Who Wrote the Lunenburg Letter? The Untold Story of the "Conscientious Sister" of Lunenburg

David Lertis Matson
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies
Hope International University
dlmatson(at)hiu.edu

The "Lunenburg Letter" is arguably the most famous piece of correspondence in the history of the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement. With it the author unleashed a theological firestorm that would engulf Alexander Campbell in the flames of a baptismal controversy whose embers continue to smolder down to the present day. Who was the "conscientious sister" who lit the fuse? This article seeks to shine some light on a woman whose identity has been shrouded in mystery from the very beginning—until now.