Emotionalism in the 2×2 Fellowship

Corneius Jaenen, in his book The Apostle’s Doctrine and Fellowship, says the various restorationist groups he surveyed represented “a survival in spirit and mentality of earlier communities of true believers” (536) and that they were “imbued with a sense of special historical identity, a truly spiritual fellowship” (537). He references Joachim of Fiore’s emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit which contributed to a “non-instutionalized Spirit-directed universal brotherhood.” (537)

Jaenen writes that the foundation of primitive Christianity was that “revelation from God was to be the bedrock of the church, and the direction of the Holy Spirit was the confirmation of the individual Christian. Another assumption was that the distinguishing characteristic of the community of believers was caritas, a divinely inspired love” (536)

Everyone likes to think they’re “special”.

Such an emphasis on assuming the Holy Spirit’s direction did, in fact, not lead to a “universal brotherhood”. For example, the Stone-Campbell Movement in the United States degenerated in to competing factions that separated themselves on the basis of multiple disagreements, including disagreements on whether there should be instrumental music during worship services.

William Irvine developed “increasingly erratic behavior” (524) and eventually thought the world was going to end in 1914. When did the Holy Spirit stop speaking to him? the 2×2 Fellowship grew out of a rejection of clerical abuses - is this just a pattern that’s going to repeat itself?

Edward Cooney approached William Irvine in March 1898 “claiming the liberty to follow Jesus as he received progressive light from God by the Spirit” (524)

As a boarder at a Jesuit college, Jaenan himself “experienced a deep spiritual awakening” (25)

Christianity today cannot ignore the past, it origins, if it wishes to be true to itself” (26)

“A truly spiritual fellowship in contrast to to a formal and traditional religious organization” (537)

“Christianity cannot be divorced from history, yet I do not believe its truth can be proved from historical data alone. It has always been a revealed religion founded on faith” (27)

he admits that primitive Christianity is a “counter-culture in some respects” (29)

THE DANGERS OF HALF TRUTHS

“Seed will not germinate unless both soil and climatic conditions are favourable” (520)

Anti-establishment: Ireland’s religious revival, “especially among its Protestant population” became more unionist and anti-liberal, “tended to distrust the religious establishment” (517); Instability—> at this time Ireland was “at the centre of contact and conflict” (519) between the Catholic Church and Protestant denominations; there was also “an economic crisis, social unrest, and external political domination” (520); there was a precedent for “an anti-establishment unconventional response to the status quo existed throughout the Irish countryside” (520); some of both Catholics and Protestants felt “resentment…toward the priestly caste” (520); the ministerial movement “refused to limit spiritual knowledge and virtue to an elite” (526); Jaenan quotes an account written by Alfred Magowan depicted as moving against “the giant of Mammonistic Christendom” in their “revolution against the respectable and comfortable members of the community”, they were “uncompromising towards Christendom’s institutions” , “we despised clericalism and fought against it” and “we spoke ill of the church and clergy”

martial tone

Anti-intellectual: Protestants during Ireland’s religious revival in the nineteenth century tended “to avoid an intellectual approach to religion” (517) Around the same time in Scotland “many people were confused by their clergy who preached…secular education and higher criticism of the bible” (518); converts in a November 1897 meeting “encountered God directly through some manifestation of God’s grace, or revelation, rather than through the pursuit of knowledge about God and the scriptures” (520); “the ministerial movement adopted a populist stance and a certain degree of anti-intellectualism” (526); Magowan wrote that “we had no theology to propound” , “we broke idols” ; Jaenan quote George Walker’s presentation to the American Selective Service authorities in 1942 , the 2×2s were “deeply concerned about spiritual things”; Jaenan quotes statements by Edward Cooney emphasizing the need to “get his revelation of the Christ to our hearts” and of “turning again to this childlike trustfulness that we had in the beginning” ; Magowan said “we were so zealous that no arguments made against us could have made the slightest effect. Minds were unalterable and irrevocably made up”

— which is it? “spirit” and revelation or pursuit of knowledge from the scriptures? they claim to base their beliefs on scripture, so…..?

Emotional: Lady Powerscourt was “so impressed” by meetings that she arranged similar meetings at Powerscourt House in County Wicklow; many members of the Faith Mission “became disillusioned” with the apparent unscriptural basis of their ministry so Mr. and Mrs. Robert Todd formed their own meetings; Jaenan quotes an unpublished manuscript that speculates that their move could have been a “revolt” or a “rival show” (521); there was a “mystical element” “in a November 1897 meeting of converts from Nanagh and Roscrea; John Pattison wrote in a letter to his son that William Irvine had a “stronger and more masculine character” (523) than John Long when preaching; Robert Hamilton and David Donaldson became “so dissatisfied” with their Methodist church that they started holding home meetings (524); Jaenan quote another letter from Ida West ascribing a heroic nature to the early Workers who were “pioneers groping their way out of darkness” (525); “close fraternal bonds” (526); Magowan wrote that they were “fanatical” and spoke of carrying “the war into the enemies’ lands”; “ours was an honest-hearted revolt”, framing it as “a chance to live heroically in an age affected by dullness” George Walker outlines the requirements for consideration of becoming a Worker - that the person “must first establish very definitely their religious character…they must be upright and of high principle”; William Irvine and Edward Cooney “established a limited personality cult” (530).

C. J. Jaenan (2003). The apostles’ doctrine and fellowship: a documentary history of the early church and restorationist movements. Legas Publishing

Unpublished manuscript (May 1925). “The Work of God in Ireland in 1898”

Copy of letter from John Pattison, Cloughjordan, Ireland, to his son, John Pattison Jr., in South America, May 1925

“Testimony of Ida West”, August 1954 in Patricia Roberts, ed, The Go Preacher Movement: An Anthology (Enniskillen: The Print Factory, 2000), p. 107

Alfred Magowan, “Outline of the History of a Peculiar People from 1900-1931, Unpublished manuscript. Quoted from Jaenan page 527.

Copy of Statement to Director of American Selective Service Board from George Walker (1877-1981), 24 March 1942.

Statements of Edward Cooney following his exclusion [from ministry] in October 1928, as reported to Patricia Roberts, The Life and Ministry of Edward Cooney, 1867-1960 (Enniskillen: William Trible Ltd., 1990), pp. 156-162