The Zion Herald
Search this Title
About this Title
Zion City was a utopian religious community founded in July 1901 by John Alexander Dowie, an evangelical minister, and pioneer of Pentecostalism in the United States. Dowie emigrated from Australia in 1888 and eventually settled in Chicago where, in 1893, he established a ministry near the World's Columbian Exposition. Central to Dowie's ministry was the practice of faith healing, and it proved enormously popular. He soon formed a publishing company to issue his sizable output of periodicals, books, and pamphlets. In 1896 he began planning a utopian religious community, to be named Zion City, which would serve as a refuge from the many social problems troubling American cities at the time, the same problems attracting the attention of contemporary Progressive Era reformers. Whereas most Progressive Era reformers viewed these problems as evidence of social, economic, and political dysfunction, Dowie saw them as evidence of religious and moral decay. He believed that only complete subordination to religious authority could solve the problems of modernity, and Zion City was planned as a church-state, or theocracy.
The Zion Herald began publication in 1907. It was a local news and weekly publication that changed from weekly on Wednesday to weekly on Saturday on June 8th, 1907. The Zion Herald contains local news, classified advertisements for Zion City, and religious rhetoric and opinion pieces, it also includes frequent mention and referral of the Leaves of Healing, the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church’s theological publication (Which Voliva was also editing and publishing for most of the Herald’s run.)
The editor and publisher was initially Theodore Forey and then changed on June 29th, 1907 to Wilbur Glenn Voliva (who was the overseer and successor of Dowie). Foray moved to the business office of the publication until he later broke with the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church due to disagreeing with Voliva’s assertion of the Earth’s flatness.
Its last issue was June 29, 1910, at which point it was consolidated with the Leaves of Healing (which was expanded to include elements from the Zion Herald). The Leaves of Healing was an ongoing publication founded by Dowie, who began it prior to the city’s founding, Voliva then took it over as part of his assumption of power in Zion City.
Zion City was a utopian religious community founded in July 1901 by John Alexander Dowie, an evangelical minister and pioneer of Pentecostalism in the United States. Dowie emigrated from Australia in 1888, and eventually settled in Chicago where, in 1893, he established a ministry near the World's Columbian Exposition. Central to Dowie's ministry was the practice of faith healing, and it proved enormously popular. He soon formed a publishing company to issue his sizable output of periodicals, books, and pamphlets. In 1896 he began planning a utopian religious community, to be named Zion City, which would serve as a refuge from the many social problems troubling American cities at the time, the same problems attracting the attention of contemporary Progressive Era reformers. Whereas most Progressive Era reformers viewed these problems as evidence of social, economic, and political dysfunction, Dowie saw them as evidence of religious and moral decay. He believed that only complete subordination to religious authority could solve the problems of modernity, and Zion City was planned as a church-state, or theocracy, which is why the newspaper was called the Zion City Theocrat [LCCN sn 94054571].