The ACU community celebrated Restoration Day on Tuesday, September 6, at the Brown Library Packer Forum and Wednesday September 7, at the Chapel on the Hill.

This year’s Restoration Day featured the opening of a new library exhibit that displays the first edition of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address of the Washington (PA) Christian Association. This short book, written and published in 1809, is integral to the history of the Stone-Campbell Movement because it articulates many of our core beliefs about Christian unity.

In 2021, Wesley Williams of Memphis, Tennessee, and Bradley Williams of Nashville, Tennessee, entrusted the ACU Brown Library with a copy of this book, one of only four known original copies to exist in the world today. Members of the Williams family will be our honored guests at Restoration Day. The ACU Library is the only location where an original copy of this work is on public display.

Our other special guest was Dr. Ed Robinson, associate professor of history and religion at Texas College in Tyler. He spoke on the relevance of the Declaration and Address for today’s world.  Following Dr. Robinson’s lecture, a reception was held in the ACU Brown Library’s Special Collection & Archives department, and a new exhibit debuted at that time.

Dr. Edward Robinson

Dr. Robinson also spoke in the Graduate School of Theology’s weekly chapel service at the Chapel on the Hill in the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building at 11:30 am on Wednesday, September 7.

Watch the videos here:

Evening Keynote, “Standing on Apostolic Ground,” Dr. Edward Robinson

Friends of the Year Presentation, Bradley and Wesley Williams

Chapel, Dr. Edward Robinson

Restoration Day is hosted by the Center for Restoration Studies (CRS) at ACU. The Center for Restoration Studies was established in 1986 and is jointly managed by the ACU Brown Library and the ACU College of Biblical Studies. The Center advances scholarship related to the Stone-Campbell Movement and is one of the most active research communities dedicated to collecting, preserving, and disseminating scholarship related to the history of the Stone-Campbell Movement, specifically Churches of Christ. The Center for Restoration Studies also provides a robust and vital link between Abilene Christian University and congregations within the Stone-Campbell Movement.