socialism, after which God's kingdom by Christ would rule the earth. Russell (who was never ordained) dedicated his life and his fortune to preaching Christ's millennial reign. In 1879 he started a Bible journal, later called The Watchtower, and in 1884 he founded the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, which became a flourishing publishing business. His own books and booklets (notably seven volumes of Studies in the Scriptures) reached a circulation of 16 million copies in 35 languages, and 2,000 newspapers published his weekly sermons. Russell's movement survived the embarrassment caused by the apparent failure of his apocalyptic prediction, as well as the problems caused by his separation from his wife and numerous lawsuits.