Alexander Campbell (Restoration movement)
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Alexander Campbell (September 12, 1788 – March 4, 1866) was an early leader of a movement that began in 1800 with the goal of removing divisions between Christians, by returning believers in the New Testament to principles of "Truth and Union". This movement has since been called the Restoration Movement.
Campbell was born in County Antrim, Ireland. He was raised as a Presbyterian, and was in fact the son of a Presbyterian minister, Thomas Campbell, who also became a leader in the Restoration Movement. He was greatly influenced by Scottish Enlightenment philosophy, particularly that of John Locke. In later years he worked in close conjunction with another former Presbyterian minister, Barton W. Stone. He was also a delegate to the Virginia constitutional convention held in the 1830s which led that state toward a more powerful executive branch of government. He was the editor of the Christian periodical The Millenial Harbinger until his death in 1866, and used it to further his views on Christian unity and the restoration of the true church envisioned in the New Testament. He was also the compiler of a hymnal which consisted of lyrics without any musical notations, and also made his own translation of the New Testament into modern English, but it gained a rather limited acceptance at best, even among his own followers. He was also the founder of Bethany College in Bethany, Virginia (now Bethany, West Virginia), where he spent the bulk of his final years. He wrote several books, of which The Christian System was perhaps the most influential in the Restoration Movement.