Tract (literature)
Encyclopedia : T : TR : TRA : Tract (literature)
- For other uses of the term, please see Tract.
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Notable modern authors and publishers
- Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ authored The Four Spiritual Laws, a widely circulated tract.
- Jack Chick gained notoriety for writing tracts with vivid cartoon images and vehement Anti-Catholic opinions.
- Ray Comfort of Living Waters Publications prints tracts such as "The Atheist Test" or "Are You Good Enough to Go to Heaven?", as well as tracts which feature attention-getting illusions or gags, such as the "Million Dollar Bill," or "A Gift for You—Money Within" (which is meant to contain actual money). In June 2006, a controversy erupted involving the "million dollar bill" (see "Miscellany" below).
Etymology
The Oxford Movement is also known as Tractarianism, after the publication in the 1830s and 1840s of a series of religious essays collectively called Tracts for the Times. These tracts were written by a group of Church of England clergy including John Henry Newman, John Keble, Henry Edward Manning, and Edward Pusey. These tracts were in fact lengthy theological discourses that sought to establish the continuity between the Church of England and the patristic period of church history. They had a vast influence on Anglo-Catholicism, but were far longer and more learned works than the name tract currently suggests.Miscellany
On June 1, 2006, the United States Secret Service seized 8,300 copies of Comfort's "million-dollar bill" tract from the headquarters of The Great News Network, a sister ministry to Living Waters. The USSS did so because, they claim, a woman in North Carolina attempted to deposit the tracts as legal tender. The Secret Service also stated that they would seize all copies in stock at Living Waters' California headquarters. [link] Comfort has stated that he will refuse to turn over the tracts without a warrant, which was not given during the raid on GNN. [link] In a news interview, GNN founder and president Darrel Rundus stated that he will continue passing out the bills, stating that "until I hear different, I don't believe what the Secret Service did yesterday was lawful," and is expecting a "cease and desist" order from the USSS Monday, with possible legal action to follow. [link] In an official statement on the GNN Web site, he stated that "the USSS was overzealous in their seizure of our property and they violated our constitutional rights by depriving us of property without due process. Without a court order, warrant or any legal precedent, they barged into our office, disrupted our daily activities and illegally seized our property." Rundus further suggested that the message on the "money" was the reason why they were seized. [link]In anticipation of the "cease and desist" order, Living Waters posted the following statement at the million-dollar bill entry on their online store:
- The Secret Service is going to be very busy if they want to be consistent in their pursuit of justice. Typing "Million dollar bill" into Google gets 35,800,000 results--sites that say things like, "It looks real, feels real and even smells real." If we are issued with a "Cease and desist" order, we will immediately do so until this is sorted out. In the meantime, we have our printers ready to run off 100,000 million dollar bills that comply to their requirements (1 ½ times larger). So these will be bigger and better than the bills that were seized by the Secret Service, as we have since improved the artwork. We will keep you updated. Thank you for your prayers and encouraging emails. [link]
See also
- Nezikin
- Minor Tractates
- Chick Publications, a large publisher of religious tracts
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