Christian History Home > Issue 45 > Christianity on the Early American Frontier: A Gallery of Trendsetters in the Religious Wilderness
Christianity on the Early American Frontier: A Gallery of Trendsetters in the Religious Wilderness
by DAVID L. GOETZ David Goetz is associate editor of Leadership, a journal for church leaders. | posted 1/01/1995 12:00AM
Barton Warren Stone
(1772–1844)
The Bible-only man
“The Bible only” was the rallying cry of Barton Warren Stone, a cry that led him to question orthodox doctrine and create a new church whose members would be called merely “Christians.”
After his father died, young Barton invested his portion of the estate in education. He studied law in Greensboro, North Carolina, and while there sat under the preaching of Presbyterian evangelist James McGready. After three years, Stone set aside his legal ambitions and took up preaching.
He headed west and became the pastor of two Presbyterian parishes, in Concord and Cane Ridge, Kentucky. He was troubled by the spiritual acedia in his parishes, so when he heard about a revival in southwestern Kentucky, he went there to see what it was about.
He returned home enthused, and within months, a revival had erupted in Stone’s parishes; in August of 1801, it reached its climax at Cane Ridge. An estimated 20,000 listened to revival preaching and responded by shouting, ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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