Thornton:
151.15/149.15 ELIJAH IS COMING. DR. JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE, RESTORER OF THE CHURCH IN ZION, IS COMING . . . John Alexander Dowie (1847-1907) was an Edinburgh-born fanatical evangelist. He founded his own church and Zion City, Illinois, and both the town and the church were under his sole control. In 1902 he proclaimed himself Elijah the Restorer, and two years later consecrated himself the First Apostle. In 1903 Dowie and three thousand of his followers made a $300,000 attempt to convert New York City. Undaunted by his failure, he immediately began a Round the World salvation campaign, costs defrayed by required deposits of Zion City residents to the Zion City bank (which Dowie owned). Dowie was later deposed by one of his disciples, Wilbur Glenn Voliva (a firm believer in the flatness of the earth), for "polygamous teaching and other grave charges" (from the DAB, q.v. for a fuller account of Dowie). As R. M. Adams has pointed out (SS, p. 8), Dowie was not in Dublin at this time. According to accounts in the London Times of that week, Dowie arrived in London on Saturday, June 11; had trouble finding accommodations there because of some statements he had reportedly made about the King; left London for Boulogne on Monday, June 14; arrived back in London from Boulogne on Friday, June 17; and sailed from Liverpool for New York on the Lucania on Saturday, June 18.
Gifford:
8.13 (151:16). John Alexander Dowie - (1847-1907), a Scottish-Australian-American evangelist who began life in sober piety but found such success as a revivalist that he proclaimed himself "Elijah the Restorer" (Harlan [see 8.11-12n], p. 4) and finally "First Apostle of the Christian Catholic and Apostolic Church in Zion" (i.e., the modern reincarnation of the apostle Paul). He said that he was "the third manifestation of Elijah" after Elijah and John the Baptist (p. 57), and he undertook to "restore" the church in Zion by founding Zion City, near Chicago, in 1901. In October-November 1903 he made news by leading his "hosts" (three thousand of them) to New York City to "regenerate" that metropolis. He was not in Dublin on Bloomsday, nor was he scheduled to appear there in 1904, though he was in Europe 11-18 June. In 1906 Zion City revolted against him, accusing him of misuse of funds, of "tyranny and injustice ... polygamous teaching, and other grave offenses" (p. 24).
Kiberd:
190.18 Dowie: (1847-1907), a Scottish evangelical preacher.
Johnson:
144.13 John Alexander Dowie: (1847-1907), Scottish-born American evangelist, founded his own church(and town, Zion City, Illinois), announced himself Elijah the Restorer, tried to convert New York City, pursued an evangelical Round the World campaign, was finally ousted by his followers for his abuses; he was in London, though not preaching, in the week of 11-18 June I904, but not in Dublin(T).