Editing Restoration Movement (section)

===Characteristics===
The [[Age of Enlightenment]] had a significant influence on the Campbell movement.<ref name="Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|80–6}} Thomas Campbell was a student of the Enlightenment philosopher [[John Locke]].<ref name = "Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|82}} While he did not explicitly use the term "essentials" in the ''Declaration and Address'', Thomas proposed the same solution to religious division as had been advanced earlier by Locke and [[Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury|Edward Herbert]]: "[R]educe religion to a set of essentials upon which all reasonable persons might agree."<ref name= "Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|80}} The essentials he identified were those practices for which the Bible provided: "a 'Thus saith the Lord,' either in express terms or by approved precedent."<ref name = "Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp |81}} Unlike Locke, who considered the earlier efforts by Puritans to be inherently divisive, Thomas argued for "a complete restoration of apostolic Christianity."<ref name="Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|82}} Thomas believed that creeds served to divide Christians. He also believed that the Bible was clear enough that anyone could understand it and, thus, creeds were unnecessary.<ref name ="Rhodes 2005">{{Citation | first = Ron | last = Rhodes | title = The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations | publisher = Harvest House | year = 2005 | isbn = 0-7369-1289-4}}</ref>{{rp |114}}

Alexander Campbell was also deeply influenced by Enlightenment thinking, in particular the [[Scottish School of Common Sense]] of [[Thomas Reid]] and [[Dugald Stewart]].<ref name="Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|84}} This group believed that the Bible related concrete facts rather than abstract truths, and advocated a scientific or "[[Francis Bacon|Baconian]]" approach to interpreting the Bible. It would begin with those facts, arrange the ones applicable to a given topic, and draw conclusions from them in a way that has been described as "nothing less than the [[scientific method]] applied to the Bible."<ref name="Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|84}} Alexander reflected this Baconian approach when he repeatedly argued that "the Bible is a book of facts, not of opinions, theories, abstract generalities, nor of verbal definitions."<ref name="Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|84}} Just as a reliance on facts provides the basis for agreement among scientists, Alexander believed that if Christians limited themselves to the facts found in the Bible they would necessarily come to agreement.<ref name="Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|84}} He believed that those facts, approached in a rational and scientific manner, provided a blueprint or constitution for the church.<ref name="Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|85}} Alexander was attracted to this scientific approach to the Bible because it offered a reliable basis for Christian unity.<ref name="Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|84}}

Thomas Campbell combined the Enlightenment approach to unity with the Reformed and Puritan traditions of restoration.<ref name="Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|82,106}} The Enlightenment affected the Campbell movement in two ways. First, it provided the idea that Christian unity could be achieved by finding a set of essentials that all reasonable people could agree on. Second, it also provided the concept of a rational faith that was formulated and defended based on facts derived from the Bible.<ref name="Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|85,86}} Campbell's solution to achieve Christian unity combined forsaking the creeds and traditions, which he believed had divided Christians, and recovering the primitive Christianity, found in scripture, that was common for all Christians.<ref name="Allen & Hughes 1988" />{{rp|106}}

Alexander Campbell's millennialism was more optimistic than Stone's.<ref name="Hughes and Roberts, 2001" />{{rp|6}} He had more confidence in the potential for [[Progressivism in the United States|human progress]] and believed that Christians could unite to transform the world and initiate a millennial age.<ref name="Hughes and Roberts, 2001" />{{rp|6}} Campbell's conceptions were [[Postmillennialism|postmillennial]], as he anticipated that the progress of the church and society would lead to an age of peace and righteousness before the [[Second Coming|return of Christ]].<ref name= "Hughes and Roberts, 2001" />{{rp |6}} This optimistic approach meant that, in addition to his commitment to primitivism, he had a progressive strand in his thinking.<ref name="Hughes and Roberts, 2001" />{{rp|7}}