Product Description
The Alliance has been fighting a losing battle against the Syndicate Worlds for over a century. Now, Captain John “Black Jack” Geary, who returned to the fleet after a hundred-year suspended animation, must keep the Alliance one step ahead of its merciless foe…

After a series of deadly engagements, the Alliance fleet is severely damaged and its arsenal is running low. Forced to halt in the Baldur Star System to raid the Syndic mines for raw materials, Geary is anxious to get moving again. But what should the fleet’s next move be? The Syndics are starting to catch on to Geary’s tactics, and as the Alliance ships jump from system to system, it’s getting harder to keep one step ahead.

What’s more, Geary has started to piece fragments of intelligence together into a highly disturbing picture: The Syndics have been keeping the existence of another potential player in the war a secret — and this unknown power may have the means to annihilate the human race…

“Jack Campbell has written the most believable space battles I‘ve ever seen anywhere.” - David Sherman, coauthor of the Starfist series
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Customer Reviews (68)

This book is losing its fanbase
At this point in the series I have mixed feelings. Overall I feel this 3rd book of the series is little more than a mashup of the first two books in the series. Sure some of the characters relations have changed or evolved. But when it comes to the fleet getting home or finding out more of the secret that has been teased at during the end of the first and second book...I feel let down.

To break down my impression of this book, I would say the book consists of 30% evolving characters60% Recycled fleet battles & captain conflicts10% secret that remains a secret.

I dove head first into book 1 and was hooked at the end that teases you with what you expect to be a revelation in book 2. Then I read book 2, that was clearly different than book 1, but still left me hooked and teased at the end by the same secret you never find out from book one. With book 3 I believe 200 pages could have been cut from the book and the book would have been better because of it.

At this point I am clearly conflicted. I want to know whats going to happen in book 4, but I feel like I am being toyed with, or maybe the author hit a rough spot while writing this one.

Here is why the concept started to wear thin
I really liked the battle sequences and the main character Black Jack (despite my better judgment)

The book also deserves recognition because it is the first book wherein we get a listing of the ships in the fleet.Wonderful idea but why wasn't this list in the first book?

If you can past your dislike of Rione which I am sure everyone who has read this book now despises your only real problem should be realizing that except for a few instances we don't really have developed characters here.I hung around until the end of the series hoping for this to develop but somehow it never did.

This is really unfortunate because battle scenes are great and a list of the ships in the fleet are great but the fact that five capital ships were whipped out in the last engagement never changes your feelings because no one on those five ships are developed enough to care about.

I really liked the first two installments of the series the last book finished so strongly that it makes the Rione character even more confusing.At the end of book two John and Rione seemed to realize that they could help each other and that they needed each other if they were going to make it back to Terran space alive.Within the first chapter of book 3 this is forgotten for some unknown reason and conversations are carried on between the two like this

Rione: You're not infallible John!!
Black Jack: I know that.I've been saying that for the last 10 chapters where were you?
Rione: You're not infallible John!!!

And it carries on like this.Does the Woman have some verbal tick she can't get rid of?

Overall-If you had asked me my opinion of the last book I would have said that this series would be remembered 10 years from now.If the third book is any example this series will take its place among other space operas that have cool ships and good battles but no real characterization and unfortunately David Weber already has a lock on those.

Courageous
Courageous is the 3rd of a series of six books by Jack Campbell that collectively tell the story of Captain John Geary and his command of the space fleet which belongs to an Alliance of worlds occupied by humans.Thebooks in series order are: 1) The Lost Fleet: Dauntless, 2) The Lost Fleet: Fearless, 3) The Lost Fleet: Courageous, 4) The Lost Fleet: Valiant, 5) The Lost Fleet: Restless, and 6) The Lost Fleet: Victorious.

The Alliance has been in a state of war for 100 years with another group of human worlds called the Syndicated Worlds, or Syndics for short.John Geary was thought to have been killed in the early opening attacks of that war.In reality, he escaped certain doom in a survival pod launched from his Heavy Cruiser.He was placed in a state of hibernation, with the expectation that he would be picked up in a few weeks, but something went wrong.The emergency beacon on his pod failed, and he drifted until he was accidentally found 100 years later by another Alliance Battle Cruiser.

He was revived and found himself thrust into command of the entire Alliance Fleet (which was lost deep behind enemy lines) and expected to miraculously get the Fleet home safely and to put and end to the war once and for all, and he was to do this against the overwhelming forces of the Syndicate Worlds.

Compounding his problems is the fact that he must deal with a group of rebellious officers among his own crew, a love relationship that can not be acknowledged, politicians at home who want to arrest him when he gets there for a crime he has not committed and for which there is no evidence to suggest that he ever thought of committing it.And if that were not enough, he also has to deal with an unknown enemy with unknown technological capabilities that is known to exist just beyond the border that marks the extreme edge of Syndic space.

If you like SciFi that's filled with space battles based on reasonably thought out tactical plans and strategies, this series may be for you.It is much closer to reality than the Lensman series, though I will not say that is a better or worse story line.That is for the reader to decide.

Brilliant move!
The Lost Fleet series is the best space naval fiction I've come across.The books are long and drawn out, but have the detail and physics to back them up.I was particularly impressed by the brilliant tactic used at the end of Courageous.It was the best possible move and a perfect end to the book.I won't spoil it by giving it away, but it was brilliant!

Lost Fleet: Courageous
This is an excellant series. Good Action. Multipple human view points.
I hope there is more with interaction with the Alien(s?) ... Read more

Product Description
Thawed out after a century of cryogenic sleep, Captain John “Black Jack” Geary has led the Alliance fleet through Syndicate Worlds space, thwarting the enemy at every turn — even within his own ranks — during the long journey home.

Alliance prisoners of war are being held at a labor camp in the Heradao Star System, which also happens to be the location of the majority of the surviving Syndic warships. Determined not to leave any of his people behind, Black Jack Geary orders the fleet to strike hard and fast to rescue the POWs with minimal Alliance losses.

The raid is successful, but victory is short-lived. Geary discovers that the Syndics plan to ambush the fleet with their powerful reserve flotilla in an attempt to annihilate it once and for all — but he doesn’t know where the enemy is located. And as Geary has the fleet jump from one star system to the next, hoping to avoid the inevitable confrontation, saboteurs contribute to the chaos…

“Jack Campbell has written the most believable space battles I’ve ever seen anywhere.” — David Sherman, coauthor of the Starfist series
... Read more

Customer Reviews (50)

Fastest read ever
I'm a very slow reader just dont get into them but The Lost fleet read five of them in six days. Now waiting for number six

Military fiction at it's best
There is a reason why these books are so good. They were written by a man who has actually been there and lived it. So down to the small details, he makes this series extremely realistic and engaging. With other books I've read you could always tell when an author is trying to write about something they know nothing to little about. But not with these books, they are simply the best I have ever in both the military and sci-fi genres. The comparisons to the Hornblower saga are warranted. The only thing I would give the Hornblower books over these is the character depth and development and then it's still close. But then Forester had full novel sizes to work with and flushed out his characters out over many years in almost a dozen books. Absolutely stellar series, with the added bonus of a scheduled new series picking up after this one wraps up with Victorious. Keep up the good work! My hats off and a snappy navy style salute to you John.:)

"If I have to face death today, why does my possibly last meal have to be a Danaka Yoruk bar?"
I really can't get enough of this series, and it's not because writer Jack Campbell comes up with so many original ideas. The thing that he has is a knack for clear storytelling. He spins stories set in the sci-fi genre and yet there's such a realistic grounding to them. He's very consistent at this, and folks should check out his other works under his real name John G. Hemry (the JAG in Space and Sgt. Stark series are terrific stuff!). Nowadays, as "Jack Campbell," dude is concentrating on the Lost Fleet space saga, and I'm hating that the sixth book won't be out until April, 2010.

RELENTLESS is the fifth book, and the crippled lost fleet of the Alliance has made significant headway towards getting back home. The fleet is still navigating thru enemy Syndic space, and casualties have been costly. It should've been worse, really - in fact, chances are the fleet by now should've already been annihilated - except that the legendary Captain John "Black Jack" Geary was found floating in space, frozen in a hundred years' worth of cryogenic sleep. Captain Geary was revived just in time for the fleet's leading officers to be executed by the enemy. Now the ranking officer (by a century or so), Geary was charged with bringing the fleet safely home.

I've really enjoyed all the books leading up to RELENTLESS, enjoyed Captain Geary gradually getting comfortable with his command and enjoyed seeing the effects he's had on his fellow officers and shipmates. The hundred-year interstellar war between the Alliance and the Syndicate Worlds has reduced both sides into callous entities. Over the course of a century, both sides have morally strayed, have done away with certain traditions and ideals. Atrocities are routinely committed. Captain Geary has been re-introducing military etiquette, ideals, and tactics. It's still an uphill climb for him, especially in the area of combat as a contemporary Alliance officer's plan of attack is consistently to charge straight ahead for honor and glory.

Admittedly, with the past few books, there's been this sense of running in place. Four things which kept going around in circle, it seems: The lost fleet would wander from one hostile Syndic star system to another, trying to be unpredictable but inevitably forced to engage in a space battle against overwhelming odds. This quickly becomes repetitive, but again I have a lot of fun reading about Geary demolishing enemy Syndic ships. Another thing that's ongoing is Geary's fellow officers (a few of them) continually sniping at him. Each book in the series so far has featured an officers' conference in which Geary has to navigate thru a verbal landmine. It's challenging enough having to balance his fellow officers' battle lust with sensible battle tactics. He also has to deal with antagonistic officers who constantly second-guess and undermine his every move. The romance angle was also getting old, with fierce politician Victoria Rione becoming increasingly intolerable and Captain Tanya Desjani being perhaps a bit too noble (she's one person I really wish Campbell would develop more). Lastly, Campbell keeps on teasing us about the shadowy alien species which may or may not mean humanity harm. Now all this stuff never really bugged me that much at first - they were just nits to pick - but maybe I did start getting a wee bit restless in the end.

RELENTLESS advances some of these hanging plot threads, even brings a resolution to some of them. I won't say which plot threads got served, but I will say that Geary's internal enemies have finally stopped merely trying to discredit him and have moved on to actively trying to kill him. It's not that RELENTLESS ends on a cliffhanger but events are coming to a head, and Campbell has choices now in the direction he can go. Meanwhile, Captain John Geary still struggles with being revered as a walking legend. He's human with warts and insecurities and all, and we get to see this side of him, even if most of his shipmates don't. He's a compelling guy and continues to be someone you just root for.

The writer makes the military environment relatable to everyone, but specially to those who've served in the armed forces. The space battles, constrained by relativistic speeds, are carefully worked out, and my head spins every time I try to get the details straight in my head. Thankfully, Campbell eases off a bit in this book. One thing I like is that the Syndics are finally starting to adapt to Black Jack's audacious tactics (most of which stem from that outdated thing called teamwork). But how much longer can he keep fooling them?

As a bonus, RELENTLESS opens with a flashback of Geary's last moments on the Alliance heavy cruiser Merlon and to his entering a broken survival pod which would catapult him on a hundred-year sleep in enemy space.

I read somewhere that Jack Campbell plans to continue writing the adventures of Black Jack Geary even after VICTORIOUS. He stated that he'll also be writing a separate novel (series?) featuring stories from the Syndics' perspective. This is awesome news!

There's a little bit of humor in this series, but not much. I used this one - "If I have to face death today, why does my possibly last meal have to be a Danaka Yoruk bar?" - for the review title, but that quote is actually lifted from the book before this one, THE LOST FLEET: VALIANT. It made me laugh when a (jokingly) aggrieved Geary said it.

Keep going Black Jack Geary!
I really enjoy this series and have purchased copies of all the books currently out for my other scifi reading friend.The books in the Lost Fleet series build nicely on one another and the relationships of the characters develop in interesting directions as we discover more about their lives.I think I'm starting to believe in Black Jack just like his more worshipful crew....poor guy!I can't wait for the next book, while at the same time I dread the end of the series.

Brilliant
I have a hard time finding books that don't bore me to tears. This book and the entire series are some of the best I have ever read. I find myself rereading the previous books to kill time waiting for the next. This is one of only two authors that I follow religiously because of their brilliance. ... Read more

Product Description
The author relates two stories: his youth in rural Mississippi and devotion to his brother whose life ended in seeming tragedy, and his ordination at age 17 and gradual realization that civil rights for blacks, women, and gays were an essential part of a ministry that has not yet ended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Brother to a Dragonfly by Will D. Campbell
This book opened up new and troubling ways of my thinking. It is a picture reflecting problems within my own family in the 1960s. A wonderful book that I treasure and re-read even today.
Emily B. Walker

Brother to a Dragonfly
Written as a partial autobiography, novel and history, this book is a great addition to our understanding of the dynamics of civil rights in Southern USA from the 1940s through the early 1960s.

One of a Kind!
I am blown away and delighted that this book is still available for today's generation of young, progressive Christians (and any other seeker).I remember the first time I read this book I was on an airplane.I would be laughing out loud (couldn't help myself) on one page and turning my head towards the window to hide my tears on the next page.Campbell elicits this kind of response with every nugget of wisdom and story.It is a powerful and moving read.Although some connection to the south (as well as to baptists) probably helps, I would still highly suggest this book for anyone who wants to see how faith can cause us to react and respond to the world in which we find ourselves.This is one of the best!I have given this book as a gift to many friends.Now that the holidays are approaching, it's still a good give.

poignant reflections by renegade christian
If you were raised in the south as I was, have an interest in the civil rights movement, or want to enjoy one of the most irreverent Christian curmudgeons ever to irritate the church, then read Will Campbell (b. 1924). Campbell was born and raised in the rural and very poor deep south of Amite, Mississippi, "ordained" by family members at a local Baptist church when he was seventeen, and, in a delightfully improbable life, played a central role as an activist and agitator on behalf of African Americans. But to leave it at that would badly misrepresent him.

After World War II Campbell studied at Tulane, Wake Forest, and Yale. He served as Director of Religious life at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), but left after two years because his controversial views attracted death threats. He then did a stint for the National Council of Churches where he worked with most of the civil rights luminaries. In 1957, Campbell was one of four people who escorted the nine black students who integrated Little Rock's Central High School; and he was the only white person to attend the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. So, how did he come to sip whiskey with the KKK and get hate mail from the left?

Campbell came to distrust all movements and institutions, especially the church (he once referred to television preachers as liars, frauds, and "electronic soul molesters"). He dismissed all politics as impotent. It was less than Christian, he realized, to agitate for the oppressed but to hate the oppressor. No, one could not preach what Luther called a "fictitious grace." God loves the redneck Klansmen as well as the disinherited blacks. For the most part, Brother to a Dragonfly tells the story of Campbell's deep love for his brother Joe, and how the latter's tragic demise to alcohol, drugs, and domestic violence led to his premature death. But it was through Joe and an overtly pagan family friend that Campbell had a conversion later in life. Without realizing it, he recalls, his twenty years of ministry had become one of "liberal sophistication. An attempted negation of Jesus, of human engineering, of riding the coattails of Caesar, of playing on his ballpark, by his rules and with his ball, of looking to government to make and verify and authenticate our morality, of worshipping at the shrine of enlightenment and academia, of making an idol of the Supreme Court, a theology of law and order and of not only denying the Faith I professed to hold but my history and my people--the Thomas Colemans [who murdered two civil rights workers]. Loved. And if loved, forgiven. And if forgiven, reconciled." There was all the difference in the world, he realized, between being a "doctrinaire social activist," however laudable, and a follower of Jesus. The key? "I came to understand the nature of tragedy. And one who understands the nature of tragedy can never take sides."

Christian renegade, preacher, author of twenty books and plays, farmer, country musician, friend of Thomas Merton, and agent provocateur, Will Campbell loves a good chew of tobacco and will strike many as enigmatic. Not everyone will appreciate his rapier wit. But PBS profiled him in their documentary "God's Will," in 2000 President Clinton honored him with a National Endowment for the Humanities medal, and Brother to a Dragonfly won numerous literary awards.

More than a memoir
Brother to a Dragonfly is the story of 2 brothers who, in their own way, idolize each other.Will looks up to his older brother Joe. Joe is the protector. He always wants to make things right. And Joe knows that Will is destined to have a mark on the world. But Will D. Campbell has written more than a memoir in writing about growing up with his brother Joe in rural Mississippi. He has captured a piece of America's past. This book reads like a novel - poverty, war, race relations, the civil rights movement, drug addiction, domestic violence - it's all there. Occasionally Campbell makes an awkward jump in the story, but this some how enhances the voice and reminds the reader that this is life. Life doesn't always flow like we would like it to. While telling the story of his brother, Campbell paints a portrait of southerners (himself) during the civil rights movement that don't always get the recognition they deserve. I was surprised by the insights he had 40 years ago about both sides of the civil rights movement. I was even more surprised to find that I had bought into many of the southern stereotypes, and I'm southern!
If you are interested in southern literature, coming of age stories, family relationships, American history from 1930's to 1960's, or the Civil Rights Movement, you need to add Brother to a Dragonfly to your list of reads. Will D. Campbell gives a first rate account of his experience. While it is only one man's view, it is a rich one! ... Read more

Product Description
G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) was born on a farm in Tetbury, England, the son of a Baptist minister. When Campbell was 10 years old, D. L. Moody came to England for the first time, and the effect of his ministry, combined with the dedication of his parents, made such an impression on young Morgan, that at the age of 13, he preached his first sermon. Two years later, he was preaching regularly in country chapels during his Sundays and holidays. ... Read more

Product Description
The New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics is a must-have resource for professors and students, pastors and laypersons--in short, for any Christian who wishes to understand or develop a rational explanation of the Christian faith in the context of today's complex and ever-changing world. Packed with hundreds of articles that cover the key topics, historic figures and contemporary global issues relating to the study and practice of Christian apologetics, this handy one-volume resource will make an invaluable addition to any Christian library.Editors Gavin McGrath and W. C. Campbell-Jack, with consulting editor C. Stephen Evans, have divided the dictionary into two parts: Part one offers a series of introductory essays that set the framework for the dictionary. These essays examine the practice and importance of Christian apologetics in light of theological, historical and cultural concerns. Part two builds on these essays to present numerous alphabetized articles on individuals, ideas, movements and disciplines that are vital to a rational explanation of the Christian faith. Both essays and articles are written by leading Christian philosophers and theologians. Together, they form an indispensable resource for Christians living in today's pluralistic age. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Does Not Appear to "Defend" Christianity
I thought the book has a lot of "iffy" opinions that don't even pretend to support Christianity.I thought the chapter on Islam is a perfect example of this.If you are really looking for arguements for your Christian faith, I would not recommend this. I really don't mind reading various opinions, but that is not what I paid for.

Secular-Progressive Spin on Christianity
I could not bring myself to believe this was a serious search for the truth based on my review of a few topics with which I had considerable familiarity. The material presented in this book appears to be a secular-progressive attempt to cast doubt about Christ and Christianity under the guise of a serious work. It seems to be most selective in regard to the information presented and should not be used by any serious student in search of the truth. There are just too many good books on this subject to waste your time reading this one!

Not as useful as Baker's Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics
Two of the three previous reviewers included comparisons with Norman Geisler's Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, a volume of similar size and scope.I would like to offer my own comparison of the two, focusing on topics that come up most frequently in Christian apologetics, namely the existence of God, the problem of evil, biblical contradictions, miracles, the resurrection, creation, etc.Coverage by page count for the two are as follows:

Evidence/Arguments for God:Baker 32-1/2 pages,IVP11 pages
Problem of Evil:Baker5-1/2 pages,IVP3-1/2 pages
The Resurrection:Baker 23-1/2 pages,IVP5 pages
Bible Criticism:Baker 5-1/2 pages, IVP 2 pages
Bible Difficulties/Errors:Baker 6-1/2 pages,IVP5-1/2 pages
Miracles:Baker 38 pages, IVP 5-1/2 pages
The Trinity:Baker 7-1/2 pages, IVP 3-1/2 pages
Views of Creation/Origins:Baker 15-1/2 pages, IVP 4-1/2 pages
Science & the Bible:Baker 9 pages, IVP 2 pages
Evolution:Baker 9-1/2 pages, IVP2-1/2 pages
Big Bang Theory:Baker 4 pages, IVP 1/2 page
C. S. Lewis:Baker 5 pages, IVP 1 page
Salvation of Infants:Baker 5-1/2 pages, IVP 0 pages

In addition, the articles in the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics tend to be more structured, with sub-headings, text tables and numbered lists, which make them easier to follow and to browse.The articles in IVP's New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics are almost exclusively undifferentiated paragraphs of text.

Furthermore, in the area that I am personally most familiar with (science & the Bible), the articles in the Baker Encyclopedia are much more informative, presenting arguments on all sides of an issue.

As for the argument that multiple contributors are better than one, remember that systematic theologies tend to have single authors.

Therefore, between the two, I recommend Norman Geisler's Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics over IVP's New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics.

An Amazing Resource!
This is, to put it quite simply, an amazing resource.This is one of the few books that I simply have to recommend to anyone who is even slightly interested in the topic.In my opinion really all Christians should have this book, if not just to have a resource to keep themselves moderately informed of the changing apologetics landscape, and its historical backgrounds.Filled with hundreds of articles on topics ranging from the Kalaam cosmological argument, to Leibniz, Hegel, Logical Positivism, Naturalism, Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Apologetic Methodology, etc... and essentially any topic one could think of in relation to the subject of apologetics, this is an absolute must-buy for anyone interested in apologetics and meta-apologetics (that is, how to do apologetics itself).Whether you are the jaded veteran or the bright eyed beginner, this book really does a fantastic job of outlining the basic components of any given topic, while not getting bogged down in the particulars, and hence does a startlingly good job of balancing between accessibility and depth of information.

What sets this book apart from, say, Norman Geisler's similar offering, is the fact that it benefits strongly from a multiple contributor standpoint.Where Norman Geisler's apologetics encycopedia was (despite being a solid effort by one man) obviously over-reliant on one man's point of view (which happens to be decidedly neo-thomistic in its framework, which makes Geisler's critique heavily steeped in "classical" apologetic method) this book has a number of different contributors who represent numerous different backgrounds (e.g. not just theology and philosophy, but biology, chemistry, physics, and all of their sub-disciplines, along with a host of different ideas on apologetic methodology itself) which gives the book a very welcome inter-disciplinary approach.Among some of the notable contributors are of course, W.L. Craig, W. Dembski, Del Ratszch, Alister McGrath, Veli-Matti Karkainnen, J.P. Moreland, John Frame, and a host of others.If you are considering buying this book, but are still undecided, I can tell you that overall this book is well worth the somewhat steep price.It is a welcome contribution to the field of apologetics, and will, undoubtedly, be used for years to come.

An In-Depth Apologetics Guide For Casual Reading
When you see the words dictionary on any work you think of an A-Z guide to various subjects and words.While this is true of this work, the work itself is actually good enough to read while casually reading say before bed or work.The NEW DICTIONARY OF CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS easily helps the reader to grasp what is apologetics and then turns to helping the Christian defend their faith from atheism to Zoroastrianism.

The work includes more than fifty leading theologians, teachers, and apologist.The overarching premise is found in 1 Peter 3:15 where we are told to "always be prepared to make a defense [Greek: Apologia]to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you" (ESV).This work helps the Christian defend their faith in the midst of postmodern and often illogical thinking.

An excellent work that I highly recommend for all disciples of Jesus. ... Read more

Product Description
A reworking of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius to help all contemporary Christians more clearly discern God's presence and their own direction and purpose in life. Ideal for retreat use or at home over 30 days. ... Read more

Product Description
No-Brainer Bob is back, and he's pleased as punch to guide you through two new No-Brainer's Guides. No-Brainer's Guide to How Christians Live helps Christians understand how to live out their faith. No-Brainer's Guide to What Christians Believe is a useful introduction to Christian doctrine for newcomers to the faith. Both books feature cartoons by Jim Craig and the friendly, approachable style that the No-Brainer's Guides are known for. There's also a CD full of additional resources in the back of each volume. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Written for specialists, but makes a good argument
This book's use of the technical terminology and classical and contemporary scholarship of the science of rhetoric might intimidate some readers. However, the author presents a well thought-out argument for the consistency of thought of an historic religious leader, one who has by no means always been regarded as consistent even among the various branches of his own followers. A good addition to the literature of the Stone-Campbell Movement. ... Read more

Product Description
Eva Jean Wrather devoted seventy years to writing an 800,000-word biography of Alexander Campbell, founder of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a monumental literary biography described by D. Duane Cummins as "a creative and skillful blend of history and superb literary writing skills."

In the early 1990s, Cummins was asked to assist Ms. Wrather in revising her manuscript. Their work together makes up Volume One of Campbell's biography (TCU Press, 2005).

Volume Two follows Campbell's life from 1823-1830, years filled with the storm of opinions in the pages of his successful magazine, The Christian Baptist, which won mixed hostility and support in Baptist and Presbyterian communities. Wrather records Campbell's experience as a politician and delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention in 1829, where Campbell brushed shoulders with some of America's most famous politicians and rhetoricians. Wrather believed these years were a crucial chapter in Campbell's life, confirming his power as a thinker, speaker and writer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Saved the best for last . . .
is what I think of this final volume of the three-volume series on the life of Alexander Campbell.I must add that I found the first two volumes to be excellent and very educational as well.

In Volume three, author Wrather (and editor Cummins) covers the period 1830-1866 which includes the Disciples of Christ becoming a unique faith group until the death of Alexander Campbell.People and events of the period are too numerous to cover in this review, but I found the chapters (19-20) on the founding and early years of Bethany College, in then Virginia, to be most enlightening.

Chapter 21 entitled "Always Anti-Slavery, but Never an Abolitionist" should clarify for modern readers, who tend to merge the two attitudes into one, that Campbell was very much against the enslavement of humans, but equally against radical abolition.Campbell was truly caught in the middle, as members of his immediate and extended family were either for or against slavery and/or secession, although most of his closest family members were pro-South.Most of the students at Bethany College were from the South as well.

Since Selina Campbell's brother, Edwin W. Bakewell, and Alexander Campbell's secretary, W. F. M. Arny, eventually moved to Bloomington, Illinois (my current home), I was pleased to read of them in this volume.Both Bakewell and Arny went on to "make a name for themselves" in multiple ways.

An "Alexander Campbell Timeline" (pp. 273-288) prepared by editor Cummins adds value to the work.

While the volume includes an index, it is somewhat abbreviated (as is the case with the first two volumes), and is the one little negative I have on the entire series.

Persons interested in learning more about Alexander Campbell and the Stone-Campbell religious tradition, especially those who are members of or involved with its churches or institutions, should find the entire series a good read and a blessing.My hat is off to author Wrather, editor Cummins, and everyone else who brought the project to its fruition.

Review of Volume 2
Eva Jean Wrather (1908-2001), longtime historian of the Stone-Campbell Movement and one of the founders of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society in Nashville, Tennessee, entertained a lifelong ambition to write the definitive biography of Disciples founder Alexander Campbell. Though she never published her work in her lifetime, at her death her manuscript efforts totaled approximately 800,000 words on 3,254 pages. Dr. D. Duane Cummins, moderator emeritus of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), has arranged Wrather's Campbell biography for publication by Texas Christian University Press in three volumes: the first, dealing with Campbell's early manhood and ministry (1788-1822), was released to positive reviews in 2005; the second, here under consideration, examines the pivotal years of 1823-1830 when Campbell began publishing the religious periodicals The Christian Baptist and The Millennial Harbinger and rose to national prominence; and the final portion of the trilogy, recounting Campbell's years of maturity (1831-1866), is anticipated in the near future.

Alexander Campbell was a paradox, an apostle of Christian rationalism with an editorial style so consistently bellicose and sarcastic that he managed to arouse passions among both followers and detractors that were anything but logical and rational. A great deal of the extant Campbell literature, at least that intended for general readership, emphasizes either Campbell's good works or his faults, and authors who adequately address both topics simultaneously are few and far between. It is not certain that Wrather is truly in this latter category; that question can be answered objectively only after her final volume is released, but her second book's account of the crucial years of Alexander Campbell and his followers' fierce quarrels with, and ultimate split from, the Baptists, makes an admirable effort toward that end. The best extant Campbell biographies either admit his good deeds and emphasize his faults, or admit his faults and emphasize his good deeds. Wrather states her theses from the second standpoint capably: though often strongly apologetic in tone, her prose never quite descends to hagiography. Still, it is ironic, wryly amusing, and entirely appropriate that she titled the first chapter in this volume after Voltaire's notorious motto, "Écrasez l'Infâme." She translates this expression (p. 25) as "Crush the infamy," her concept of "the infamy" being the organized Protestantism with which Campbell quarreled until about 1837 when he more or less joined forces with it; other translators render the phrase as "Crush the infamous!" or even "Damn the wretch!" with the object of condemnation being Jesus Christ; and Alexander Campbell's words were received in his own time with every bit as great, and as bitter, a difference of opinion.

My one strong negative criticism of this work is technical. It could be that Dr. Cummins determined to exert the lightest possible editorial hand on Wrather's prose, letting her, as it were, speak for herself. Though such intentions may be laudable, the volume's sheer number of grammatical and punctuation errors greatly mars its overall readability. Each chapter contains numerous examples of such varied typographical gaffes as misspellings, sentence fragments, missed and/or misapplied punctuation, and proper names spelled in variant ways (sometimes even in sequential paragraphs). Since it is probable that most or all of Wrather's manuscript had to be transcribed by other hands to computer format for publication, we suspect that most of the errors are by-products of hasty, careless transcription rather than the author's own mistakes, but if these errors appeared in Wrather's original pages it is no favor to her memory to retain them. The problem is correctible through copyediting and proofreading, though, so if the publisher should ever determine to release a second or paperback edition of the work I would urge a meticulous rechecking of page proofs even if the volume must be reformatted.

That said, if one is able to see the forest through the typographical trees, even as it stands this book serves as an apt testimony to both its author's religious convictions and her scholarship. I suspect that Wrather has captured the religious and literary portrait of Alexander Campbell with which he himself would have identified most closely, and composing such a work without letting it stray to hagiography was no mean effort. Though the old maxim that a biography should written by one's enemy rather than one's friend is often all too true, every biographical subject should have as articulate and devoted a friend as Eva Jean Wrather.

After all these years!
I have wanted to read Eva Jean Wrather's Campbell bio ever since I read Richardson's back in the early 1970s, and someone told me that "the third Mrs. Campbell" had a manuscript.She knew at the age of 12 that she wanted to write it, and worked on it for 70 years.I love books marinated in this kind of obsessive devotion by their authors.I have been hoping to see it published and here we have the first seven chapters, up to the beginning of the Christian Baptist in 1823.I would have preferred footnotes, but most people familiar with the Campbell story will know the general sources of most of the material anyway.This is very well written, with just a few distracting typos (p.258--"we court decision" should surely be "we court discussion"; p.259--"human horror" surely should be "human honor"; a couple of times "form" should be "from", etc.).We are told in the preface that "future volumes of her manuscript may appear".I hope so.So far,it's a great story well told, and a recommended read.
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Product Description
The little volume is a reprint of David Lipscomb's classic work on one of the key characteristics of the Stone-Campbell movement: Christian Unity. Lipscomb launches into the book: "The great curse of the church of Jesus Christ is division. Christ foresaw that strife and divisions would be the weakness of the church and the curse of the world..."This book is the second one in the Library of Radical Christian Discipleship, a collection of works by/about movements in church historythat were deeply rooted (the English word radical comes from the Latin radix, meaning root) in their commitment to following the self-denying example of Jesus and the earlychurch in embodying the Gospel as contrast communities in the midst of a world held hostage by sin and death. ... Read more

Product Description
G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) was born on a farm in Tetbury, England, the son of a Baptist minister. When Campbell was 10 years old, D. L. Moody came to England for the first time, and the effect of his ministry, combined with the dedication of his parents, made such an impression on young Morgan, that at the age of 13, he preached his first sermon. Two years later, he was preaching regularly in country chapels during his Sundays and holidays. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Selina had it right !
Selina Huntington Bakewell Campbell (1802-1897) had it right, when she advised a young convert, "Let many of your evening hours be set apart for reading works that will strengthen your faith, and enlarge and ennoble your mind."

Little did she know that her advice would one day apply to a wonderful book about herself, The Life of Selina Campbell: A Fellow Soldier in the Cause of Restoration.Selina, the second wife of Alexander Campbell, was a great Christian leader in her own right.

The book is well researched and cites many primary sources.It teaches much about the lives of nineteenth-century American frontier women and Selina Campbell.One is also led to appreciate the the influence Selina had on her husband and what has become known as the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement (the religious bodies of the Disciples of Christ, Christian Church/Church of Christ, and Churches of Christ).

The book includes an extensive bibliography and an index. ... Read more