Restorationism
Restorationism, also known as Restitutionism or Christian primitivism, is a religious perspective according to which the early beliefs and practices of the followers of Jesus were either lost or adulterated after his death and required a "restoration".
As Rubel Shelly put it, "the motive behind all restoration movements is to tear down the walls of separation by a return to the practice of the original, essential and universal features of the Christian religion.
More narrowly, the term "Restorationism" is used as a descriptive term for unrelated Restorationist groups which were formed during the eras of the Great Awakenings, such as the Christadelphians (Greek: 'Brothers of Christ'), Swedenborgians (i.e., The New Church), Irvingians (the largest of which is the New Apostolic Church), Latter Day Saints (i.e., Mormonism), Jehovah's Witnesses (from the tetragrammaton for God), La Luz del Mundo (Spanish: 'the Light of the World'), and Iglesia ni Cristo (Tagalog: 'Church of Christ').
[9][10] These Restorationist groups share a belief that historic Christianity lost the true faith during the Great Apostasy and that the Church needed to be restored.
[2]: 225–226 [21] The term "restorationism" can also include the belief that the Jewish people must be restored to the promised land in fulfillment of biblical prophecy before the Second Coming of Christ.
"Restorationism" is also used to describe a form of postmillennialism developed during the later half of the 20th century, which was influential among a number of charismatic groups and the British new church movement.
[1]: 636, 637 The movement often requires observance of universal commandments, such as a biblical Sabbath as given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the Hebrew calendar to define years, seasons, weeks, and days.
Circumcision, animal sacrifices, and ceremonial requirements, as practiced in Judaism, are distinguished from the Ten Commandments, Noahide laws[26] and High Sabbaths[27] as given to, and in effect for, all humanity.
[1]: 638 Luther was not, in the strictest sense, a restorationist because he saw human effort to restore the church as works righteousness and was sharply critical of other Reformation leaders who were attempting to do so.
[30] Restorationism[31] at the time was centered on movements that wanted to renew the church, such as the Lollards, the Brethren of the Common Life,[32] the Hussites, and Girolamo Savonarola's reforms in Florence.
Preachers at the time regularly harangued delegates to these conferences regarding simony, venality, lack of chastity and celibacy, and the holding of multiple benefices.
[29]: 29–31 John Calvin reflected an intermediate position between that of Luther and Reformed theologians such as Zwingli, stressing biblical precedents for church governance, but as a tool to more effectively proclaim the gospel rather than as ends in themselves.
[29]: 89–94 This desire to restore a purer form of Christianity played a role in the development of many groups during this period, known as the Second Great Awakening, including the Mormons, Baptists and Shakers.
[29]: 108 They were united, among other things, in the belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; that Christians should celebrate the Lord's Supper on the first day of each week; and that baptism of adult believers by immersion in water is a necessary condition for salvation.
[57][58] John Thomas (April 12, 1805 – March 5, 1871), was a devout convert to the Restoration Movement after a shipwreck at sea on his emigration to America brought to focus his inadequate understanding of the Bible, and what would happen to him at death.
This awareness caused him to devote his life to the study of the Bible and he promoted interpretations of it which were at variance with the mainstream Christian views the Restoration Movement held.
[5][68][69] Adherents to the Latter Day Saint movement believe that founder Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, chosen to restore the primitive, apostolic church established by Jesus.
Like other restorationist groups, members believe that the church and priesthood established by Jesus were withdrawn from the Earth after the end of the apostolic age and before the First Council of Nicaea in 325.
[70] Unlike other reformers, who based their movements on their own interpretations of the Bible, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery held that they were visited by John the Baptist to receive the Aaronic Priesthood.
[70] According to Allen and Hughes, "[n]o group used the language of 'restoration' more consistently and more effectively than did the [Latter Day Saints] ... early Mormons seemed obsessed with restoring the ancient church of God.
[citation needed] The "Great Apostasy", or loss of the original church Jesus established, has been cited with historical evidence of changes in Christian doctrine over time, scriptures prophesying of a coming apostasy before the last days (particularly 2 Thessalonians 2:1–3, 2 Timothy 4:3–4 and Amos 8:11–12) and corruption within the early churches that led to the necessity of the Protestant Reformation, which is seen as an important step towards the development of protected freedoms and speech required for a full restoration to be possible.
Millerites sought to restore a prophetic immediacy and uncompromising biblicism that they believed had once existed but had long been rejected by mainstream Protestant and Catholic churches.
Important to the Seventh-day Adventist movement is a belief in progressive revelation,[76] teaching that the Christian life and testimony is intended to be typified by the Spirit of Prophecy, as explained in the writings of Ellen G. White.
They focused on several key doctrinal points that they considered a return to "primitive Christianity",[79] derived from their interpretation of the Bible, including active proselytization; strict neutrality in political affairs;[80] abstinence from warfare;[81] a belief in the imminent manifestation of the Kingdom of God (or World to Come) on Earth, and a rejection of trinitarianism, the immortality of the soul, and the definition of Hell as a place of eternal torment.
[82] Jehovah's Witnesses emerged as a distinct religious organization, maintaining control of Russell's Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and other corporations.
They continued to develop doctrines that they considered to be an improved restoration of first century Christianity, including increased emphasis on the use of Jehovah as God's personal name.
[95] The British leaders of charismatic restorationism mutually recognised a parallel movement in the United States, centered on the Fort Lauderdale Five; Derek Prince, Don Basham, Bob Mumford, Charles Simpson and Ern Baxter.
[96] In a booklet written by Layne in the early 1980s, he claimed to be an ex-heroin addict who spent years dealing drugs and living a life of crime and sin on the streets of San Francisco.
[97] Most of Daniel Layne's beliefs concerning the book of Revelation originated from some ministers who had left the Church of God (Anderson) reformation movement thirty or so years earlier.
After Ahn Sahng-hong died in February 1985, a group of people in Church of God Jesus Witnesses including the man Kim Joo-cheol and the woman Zahng Gil-jah wanted to re-introduce the concept of a "spiritual mother".
