Belief — The Christadelphians

The Christadelphians

Denomination·Founded 1848 CE·Around 50,000 worldwide in roughly 120 countries is the figure usually cited, from the Columbia Encyclopedia and repeated widely. There is no central body and no census: each ecclesia keeps its own roll and no one aggregates them, so the number is an estimate and should be read as one. Substantial communities exist in Britain, Australia, North America, Malawi, Mozambique and India.

Figures

who it looks to — gods, spirits, ancestors; some rooms are empty on principle All 1 →

J John Thomas — the doctor who resolved to start from scratch. A London-trained physician who emigrated in 1832, joined the Campbell movement, quarrelled with Alexander Campbell over the nature of man and the resurrection, and worked out a complete system from the text. Elpis Israel, published in 1849, is still the movement's foundational exposition. Domain Doctrine worked out from the text alone; prophecy; the kingdom restored to IsraelStanding Read and cited, and firmly not treated as an authority above the text Meet them — context →

Core Tenets

2 — a sample of the center, never the sum All 2 →

The shared center — held across the tradition

God is one person, and the Trinity is a Greek import. The Father alone is God; Jesus is his son, begotten and not pre-existent as a person; the Holy Spirit is God's power in action. Christadelphians argue this from the text at length and hold that the fourth-century creeds imported a philosophy the apostles would not have recognised. Go deeper — context →

You do not have an immortal soul, so there is nowhere to torment you. The dead are unconscious and know nothing until the resurrection. Immortality is not a possession but a gift given at judgment to those found faithful; the rejected are destroyed rather than punished forever. There is no devil as a person — the diabolos of Scripture is read as human sinful nature. Go deeper — context →

Cosmos & Afterlife

how reality is built, and what follows death

The nature of reality

One God, one purpose worked out in history, and a future kingdom on this earth rather than an escape from it

After death

The dead are unconscious and know nothing; the responsible dead are raised at Christ's return, judged, and either given immortality or destroyed. There is no hell of torment and no immortal soul to put in one.