Samuel Kinsey

Samuel Kinsey (25 May 1832 – 8 June 1883) was a Christian minister and leader of the reactionary wing of the German Baptist Brethren that became the Old German Baptist Brethren.

Early life

Samuel Kinsey was born in Covington, Ohio on 25 May 1832[lower-alpha 1] to Joel Kinsey and Elizabeth Brumbaugh.[1][2] On 23 April 1852,[3] he married Barbara Nead, daughter of Peter Nead, and together they had thirteen children.[4] He joined the Brethren as a member in 1853.[4] Kinsey was economically successful, and was at various times a carpenter, a farmer, proprietor of a general store, owner of a tree nursery, and publisher.[5][2][3] The place where he lived became known as the town of Kinsey Station.[3][6][7] He was a deacon[4] and was elected in 1870 as a recognized minister of Lower Stillwater Brethren congregation in Randolph Township near Dayton, Ohio.[8][9][10][6]

Old Order leadership

Between 1851 and 1865, Brethren periodicals began to be published under progressive editors Henry Kurtz, James Quinter, and Henry Holsinger.[11] At the same time, Kinsey's father-in-law, Peter Nead, was the primary leader for the reactionary[12][13] wing of the Brethren,[14][15] also known at the time as Old Order Brethren.[15] Out of this group[lower-alpha 2] emerged a new periodical, The Vindicator, with Kinsey as editor.[14][17][18] It was first published on 1 March 1870[10][15][16] as an eight-page monthly,[12][13][16] composed of scriptural interpretations, exhortations to piety, and news on church affairs.[15] One of its goals was to counter the influence of progressive Brethren periodicals.[19][20]

A major controversy among the Brethren arose over the authority of tradition and the role of the church in establishing a church order or ordnung, known as the "order of the Brethren".[21] In The Vindicator, Kinsey rejected that the church had any authority to change or adapt the order, as it was based upon Scripture.[22][17]

This view sharply contrasted with other Brethren at the time. The group that became the Church of the Brethren revered tradition and supported the role of the church in discerning an ordnung (Set of rules for church order), but held this order to be changeable. Meanwhile, the faction that became the Brethren Church rejected any need at all for a unified church order or agreement on practices not explicitly defined in Christian Scripture, and sought to eliminate some Brethren traditions which they felt lacked sufficient support from Scriptures.[21][17][lower-alpha 3]

In around 1874, Kinsey handed over control of his business interests to others in order to devote himself to the service of the church.[17] He was a hymn writer.[8] In 1878, Kinsey was one of four men appointed and financially supported by the Southern Ohio District of the Brethren to engage in missionary work in Kentucky. This work was largely unsuccessful.[23]

A significant part of Kinsey's ministry was also his ongoing publishing. The Vindicator was expanded to 32 pages per issue.[3][24] His work was not well received by the majority of Brethren; Kinsey was reprimanded by the 1881 Brethren Annual Meeting for encouraging dissension and criticizing church authorities.[25] The Old German Baptist Brethren split at this conference,[26][19] with Nead and Kinsey as their primary leaders.[27] The proliferation of unauthorized and uncontrolled periodicals has been claimed as a major cause of this division.[28][29][19][30][lower-alpha 4] In 1882, at their first meeting, the Old German Baptist Brethren recognized The Vindicator as their official publication.[15][14][3][30] Kinsey was also ordained as an elder in 1882.[4]

Death and legacy

Kinsey died on 8 June 1883.[17][31][3] He was succeeded as editor by Joseph I. Cover.[32][33] The Vindicator set a precedent of conservative periodicals that was followed by Mennonite George R. Brunk's Sword and Trumpet.[14][lower-alpha 5] Kinsey has continued to be influential in the Old German Baptist Brethren.[34][35] The Vindicator continues to be published for the Old German Baptist Brethren as of 2008.[36][15]

Works

• The pious companion.
• The parable of the supper.
• Forward and backward mode of baptism.
• Plain remarks on worldly mindedness.[37][17]
• Business Thoughts for Annual Meeting. The Vindicator. 9. June 1878. p. 183-84.

Notes

1. Brumbaugh (1913, p. 465) claims he was born on 26 May 1832
2. Other figures involved in starting the periodical included Daniel Miller, Abram Flory, Daniel P. Saylor, and Daniel Brower.[16]
3. Note that the values of individual liberty, the rejection of tradition, and secularization by diminishing the scope of the church's role are part of the philosophical movement of liberalism.
4. See also Miller (1882, p. 90), Dove (1932, p. 76f), Annual Meeting of 1869, Article 1, p. 342, and Annual Meeting of 1871, Article 35, p. 369
5. See Bender, Harold S. (1959). "Sword and Trumpet, The". Mennonite Encyclopedia. 4. p. 677.

Citations

1. Holsinger 1901, p. 464.
2. Durnbaugh 1983, p. 696.
3. Brumbaugh 1913, p. 465.
4. Holsinger 1901, p. 465.
5. Holsinger 1901, p. 464f.
6. Miller 1882, p. 22.
7. Murray, Siler & Kinsey 1883, p. 36.
8. Garst 1921, p. 94.
9. Brumbaugh 1913, p. 414.
10. Miller 1983, p. 1306.
11. Bowman 1995, p. 98.
12. Winger 1919, p. 150.
13. Kimmel 1951, p. 178.
14. Durnbaugh 1997, p. 357.
15. Winfield 2008, p. 21.
16. Brumbaugh 1913, p. 557f.
17. Holsinger 1901, p. 466.
18. Miller 1882, p. 90.
19. Weinland 1996, p. 65.
20. Dove 1932, p. 116f.
21. Stoffer 1982, p. 42-44.
22. Stoffer 1982, p. 43-44.
23. Garst 1921, p. 182.
24. Rowell 1879, p. 271.
25. 1881 Annual Conference Decisions, Article 4, in Reese et al. 1886, p. 369
26. Durnbaugh 1997, p. 352.
27. Bowman & Durnbaugh 1986, p. 27,56.
28. Durnbaugh 1997, p. 352f.
29. Boyers 1971, p. 78.
30. Minutes of the yearly meetings, 1882 minutes, Article 3, p. 5f.
31. Miller 1973, p. 95.
32. McFadden 1941, p. 17.
33. Brumbaugh et al. 1908, p. 249.
34. Stoffer 1982, p. 37.
35. Hari 2015, p. 120.
36. Durnbaugh 1997, p. 357,349.
37. Brumbaugh et al. 1908, p. 359.

References

• Bowman, Carl Desportes; Durnbaugh, Donald F. (1986). Church of the Brethren: yesterday and today. Elgin, IL: Brethren Press. ISBN 978-0-87178-151-2.
• Bowman, Carl F. (1995). Brethren Society: The Cultural Transformation of a "Peculiar People". Center Books in Anabaptist Studies. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-4905-3.
• Boyers, Auburn A. (1971), "The Brethren, annual conference, and education: Denominational publications", Brethren Life and Thought, 16 (Winter), ISSN 0006-9663
• Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus (1913). Genealogy of the Brumbach families, including those using the following variations of the original name, Brumbaugh, Brumbach, Brumback, Brombaugh, Brownback, and many other connected families. New York: F. H. Hitchcock.
• Brumbaugh, Martin Grove; Falkenstein, G.N.; Miller, D.L.; Beahm, I.N.M.; McCann, S.N., eds. (1908). Two centuries of the Church of the Brethren, Or, The beginning of the brotherhood: Bicentennial addresses at the annual conference, held at Des Moines, Iowa, June 3–11, 1908. Elgin, IL: Brethren Publishing House.
• Minutes of the yearly meetings of the Brethren of the Old German Baptist Church from A.D. 1882 to A.D. 1885.
• Dove, Frederick Denton (1932). Cultural changes in the Church of the Brethren: A Study in Cultural Sociology. Elgin, IL & Philadelphia, PA: Brethren Publishing House / University of Pennsylvania.
• Durnbaugh, Donald F. (1997). "Sustainers or seducers? The rise and meaning of church-related institutions". Mennonite Quarterly Review. 71 (3): 345-364. ISSN 0025-9373.
• Durnbaugh, Donald F., ed. (1983). "Kinsey, Samuel". The Brethren Encyclopedia. 2. p. 696.
• Garst, Jesse O., ed. (1921). History of the Church of the Brethren of the Southern District of Ohio (2nd ed.). Dayton, Ohio: Otterbein Press. LCCN 22004190.
• Hari, Michael Benjamin (2013). Brethren thinking: A collection of essays. Clarence, IL: Der Brüderbote Press / Lulu. ISBN 978-1-4905-5730-4. OCLC 900538616. Alternate ISBN 978-1-300-81925-7. Note: An internet search for Der Brüderbote Press reveals only the works of Michael Hari as of June 2018.
• Hari, Michael Benjamin (2015). Old Order Resurgence. Clarence, IL: Der Brüderbote Press / Lulu. ISBN 978-1-329-16038-5.
• Holsinger, H.R. (1901). "Elder Samuel Kinsey". Holsinger's History of the Tunkers and the Brethren Church. Lathrop, CA: Pacific Press. p. 464.
• Kimmel, John M. (1951). Chronicles of the Brethren: Comprising a Concise History of the Brethren Or Dunker Church from Its Organization in Europe in A.D. 1708 to Its Separation in America in A.D. 1881 and the Subsequent History of the Old German Baptist Church to and Including the Year A.D. 1900. Covington, OH: Little Printing Co.
• McFadden, Glen (October 1941). "Dunkers as publishers". Schwarzenau: A Journal of Dunker History. 3 (1): 5-21.
• Miller, Howard (1882). The record of the faithful: For the use of the Brethren: Being a statistical record and a complete directory of the Brethren Church, for the years 1881–1882. Lewisburgh, Pa.: J.R. Cornelius.
• Miller, Marcus (1973). "Roots by the river": The history, doctrine, and practice of the Old German Baptist Brethren in Miami County, Ohio. Covington, OH: Author.
• Murray, Samuel; Siler, George V.; Kinsey, Samuel (January 1883). The Brethren's reasons for producing and adopting the resolutions of August 24th: Consisting of a collection of petitions made to the annual meeting. Samuel Kinsey.
• Reese, Alex W.; Culp, Fred; Whitmore, Jacob; Hutchison, A., eds. (1886). Classified minutes of the annual meetings of the Brethren: A history of the general councils of the church from 1778 to 1885. Brethren's Publishing Company.
• Rowell, George Presbury (1879). Geo. P. Rowell and Co.'s American newspaper directory. New York: Author.
• Stoffer, Dale R. (1982). "Progressivism: A definition" (PDF). Ashland Theological Journal. 15: 36-50. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
• Weinland, Markus (1996). Das Friedensethos der Kirche der Brüder im Spannungsfeld von Gewaltlosigkeit und Weltverantwortung [The peace ethos of the Church of the Brethren in the tension between nonviolence and global responsibility] (PDF). Theologie und Frieden (in German). Stuttgart, Germany: Kohlhammer Verlag. ISBN 3-17-013722-0. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
• Winfield, Richard C. (March 2008). "Publications: Voices of the Brethren". The Brethren Evangelist. Vol. 30 no. 2. Brethren Church. p. 16,21. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
• Winger, Otho (1919). History and doctrines of the Church of the Brethren. Brethren Publishing House.

Further reading

• Miller, Marcus (1983). "Vindicator, The". In Durnbaugh, Donald F. (ed.). The Brethren Encyclopedia. 2. p. 1306-07.
• Moyer, E.S. (1931). Missions in the Church of the Brethren: Their development and effect upon the denomination. Elgin, IL: Brethren Publishing House. p. 147.
• Sappington, R.E. (1985). The Brethren in Industrial America: A Source Book on the Development of the Church of the Brethren, 1865–1915. Brethren Press. ISBN 978-0-87178-111-6.

External links

• Manchester University Archives Record
• WorldCat Identities Record