Christian World Liberation Front Collection, 1970-1988

Summary

Title:

Christian World Liberation Front collection

Dates:

1970-1988

Creators:

Black, Edith

Abstract:

The collection contains records about evangelical Christians and the Jesus movement in Berkeley from 1970 through the eighties. Materials primarily represent the Christian World Liberation Front (CWLF) and the Spiritual Counterfeits Project (SCP), but also include materials on the Bay Area Evangelical Women's Caucus and other organizations.

Extent:

2.5 linear feet (3 archives boxes) 17 documents

Language:

Languages represented in the collection: English

Preferred citation:

Christian World Liberation Front collection, GTU 94-9-03. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection records activities of the Christian World Liberation Front and its official newsletters. Other materials record the Bay Area Evangelical Women's Caucus, of which Edith Black was a member, and similar local organizations. The collection consists of two series: 1. Organizational and Information files (materials collected directly from the CWLF organization and materials about the organization); and 2. Newsletters. The newspapers Right On! and Radix are in pristine condition. File folder headings are listed as they were in the donated collection, with headings added if the file was not labeled.

Biographical / historical:

The Christian World Liberation Front (CWLF) was founded in 1969 in Berkeley, California, by Jack Sparks and others from the Campus Crusade for Christ. Disagreeing with the need for headquarters approval of any published material, they became an independent entity.

Sparks, a former teacher at Penn State in statistics and research design, led the organization to become one of the most recognizable Christian groups in Berkeley. Along with individual approaches and distribution of their literature, the group led impromtu gatherings and performed street theater around the University of California campus and Telegraph Avenue. Their mission was to evangelize and convert students and street people.

In 1975, the CWLF disbanded over questions of authority. Neither group continued under the CWLF name. Some members followed Jack Sparks, who formed the New Apostolic Order, which later became the Evangelical Orthodox Church. Other members formed the Berkeley Christian Coalition, which became the Spiritual Counterfeits Project. This organization, despite a defamation lawsuit filed by Witness Lee that forced them into bankruptcy, still collects and interprets information on new religious organizations.

The CWLF published Right On!, one of the first underground papers of the Jesus movement. After the split, the Berkeley Christian Coalition published Radix. More intellectual than many similar publications, the papers featured interviews with local figures ( such as Loni Hancock) and nationally known people (Theodore Roszak, for instance) and used the language of the radical and revolutionary culture with their particular Christian orientation.

Sources

Edward E. Plowman, "Whatever Happened to the Jesus Movement," Christianity Today, October 24, 1975, 46-48.

"Spiritual Counterfeits Project," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_Counterfeits_Project (accessed February 28, 2008).

Acquisition information:

Edith Black donated these materials in 1994.

Physical location:

4/C/6

Rules or conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

The 1969 issues of Right On can be found in the periodical collection of the Graduate Theological Union, Flora Lamson Hewlett Library.

Donald Heinz, Jesus in Berkeley. PhD diss., Graduate Theological Union, 1976. Heinz spent from 1972 to 1974 as a participant-observer of CWLF. He also wrote an article on the Christian World Liberation Front in The New Religious Consciousness, edited by Charles Y. Glock and Robert N. Bellah.

Steven Jude Sofranko, Where the Jesus People Went: A Study of Santa Rosa Christian Church and An Intersection of Religious Movements. MA thesis, Graduate Theological Union, 2000.

Separated material:

Roger C. Palms, The Jesus Kids.Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson Press, 1971.

The God-Men : Witness Lee and the Local Church, Spiritual Counterfeit Project.Berkeley, CA.: Spiritual Counterfeits Project Inc., 1977.

Additional collection guides:

GTU 89-5-016, Berkeley Free Church Collection, 1959-1976, operated its street ministry in Berkeley at the same time.

GTU 92-3-1, Center for Women and Religion collection, 1969-88, contains related material on the local evangelical women's movement.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Jesus People--California--Berkeley.
Evangelicalism--California--Berkeley.
Hippies--California--Berkeley.
Hippies--Religious life.

Indexes:

Index

Sparks, Jack N.
Brooks, Alexander
Wallestedt, Alan

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:

Donna Brown

Date Prepared:

© 2008

Date Encoded:

Machine-readable finding aid created by David Stiver. Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: October 28, 2008.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

Christian World Liberation Front collection, GTU 94-9-03. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.

Location of this collection:

Graduate Theological Union

2400 Ridge Road

Berkeley, CA 94709, US

Contact:

(510) 649-2523/2501

archives@gtu.edu

Website