Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses are members of an international denomination who identify themselves as Christian and number over six million. Their headquarters are in New York, USA. It is an international organization known for its extensive preaching and publishing activities, distribution of the Watchtower and Awake! religious magazines being the most prominent.

Further reading

Watchtower publications

See: Jehovah's Witnesses literature

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Jehovah's Witnesses make vigorous efforts to spread their beliefs throughout the world in a variety of ways, with particular emphasis on the written word. Their literature is published in 410 languages through a wide variety of books, magazines and other publications. Their publications make extensive use of secular references and quotations from the Bible.

Related Topics:
Book - Magazine

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• New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT) is a modern-language translation of the Bible published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc (a legal entity in the service of Jehovah's Witnesses). This is the Bible translation primarily used by Jehovah's Witnesses. It is not the same as the more common translations, having changes to the fundamental ideas of Christianity.
• Awake!, published in 85 languages, is a general-interest semimonthly magazine covering many topics from a religious perspective. It has an average circulation of 22.8 million copies per issue.
• The Watchtower, Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom, published in 150 languages, focuses mainly on doctrine. With an average circulation of 26.4 million copies semimonthly, The Watchtower is the most widely distributed religious magazine in the world, and is available in various editions and media formats.

Both The Watchtower and Awake! are published simultaneously in dozens of languages. In addition to the formats mentioned above, both magazines are available in various audio and electronic formats and some of the articles from these magazines are available online. After the end of each year the issues are collected and re-released in a printed annual edition, commonly referred to as a bound volume. In addition to this, the Watchtower Library computer program contains several decades worth of articles for both magazines and is updated on an annual basis. (Until 2003, this was only done biennially.)

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New books, brochures, and other items are released from time to time, major releases being announced at their annual conventions. Additionally, a number of audio cassettes, videocassettes, and DVDs have been produced featuring various aspects of the group's beliefs, practices, organziation, and history. Some of these also provide dramas based on various Biblical accounts. Recent years have seen a proliferation of material available on their website.

Related Topics:
Books - Annual conventions - Audio cassette - Videocassette - DVD - Drama

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Positive publications

Armed with the Constitution : Jehovah's Witnesses in Alabama and the U.S Supreme Court, 1939-1946 by Merlin Newton. Newton researches the contributions of two Jehovah's Witnesses -- a black man and a white woman -- in expanding the meaning of the First Amendment in 1940s Alabama. She examines two key U.S. Supreme Court decisions, as well as court records, memoirs, letters, and interviews of Jehovah's Witnesses. - Publisher: University Alabama Press; Religion and American Culture Series, Reprint edition (June 28, 2002). Paperback: 240 pages. ISBN 0817312285

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Faith on the March by A. H. Macmillan. Written by Macmillan in 1957, he provides a first-person account of the early history of the modern day Jehovah Witnesses from his meeting of Charles Taze Russell in 1900 to the writing of the book. He served with three of the Presidents of Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society: Russell, Rutherford, and Knorr. - Publisher: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 57-8528 (Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1957)

Related Topics:
Charles Taze Russell - Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society - Rutherford - Knorr

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Jehovah's Witnesses : Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement by Andrew Holden. A British sociologist, attempts to understand the strict and austere Watch Tower Society and its adherents, Jehovah's Witnesses. This is an academic ethnography that draws upon interviews with both adherents and ex-members. - Publisher: Routledge. ISBN 0415266092 (London, New York 2002)

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Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada: Champions of freedom of speech and worship by M. James Penton. Penton, who is a professor emeritus of history at University of Lethbridge, examines the history of legal activities that led to expansion of religious freedoms in Canada. - Publisher: Macmillan of Canada. ISBN 0770513409 (Canada, 1976)

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Critical publications

Crisis of Conscience by Raymond Franz, a former Governing Body member of the Watch Tower Society for nine years. This book gives a detailed account of the authority structure, practices, doctrines and decision-making practices Franz experienced while serving on the Governing Body. Franz gives a personal account of the inner conflict between loyalty to God and one's Christian conscience versus loyalty to a religious organization. - Publisher: Commentary Press. 420 pages. Hardback ISBN 0914675249. Paperback ISBN 0914675230. 4th edition (June 2002)

Related Topics:
Raymond Franz - Governing Body

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In Search of Christian Freedom by Raymond Franz. A follow up to the book Crisis of Conscience, Franz explores many doctrinal and ethical issues, including the nature of Christian freedom. In it he explores various aspects of the Watch Tower's teachings, doctrines, and claims, comparing and contrasting them with Biblical scriptures. ISBN 0914675168 Publisher: Commentary Press (October 1991, internally updated in 2002)

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The Sign of the Last Days - When? by Carl O. Jonsson & Wolfgang Herbst. A case against the Jehovah's Witness belief that the 'sign of the Last Days' began in 1914. Accompanied by historical figures for wars, famines, earthquakes and pestilences from past centuries, detailed world disaster statistics, and Biblical references. ISBN 0914675095 Publisher: Commentary Press (1 September 1987)

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Where is the "Great Crowd" Serving God? by Jon Mitchell. A 32 page booklet by a former secretary to the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses that disputes the Jehovah's Witnesses' belief in two classes of salvation, i.e., the "Great Crowd" (earthly) and "The 144,000's" (heavenly). (See ) He covers the Watchtower's doctrines, and the Greek word Naos in a scriptural discussion explicating his opinion that there is no biblical difference between the two groups' location. ISBN 9993518972 Publisher: Commentary Press (1 December 1992)

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