DOWIE, John A. 1847-1907

(John Alexander Dowie)

PERSONAL: Born May 25, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland; immigrated to Australia; immigrated to United States, 1888; died March 9, 1907, in Zion, IL; son of John Murray (a tailor and preacher) and Ann (Macfarlane-McHardie) Dowie; married Jeanne Dowie, 1876. Education: Attended University of Edinburgh.

CAREER: Ordained Congregational minister, 1870; minister of a Congregational Church in Newton, Australia, 1876–78; evangelistic preacher, 1978–82; International Divine Healing Association, Melbourne, Australia, founder and leader, 1882–88; traveling lecturer and healer in United States, 1888–93; established tabernacle in Chicago, IL, 1893; Christian Catholic Apostolic Church, founder, 1896, general overseer, minister, and healer, 1896–1906, founder and administrator of city of Zion, IL, 1901–06; deposed from ministry, 1906. Also worked as junior partner of a wholesale dry-goods business in Adelaide, Australia, c. 1870s.

WRITINGS:

Zion's Conflict with Methodist Apostasy, Zion Publishing House (Chicago, IL), 1900.

The Personal Letters of John Alexander Dowie, edited by Edna Miller Sheldrake, W.G. Voliva (Zion, IL), 1912.

Champion of the Faith: The Sermons of John Alexander Dowie, edited by Gordon Lindsay, Christ for the Nations (Dallas, TX), 1979.

Author of pamphlets "'The Times of the Restoration of All Things': Elijah the Restorer—Malachi 4:5," edited by John Alfred Lewis, (Zion, IL), 1917; and "The Gospel of Divine Healing and How I Came to Preach It: Extract from an Address," Recorder of Zion (Zion, IL). Author of magazine Leaves of Healing.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Cook, Philip L., Zion City, Illinois, John Alexander Dowie's Theocracy, Zion Historical Society (Zion, IL), 1970.

Lindsay, Gordon, John Alexander Dowie, Christ for the Nations (Dallas, TX), 1980.

Religious Leaders of America, 2nd edition, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1999.

PERIODICALS

Illinois Quarterly, winter, 1975, Philip L. Cook, "Zion City, Illinois—The Kingdom of Heaven and Race," pp. 50-62.

OBITUARIES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, March 10, 1907.