Episode 1 of 2

Claim of Invisible Return in 1874

When: October 1874
Where: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Part of: Bible Students claim 1874 as the invisible return of Christ

Russell adopted the belief that Christ returned invisibly in 1874, a date established by Adventist preachers Barbour and Paton.

In 1876, Russell was convinced by Nelson Barbour and John Henry Paton that Christ had returned invisibly in 1874. He believed the 'time of the end' began in 1799 and that Christ was ruling from heaven since October 1874. This doctrine was central to his teachings and publications.

Sources

Charles Taze Russell Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-13
Bible Student movement Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.