A critical history of the Texas Christian Advocate, 1849-1949

Abstract

Before Tohaikovsky wrote his Fifth symphony and the year Wordsworth died, preachers with guns and an old hand press were publishing a newspaper on the Texas frontier. The preachers were Methodists and they called their paper The Texas Wesleyan Banner. Later, the name was changed to The Texas Christian Advocate and still later it became The Southwestern Advooate. But the auspices. the purposes. the characteristics and the methods of the publication remained the same for almost a century. Purpose of the Study. To reconstruct the history of this journal which for so long was an active force in the religious growth. and to a lesser extent. the secular development of Texas is the purpose of this study. Such a study must emphasize the primarily journalistic aspects of the subject. But since it is a study of a publication whose nature was greatly determined by the political and sociological conditions of its time, it cannot ignore these. And since it is a study of a religious publication v.hose significance hinges largely upon the influence it exerted among its readers. it cannot escape it cannot escape evaluation of this influence and reaction if it is to be fully accurate and meaningful...--Page [1].