Tant-Frost Debate

About the middle of the nineteenth century, the church of the Lord began to experience problems because of differing attitudes regarding how to establish scriptural authority. Two issues were especially prominent in the discussions that occurred among brethren: missionary societies and instrumental music in worship. Unfortunately, many congregations divided over these issues during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Eventually, the division became so complete that the Disciples of Christ and the churches of Christ were recognized as distinct groups.J. D. Tant (of San Marcos, Texas) and W. J. Frost (of Houston, Missouri) participated in a written debate on the instrumental music and society issues during 1904. The Tant-Frost Debate was published by F. L. Rowe (Cincinnati, Ohio) later that year. This book has been out of print for many years. Several debates on instrumental music in worship have been published through the years; however, few are readily available now. Debates on the society question were rarely published. The Otey-Briney Debate is the only other debate on this subject currently in print. Therefore, the publisher has issued this new edition of the Tant-Frost Debate in order to provide study material on these issues. Typographical errors that were detected have been corrected. In addition, Bible references have been converted from the Roman numeral form used in the original publication to a more modern form (e.g., 1 Cor. 14:15 instead of I. Cor. xiv. 15). We hope that these changes will improve readability. Our fervent desire is that good may result from the publication of this material. Let us approach the study of all religious questions with the attitude of those noble Bereans, who "searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:10-11).