{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox writer |name = Clarence Orohrelle Dodd |image = |caption = |pseudonym = |birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|02|05}} |birth_place = |death_date = {{Death date and age|1955|12|25|1899|02|05}} |death_place = |occupation = Author, Church Elder |nationality = American |genre = Adventist Christian thought |influences = |influenced = |magnum_opus = }}
'''Clarence Orohrelle Dodd''' (February 5, 1899 – December 25, 1955<ref name="reformedreader"/>), often known as '''Clarence Orvil Dodd''' and '''C. O. Dodd''', was an American author and magazine editor and an elder of a particular Church of God (Seventh Day) denomination church in Salem, West Virginia, in the early 20th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bowie |first1=Fiona |authorlink1=Fiona Bowie (Welsh author) |last2=Deacy |first2=Christopher |authorlink2=Christopher Deacy |title=The Coming Deliverer: Millennial Themes in World Religions |publisher=University of Wales Press |year=1997 |location=Cardiff |page=182 |isbn=978-0-7083-1338-1 |oclc=37839921}}</ref>
In 1920 he married Martha I. Richmond,<ref>Martha I. Richmond - (April 11, 1894 - August 5, 1982)</ref> whom he predeceased. They had five children, four boys (Clebert, Robert, William, and Paul) and one daughter, Mary, now Mary Dodd Ling.<ref name="reformedreader">{{cite web |last1=Hughey |first1=Sam |authorlink1=Sam Hughey |title=A History of the True Church |website=The Reformed Reader |url=https://www.reformedreader.org/history/dugger/authors.htm |access-date=2009-01-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219114458/http://reformedreader.org/history/dugger/authors.htm |archive-date=2009-02-19 }}</ref>
He worked as a clerk for 35 years for Hope Natural Gas Company (now absorbed into ExxonMobil) while writing, editing and publishing his magazine, and serving his church, until he retired early due to Hodgkins' disease. Two years subsequent to his retirement he died.<ref name="reformedreader"/>
==Influence== In 1937 Dodd founded ''The Faith'' magazine, where he served as editor for many years. Initially the primary focus of ''The Faith'' was advocating for observation of Jewish holy festivals on the part of its Christian readers but in the early 1940s Dodd took up the sacred name cause as well.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=J. Gordon |authorlink1=J. Gordon Melton |last2=Baumann |first2=Martin |authorlink2=Martin Baumann |title=Religions of the World |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2002 |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=978-1-57607-223-3 |oclc=49610953 |url=https://archive.org/details/religionsworldco00melt |url-access=limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/religionsworldco00melt/page/n170 88]}}</ref> In The Encyclopedia of American Religions scholar of American religions J. Gordon Melton wrote of the magazine, "No single force in spreading the Sacred Name movement was as important as ''The Faith'' magazine."<ref name="Melton1978">{{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=J. Gordon |authorlink1=J. Gordon Melton |title=The Encyclopedia of American Religions |publisher=McGrath Publishing Company |year=1978 |location=Wilmington, North Carolina |page=476 |isbn=0-8103-2091-6 |oclc=4854827}}</ref>
Andrew N. Dugger (November 19, 1886 – November 2, 1975), fellow church Elder of Dodd's and one-time editor of the long-running Adventist magazine ''Bible Advocate'',<ref>{{cite web |title=A. N. Dugger |work=The Mount Zion Reporter |url=http://www.friendsofsabbath.org/~surfer/Church%20of%20God%20History/Mt%20Zion%20Reporter_AN%20Dugger.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726065750/http://www.friendsofsabbath.org/~surfer/Church%20of%20God%20History/Mt%20Zion%20Reporter_AN%20Dugger.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-26}}</ref> co-authored a book with Dodd valued in many parts of the Adventist community, ''A History of the True Church''. Having worked so closely together over so many years they undoubtedly influenced one another. Melton says that Dugger accepted the same basic theology as Dodd.<ref name="Melton1978"/> One writer considers Dugger to be the most famous Church of God (Adventist) leader in the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nickels |first1=Richard C. |authorlink1=Richard C. Nickels |title=History of the Seventh Day Church of God |publisher=Richard C. Nickels |year=1999 |location=Neck City, Missouri |oclc=3607991}}</ref>
Mildred Kelvig, a lifelong acquaintance who had served for many years as his personal secretary, claimed that Dodd's acquaintance with Worldwide Church of God founder Herbert W. Armstrong influenced the latter's views. She specified that Dodd convinced Armstrong of Greenberry G. Rupert's (May 12, 1848 – July 17, 1922, author of ''The Yellow Peril'') assertions that observing Hebrew holidays is mandatory for a Christian.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Renehan |first1=Bruce |authorlink1=Bruce Renehan |title=Daughter Of Babylon, The True History of The Worldwide Church of God |website=The Painful Truth |url=https://hwarmstrong.com/daughter-of-bablylon-14.htm |access-date=2009-01-07}} </ref>
==Works== * {{cite book |last1=Dugger |first1=Andrew Nugent |last2=Dodd |first2=Clarence Orvil |title=A History of the True Church |publisher=The Bible Advocate |year=1936 |location=Salem, West Virginia |oclc=3211625 |url=http://www.giveshare.org/downloadzip.html |access-date=January 7, 2009 |archive-date=October 17, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017233434/http://www.giveshare.org/downloadzip.html |url-status=dead }}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Clarence Orvil}} Category:Adventism in the United States Category:American magazine editors Category:American religious writers Category:Businesspeople from West Virginia Category:People from Salem, West Virginia Category:Sacred Name Movement Category:Writers from Harrison County, West Virginia Category:1899 births Category:1955 deaths Category:20th-century American people