Russell and a Dog's Head

The claim is being made that Brother Russell said that if a dog's head was shaped like a man's, that he would think like a man. This is obviously stated in an effort to deride Russell and influence people to think Russell was some kind of nut. However, did Brother Russell actually make this statement? 

Many have claimed that this is what Russell believed. John Ankerberg stated:

[Russell] taught in the Watch­towers of March 15, l913 and January 15th, l912, that one's desire to worship God was due to the shape of one’s brain. He also felt that if a dog's head was shaped like a man's, the dog would think as a man! Phrenology is not Christianity, yet he attempted to fuse the two beliefs.

One can find similar thoughts in Billy Crone's book, Jehovah's Witnesses & the False Teachings of the Watchtower Society, page 12. Russell, however, was never a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

The claim is usually mixed up with Phrenology. Russell did view Phrenology as a "science"; he did not view it as "religion". As with many findings of science, however, Russell did believe that one should use findings of science in harmony with the Bible. Russell was not teaching anything to the effect that his views on Phrenology were essential doctrines or dogma that anyone had to accept.

However, we are not here discussing Phrenology. We will say that Phrenology is definitely not, of itself, "pagan," Some label it "pseudoscience," but giving it this label does not actually mean that the underlining theories are wrong. For more regarding Brother Russell and Phrenology see:

Russell and Phrenology

Russell never said exactly that if a dog's head "was shaped" like man's, that the dog could think like a man. This seems to convey something I am sure Russell never intended. Rather Russell actually stated:

The difference between Adam and the other creatures was not in the breath, or spirit of lives. Man had the same kind of spirit of life. The difference was that man had a finer organism. How do we know? Stand a man alongside of a dog. Look at their heads. The one slopes back; there is no place for the intellectual qualities at all, or at least a very small place for the thinking apparatus man has. He has more brain than the dog. If we could make a dog with the same head as a man, he would think the same as a man. But God did not endow the dog, or any other brute, with the same capacity as man. He was in God's likeness, because he gave him the superior mental powers. -- What Pastor Russell Said, page 667.

Then entire answer may be found at:
http://mostholyfaith.com/Beta/bible/QB/qb.asp?xRef=Q666:5#Q666:5

We see nothing wrong with what Brother Russell stated; if a dog was given the same head as man, which would include the same kind of brain that a man has, yes the dog could indeed think like man. But as Brother Russell was pointing out, that was not what God intended. 

The criticism of Russell appears to be twisting what Russell stated in order to place Brother Russell in a bad light. 

We should note also that what Russell stated above concerning a dog's head has nothing at all to do with Phrenology. 

Nevertheless, Brother Russell was not perfect, and never claimed to be perfect, and, unlike the leadership of the Jehovah's Witnesses, he did not claim that one had to accept his thoughts in order to be a Christian or to be saved. It should not really be of concern whether Russell made some errors in some things. It is those who oppose Brother Russell who appear to demand that he had to be perfect, or else, according to the way many appear to reason, he must have been some kind of evil man.

By Ronald R. Day, Sr. (ResLight, Restoration Light Bible Study Services).