Penton, M. James 1932- (Jim Penton)

PERSONAL:

Born April, 1932, in Saskatchewan, Canada; married Marilyn King, 1951; children: David, John, Anne. Education: University of Arizona, B.A., 1956; State University of Iowa, M.A., 1958, Ph.D., 1965.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Mexico.

CAREER:

Universidad de Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, instructor, 1959; Northern Michigan University, Marquette, instructor, 1960-63; University of Wisconsin—Whitewater, instructor, 1964-65; University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, instructor, 1965-67; University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, professor, 1967-90, professor emeritus, 1990—.

MEMBER:

Canadian Society of Church History (past president).

WRITINGS:

Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada: Champions of Freedom of Speech and Worship, Macmillan of Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1976.

(Editor) Carl Olof Jonsson, The Gentile Times Reconsidered, Hart Publishers (Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada), 1983, 2nd edition, Commentary Press (Atlanta, GA), 1986.

Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1985, 2nd edition, 1997.

Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics under Persecution, University of Toronto Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

M. James Penton is a former member of the Jehovah's Witnesses who has written extensively about the sect's history and its relationship with the various political and social entities in the countries where Jehovah's Witnesses are found. Penton's family were members of the sect since the early twentieth century; his great-grandfather, Henry Penton, had become associated with Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada, and the family suffered persecution from Canadian authorities during the First and Second World Wars because of their refusal to salute the national flag, in accordance with their religious principles. He and his wife, Marilyn, were married in the church and served as leaders of the movement in the United States for many years. "Both Jim and Marilyn were becoming increasingly unhappy with the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses during the late 1970s, however," wrote a contributor to XJW.com. "Neither believed the Watch Tower Society's assertion that the present world would probably end in 1975, and both were taken aback by the fact that for years the Society refused to admit any fault in the matter. Both also became distressed over the Watch Tower's methods of cajoling ordinary Witnesses into going preaching from door to door, the Society's lack of love and concern for ordinary persons, and the mistreatment of their older son, David, for attending university."

What troubled Penton most about the behavior of the Society was its disingenuousness. In his investigations, set out in works like Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses, wrote a contributor to Jehovah's Witnesses and Thought Control, "he discovered the long and convoluted trail of failed prophecies perpetrated by leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses." His relationship with the Society deteriorated to the point where he was removed from his position as an elder and expelled from the organization. "The Watchtower Society is quick to expose other religions' supposed false teachings," the Jehovah's Witnesses and Thought Control reviewer continued, "while they disfellowship members for engaging in the same activity—if it's directed at their own organization!" "Whereas a few apocalyptic groups disband in disgrace, most simply make adjustments and keep going," wrote Timothy P. Weber in the American Historical Review. "No group in modern times has been more successful at surviving their prophetic disconfirmations than have the Jehovah's Witnesses."

More of Penton's scholarship is displayed in Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics under Persecution. "Many historians," declared Kevin P. Spicer in Church History, "have praised the steadfast spirit of the German and European Witness communities who boldly defied the National Socialist persecution." Penton discovered that the resistance was by no means as steadfast as Witness leaders had claimed. "The leaders of the Witnesses community, both in the United States and in Germany," Spicer explained, "‘tried to ingratiate their movement with the Nazis in 1933 and attempted to scapegoat the Jews.’ When this strategy failed, then the Witnesses, spurred on by their world leader, Judge Joseph Franklin Rutherford, chose the path of direct resistance against the Nazi state. After the war and ever since, the Jehovah's Witnesses, Penton argues, have attempted to rewrite their history under National Socialism by concealing their earlier overtures to Hitler and by downplaying their anti-Semitism." "The creation by the WBTS [Watchtower Bible and Tract Society] of a martyrography of its Holocaust victims is self-serving," Richard Singelenberg declared in the Journal of Church and State, "in the sense that the movement exploited the misery that befell its membership as a propagandistic strategy against increasing opposition to the Witnesses in Europe during the 1990s. The author presents additional material that appears to undermine the official version of the WBTS, such as the alleged cover up of treason by high ranking officials."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, December 1, 1986, Timothy P. Weber, review of Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses, p. 1279.

Canadian Book Review Annual, January 1, 1997, review of Apocalypse Delayed, p. 125; January 1, 2004, Jay Newman, review of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics under Persecution, p. 106.

Choice, July 1, 2005, D.J. Dietrich, review of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich.

Christianity Today, November 22, 1985, Marvin Millis, review of Apocalypse Delayed, p. 43.

Church History, March 1, 2006, Kevin P. Spicer, review of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich, p. 203.

Journal of Church and State, June 22, 2005, Richard Singelenberg, review of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich, p. 626.

Journal of Religion, January 1, 1990, Robert C. Fuller, review of Apocalypse Delayed, p. 107.

Reference & Research Book News, February 1, 2005, review of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich, p. 28.

ONLINE

Jehovah's Witnesses and Thought Control,http://jehovahswitnessesandthoughtcontrol.blogspot.com/ (May 22, 2008), "James Penton: Rampant Apostate or Revealer of Truth."

XJW.com,http://www.xjw.com/ (May 22, 2008), "Profile of M. James (Jim) Penton."