Ellen White and the historians : a neglected problem and a forgotten answer / Donald R. McAdams.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: Westlake Village, CA Oak and Acorn Publishing 2022Description: xiii, 258 pages ; 26 cmISBN:
  • 9798841679677
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • BX 6149.1.L58 M33 2022
Contents:
Ellen G. White and the Protestant Historians Donald R. McAdams
Shifting Views of Inspiration Donald R. McAdams
Point of the Spear Benjamin McArthur
Toward a Factual Concept of Inspiration Donald R. McAdams
Of visions ,Dreams, and Errors Ronald D. Graybill
The Strange death of the "New Orthodoxy" Eric Anderson
Summary: In March 1974 Donald R. McAdams completed a book-length paper: Ellen G. White and the Protestant Historians: the Evidence from an Unpublished Manuscript on John Huss. This paper presented in three columns the Hussite phase of the Bohemian Reformation from James A. Wylie's The History of Protestantism; his transcription of Ellen White's Huss manuscript, which was her first draft for the 1888 Great Controversy; and the final, polished text that appeared in the slightly revised 1911 Great Controversy. The evidence was clear: Ellen White was not just borrowing paragraphs here and there that she had run across in her reading, paragraphs that described what she had already seen in vision; she was selectively abridging Wylie, following his sequence, using his descriptions, copying his words, repeating his historical errors, and giving her literary assistant Marian Davis the freedom to cut huge chunks from her manuscript and add significant additional history directly from Wylie Why, after all these years, publish this paper? The answer is embedded in the Adventist Church's ongoing struggle to reconcile the evidence from history and science with the belief that Ellen White is authoritative in all matters. This book places McAdams'paper before the public as a document of historical importance for Adventists because it played a role in re-opening this discussion in the 1970s. Also, publication is timely because George Knight's book, Ellen White's Afterlife: Delightful Fictions, Troubling Facts, Enlightening Research, and Gilbert Valentine's book, Ostriches and Canaries: Coping with Change in Adventism 1966-1979, have contributed renewed interest in this paper. This book is more than a close look at how Ellen White wrote history. It also presents a significant slice of 20th-century Adventist history, an account of the church struggling to defend one of its founding myths--not the inspiration of Ellen White, but her authority in all matters. This book is not just about Ellen White and the historians, it is also about a church in transition.
Item type: Ellen G. White Estate Branch Office

Ellen G. White and the Protestant Historians Donald R. McAdams

Shifting Views of Inspiration Donald R. McAdams

Point of the Spear Benjamin McArthur

Toward a Factual Concept of Inspiration Donald R. McAdams

Of visions ,Dreams, and Errors Ronald D. Graybill

The Strange death of the "New Orthodoxy" Eric Anderson

In March 1974 Donald R. McAdams completed a book-length paper: Ellen G. White and the Protestant Historians: the Evidence from an Unpublished Manuscript on John Huss. This paper presented in three columns the Hussite phase of the Bohemian Reformation from James A. Wylie's The History of Protestantism; his transcription of Ellen White's Huss manuscript, which was her first draft for the 1888 Great Controversy; and the final, polished text that appeared in the slightly revised 1911 Great Controversy. The evidence was clear: Ellen White was not just borrowing paragraphs here and there that she had run across in her reading, paragraphs that described what she had already seen in vision; she was selectively abridging Wylie, following his sequence, using his descriptions, copying his words, repeating his historical errors, and giving her literary assistant Marian Davis the freedom to cut huge chunks from her manuscript and add significant additional history directly from Wylie Why, after all these years, publish this paper? The answer is embedded in the Adventist Church's ongoing struggle to reconcile the evidence from history and science with the belief that Ellen White is authoritative in all matters. This book places McAdams'paper before the public as a document of historical importance for Adventists because it played a role in re-opening this discussion in the 1970s. Also, publication is timely because George Knight's book, Ellen White's Afterlife: Delightful Fictions, Troubling Facts, Enlightening Research, and Gilbert Valentine's book, Ostriches and Canaries: Coping with Change in Adventism 1966-1979, have contributed renewed interest in this paper. This book is more than a close look at how Ellen White wrote history. It also presents a significant slice of 20th-century Adventist history, an account of the church struggling to defend one of its founding myths--not the inspiration of Ellen White, but her authority in all matters. This book is not just about Ellen White and the historians, it is also about a church in transition.