By June 14, 1928 John Harvey Grime had published a new 71-page booklet title A Discussion Between J. H. Grime and James A. Allen. Grime was Baptist and Allen church of Christ (Campbellite), editor of The Gospel Advocate. In it they debated the origin, faith and practice of their respective churches.
The original discussion was published as periodical installments. Thomas N. Thrasher’s Encyclopedia of Religious Debates (Volume 2 E-L, 2016, p. 63) notes that the discussion appeared in two periodicals – The Baptist and Commoner (Little Rock, Arkansas) and The Gospel Advocate (Nashville, Tennessee). Volume LXIX, No. 47 (November 24, 1927, p. 1) of The Gospel Advocate carries the first affirmative of the Grime-Allen Discussion with this note, “This debate is running simultaneously in the Gospel Advocate and in the Baptist and Commoner, Little Rock, Ark.” In The Gospel Advocate it ran in six consecutive issues in November and December, and was likely then printed in a similar series of dates in The Baptist and Commoner. The book itself was not printed until 1928, with late Spring being a likely possibility.
The background of the discussion is this.
An April 9, 1925 article by Allen in the Nashville Banner included the statement that “when a man becomes a Methodist, a Baptist, a Presbyterian, etc., he becomes something more or less than a Christian,” that these were “human denominations,” and that only the church of Allen was New Testament Christianity. This drew a response from Grime.
In 1925, Grime and Allen engaged in correspondence, Grime desiring a written discussion and Allen an oral debate.
In 1926 (“Preface” dated November 11, 1926) in Blood Before Water and Christ Before the Church, J. H. Grime writes about wanting a written discussion on the following propositions
“The church with which, I, J. H. Grime, am identified, or of which I am a member, known by my brethren as a Baptist Church, is scriptural in origin, doctrine, and practice.”
“The Church with which I am Identified, or of which I am a member, known to my brethren as the Church of Christ, is scriptural in origin, doctrine, and practice.”
In 1927, James A. Allen published Alias “Campbellism”: Review of “Blood Before Water and Christ Before the Church” by J. H. Grime – a booklet reviewing Grime’s booklet (“Introduction” dated July 14, 1927).
Apparently, after these events, Grime and Allen were able to agree on a discussion through two religious periodicals. By June 14, 1928, the material had been published in book form by J. H. Grime.
“New Books Reviewed” in The Baptist and Reflector includes a review of “A Discussion, between J. H. Grime and James A. Allen. Published by J. H. Grime, Lebanon, Tenn. $0.25.” The Baptist editor reviews the booklet very positively.
“This is a compilation of a discussion held recently by the Rev. J. H. Grime of Lebanon and James A. Allen of the Gospel Advocate. It is well arranged and show the two sides of a controversy that has been wages since the days of Alexander Campbell. Dr. Grime holds to the position that Baptists are the successors of apostolic Christians. He back his thesis with history, scripture, and sound logic. Dr. Allen presents the usual arguments for the disappearance of New Testament Christianity and its restoration during the first part of the nineteenth century.” The Baptist and Reflector, Thursday, June 14, 1928, p. 13.
The first page of the booklet reminds the reader “This Discussion Was First Published in Papers, And is Now Put in This Form.”
Worldcat.org and Abilene Christian University list this booklet as “Publisher not identified” and “Place of publication not identified.” This can be cleared up with the booklet itself and the The Baptist and Reflector review, which shows it is published by J. H. Grime, Lebanon, Tennessee. The date can also be ascertained – 1928. A Discussion Between J. H. Grime and James A. Allen could only have been published after the paper discussion was closed in December 1927, and the booklet was “new” in June 1928.
The title and writing on the cover follows:
A DISCUSSION
BETWEEN
J. H. GRIME (Baptist)
LEBANON, TENNESSEE
AND
JAMES A. ALLEN
(Editor Gospel Advocate)
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
PRICE 25 CENTS
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