Explorer in Search of Zion: The Spiritual Journey of David Edwin Harrell, Jr

by John Weaver

This biography is the untold story of Harrell’s lifelong spiritual pilgrimage through 70 years of religious publishing, itinerant preaching, doctrinal discussion, and global missionary efforts. It is a journey leading to a uniquely informed advocacy for restoring primitive Christianity in the present day and seeking to follow the New Testament pattern for individual faith and congregational practice in independent local churches around the world. Throughout his life, Harrell would guide younger Christians into better understanding of restoration movements seeking to follow both Jesus and his apostles in their self-emptying love and revelation of God’s will. This was, Harrell observed, a long and honorable history of ostracized sects seeking to escape the corruptions of history to be simply Christian. The history of humble spiritual journey toward God amid societal affluence and worldly attainment is also his story. 

Contents

1. Prologue
2. Prodigal
3. Prophet
4. Professor
5. Polemicist
6. Preacher
7. Publisher
8. Peacemaker
9. Proselytizer
10. Primitivist
11. Postlude

Appendices

1. David Edwin Harrell’s “Emergence of the Christ of Christ Denomination”
2. David Edwin Harrell’s “Peculiar People: A Rationale for Modern Conservative Disciples” from the Reed Lectureship, 1966
3. David Edwin Harrell’s “Christian Primitivism in the Twenty-first Century: Thinking ‘Inside the Box’ About Restoring New Testament Christianity

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