CHRISTADELPHIANS (Xpwroi i sXcboi, "

See also:

• BROTHERS, RICHARD (1757-1824)

brothers of

See also:

• CHRIST (Gr. X pLQTOS, Anointed)
• CHRIST, WILHELM VON (1831-1906)

Christ ")  , sometimes also called Thomasites, a community founded in 1848 by John Thomas (1805-1871), who, after studying medicine in London, migrated to Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.A . There he at first joined the " Campbellites," but afterwards struck out independently, preaching largely upon the application of Hebrew prophecy and of the Book of Revelation to current and future events . Both in America and in Great Britain he gathered a number of adherents, and formed a community which has extended to several English-speaking countries . It consists of exclusive " ecclesias," with neither ministry nor organization . The members meet on Sundays to " break bread '" and discuss the Bible . Their theology is strongly millenarian, centering in the hope of a world-wide theocracy with its seat at Jerusalem . Holding a doctrine of conditional immortality," they believe that they alone have the true exegesis of Scripture, and that the " faith of Christendom" is" compounded of the fables predicted by Paul." No statistics of the community are published . It probably numbers from two to three thousand members . A monthly magazine, The Christadelphian, is published in Birmingham . See R . Roberts, Dr Thomas, his Life and Work (1884) .