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CHAPTER II
IDEAS WITH A HISTORY: UNION AND RESTORATION

The union of all Christians and the restoration of primitive Christianity were the two main ideas announced by Thomas Campbell in his Declaration and Address in 1809 and championed by Alexander Campbell for fifty years thereafter. With some differences of emphasis and phrasing, they were the ruling ideas of Stone and the other reformers whose work preceded, paralleled, and reinforced his. To this day, these are the two foci of interest among Disciples, and every difference of opinion which threatens to create parties among them revolves about answers to the questions: “Restoration of what?” and “What price union?”

Each of these ideas, union and restoration, has a long history, only a small part of which can he told here, but part of which must be told.