Title: Stone/Campbell colleges to discuss common legacy
Date: June 24, 1998
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
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BETHANY, W Va. -- Representatives from 90 higher education institutions with shared roots in the 19th century Restoration Movement will gather here Oct. 1 to discuss the common legacy of movement founder, Alexander Campbell.
Church members from three separate bodies -- the Churches of Christ, the independent Christian Churches and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) -- will join the higher education leaders for two lectures on Campbell and his philosophy.
Bethany College President D. Duane Cummins and Gerald C. Tiffin will give the presentations. Tiffin, formerly dean of Pacific Christian College, is now provost at Northwest Christian College, Eugene, Ore. Cummins will speak on Campbell's philosophical principle, "Education of the Total Person." Tiffin will discuss, "21st Century Concerns and 19th Century Roots."
The lectures will mark D. Duane Cummins' 10th anniversary as president of Bethany College, which Campbell founded in 1840. Bethany College preserves the Campbell home and church not far from its campus, along with other historical sites.
The event also will commemorate Forrest H. Kirkpatrick, a West Virginia educator and steel executive. The annual lecture series is named in his honor. Kirkpatrick died May 31 in Wheeling, at age 93.
Kirkpatrick served both higher education -- teaching at Bethany and four other universities -- and industry. He was vice president of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation, where he specialized in community and industrial relations.
"Literally hundreds of colleges, universities and centers of theological education can name Alexander Campbell and Bethany College as either the inspiration or a primary influence in their founding and/or formation," said the Rev. Peter M. Morgan, Nashville, Tenn. He is president of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society, a cosponsor of the event.
Some prominent institutions related to the three streams of the Campbell movement include Pepperdine University, Malibu, Calif.; Texas Christian University, Fort Worth; and Hope International University, Fullerton, Calif.
The three groups grew out of the Campbell and Barton W. Stone movements in frontier Virginia and Kentucky early last century, then split apart over the years. Together, the three groups represent about 3.6 million U.S. Christians.
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