The Harp of God

A harp's strings provide J. F. Rutherford with a way to explain what he regards as the connected truths of God's plan. Written as a textbook for beginners in Bible study, The Harp of God pairs numbered paragraphs with questions that send students back to particular passages. Its chapters cover creation, the Abrahamic promise, Jesus, resurrection, the return of Christ and the restoration of humanity. Scripture citations accompany the explanations, with the King James Version supplying most of the quotations.

Rutherford argues that the upheavals of his time signal an approaching change in the world's social order. In the later discussion, he describes Christian sanctification as a continuing process of study and personal transformation, linking it to participation in Christ's kingdom. Readers interested in religious teaching can examine both these beliefs and the classroom method used to present them, following how a single argument connects biblical symbols, moral conduct and expectations for the future.