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Encyclopedia of Fundamentalism: Seventh-day Adventism
by Ronald Lawson, Ph.D. | 06 November 2018 |
During the period from about 1995 through 2007, several American publishers prepared and published encyclopedias that focused on various aspects of religion. Libraries were an important portion of the market that they had in mind when they considered marketing these volumes. Editors were appointed who were familiar with the field, who chose what topics should be covered and enlisted scholars with specialized skills in those areas to write the various articles. Many of these editors chose to include articles on Seventh-day Adventism, and because I had published a goodly number of papers addressing various aspects of Adventism, several of them asked me to write articles for them.
We have just uploaded the first of these articles to my website, www.RonaldLawson.net. This is an article on Seventh-day Adventism that was published in the Encyclopedia of Fundamentalism in 2001. The publisher was Routledge, and the editor of the volume was Brenda Brasher. I was commissioned to explore to what extent the Adventist church is or has been fundamentalist.
I chose to explore the topic primarily from a historical perspective. I pointed out that early Adventism was led mostly by earnest laypersons, together with Ellen White, the Adventist prophet. These were not highly educated, and they had little knowledge of the biblical languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. They were therefore very dependent on what we know as the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, which was the dominant translation throughout that period. They tended to read that version literally, adopting a proof-text method of biblical exploration and interpretation. As a result, some of the key Adventist teachings are heavily dependent on the particular wording adopted in that translation, and do not work with other translations. The most striking example of this is the KJV translation of Daniel 8:14, which was the basis of William Miller's belief that Christ would return in 1844, and also of what was called the doctrine of the Investigative Judgment, later known more often as the Pre-advent Judgment, which became the Adventist explanation of the "Great Disappointment," the failure of Jesus to return on October 22, 1844. I have checked the translation of that verse in every translation I have come in contact with, and found that they are almost all striking in their difference from the KJV. Consequently, many Adventists insist on regarding the KJV as the only acceptable version of the Bible in spite of the weakness of the sources available to its translators before it was published in 1611.
Nevertheless, early Adventists, and especially Ellen White, did not adopt a hermeneutic that was as conservative as those who would later be called Fundamentalists: the prophet held that although the Scriptures were inspired by God, they were not dictated by Him to the human authors. However, after the death of Ellen White in 1915, just as the fundamentalist movement rose to prominence in the USA, Adventists moved closer to their hermeneutic because of their disquiet with Darwinism and the threat they saw it as posing to the Sabbath, the belief and practice that set them apart from almost all other Christians: they held, after all, that the seventh-day Sabbath was the memorial of God's creation of the earth and its inhabitants in the space of just six days.
Adventism's embrace of much of fundamentalism during the 1920s followed closely upon the accreditation of their medical school in California, and the realization that if it was to accept the graduates of the other Adventist colleges located in North America that they too would have to pursue accreditation, which meant that their professors would be obliged to pursue doctorates at non-Adventist graduate schools. This process allowed Adventist students to pursue careers that were no longer limited to church employment, and thus to experience considerable upward mobility. It also resulted in a much better educated faculty at Adventist educational institutions, including those who taught religion courses, and a general yearning among Adventist leaders and members in the USA in particular for greater respect from the political and religious institutions and indeed from society in general. This was best exemplified by the extent to which church leaders chose to cooperate with Evangelical researchers and alter some long-held positions in order to persuade them that Adventists were fellow Evangelical Christians rather than members of a "cult."
These trends gradually led to a modification of what was taught in the Adventist seminary and religion departments, especially in the USA and other countries of the developed world, concerning hermeneutics. However, what was taught to clergy in training in the developing world was much more conservative. This was especially well illustrated in the debates that preceded votes on whether Adventists would permit the ordination of women during sessions of the General Conference in 1990 and 1995: it became clear that the biblical scholars in the developed world had largely chosen a more "critical" approach to biblical interpretation, while their colleagues in the colleges of the developing world continued to rely much more on proof-texting and other traditional approaches.
In making such points in the encyclopedia article published in 2001, I saw a more open scholarship among Adventist biblical scholars, especially those located at the Adventist seminary that is linked to Andrews University in Michigan, than I would see now. The evolution of the understanding of hermeneutics by Adventist biblical scholars that I described then was largely a result of those scholars receiving their graduate education at the most highly regarded universities and seminaries in the USA, and the impact of upward mobility on the leaders and members of the Adventist Church, especially in the USA up until that time. However, once the Adventist seminary began to issue its own doctorates in the 1990s and to hire its own students as faculty members, until these became about half of the seminary faculty—a level of inbreeding that far exceeds that of any of the highly regarded universities in the USA—then the courses taught there and the hermeneutic embraced by many of its scholars, especially those who became active in the Adventist Theological Society, who are mostly drawn from the seminary, the Biblical Research Institute, and Southern Adventist University, became increasingly conservative and closed. Moreover, the current administration of the General Conference is now seeking to ensure that only people holding to such a hermeneutic are employed in Adventist seminaries and the religion departments of Adventist universities and colleges.
In 2001 I sensed that a bitter battle had emerged within international Adventism over the issue of whether or not it would be essentially fundamentalist in its approach. There was evidence during the administration of Robert Folkenberg at the General Conference (1990-1999) that this conflict was emerging, and that the church leaders were moving towards attempting to control who was eligible to teach at Adventist institutions of higher learning based on such issues as their hermeneutic and their stance on such issues as the age of the earth. Such moves calmed during the succeeding administration of Jan Paulsen, who was a scholar in his own right. However, since the election of Ted Wilson as president of the General Conference in 2010, it is clear that the administration is intent on enforcing the teachings that were common during the period when Adventism embraced much of fundamentalism. This is seen especially in the change to the Fundamental Belief concerning Creation and the age of the earth that was adopted at the General Conference Session of 2015, and in the embrace of male headship and the determination of the administration to enforce the decision taken at the same session that women clergy are not eligible for ordination or to hold the highest administrative posts at all levels of the Church structure.
In this paper (as well as some others) I explain the evolution of Adventism as from originally, and for close to a century of its history, being (to use a sociological term) a sect with considerable tension with other churches, the state, and society in general. Since about World War II it moved towards becoming a denomination with growing comfort with its environment and wanting a positive, widely admired image. However, if a religious group can move in that direction (as most groups that begin as sects do with time), it is possible, though unusual for them also to reverse course. This was tried by the Mormon president who took that post in 1950, and though he and his successors did not achieve remarkable change of direction they did put on the brakes in the previous direction of movement from about 1950 to the mid-1990s. I interpret the program being waged so strongly by the current Adventist administration as an attempt to reverse direction here, and to move Adventism quite strongly towards sectarianism once again. The books I am currently writing will elaborate on this in the final volume.
You can read the encyclopedia entry here.
Ronald Lawson is a lifelong Seventh-day Adventist, and a sociologist studying urban conflicts and sectarian religions. He is retired from Queens College, CUNY, and now lives and works in Asheville, NC.
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Large numbers of police and IDF officers started evacuating the activists, mostly teenagers, at about 7:30 a.m.
Some of the youths at the place have tried resisting and cursed the policemen, who carried them by force into buses.
After having spent two days at the site, the activists were ordered to leave Homesh on Wednesday. Some 700 policemen took part in the operation, alongside 300 soldiers who secured the evacuation.
Police have notified the activists that Homesh was a closed military zone and that they must leave the place immediately.
The settlers spent the night setting up barriers using stones in order to make the evacuation more difficult.
On Tuesday, police officials warned that should the settlers fail to evacuate willingly, the government would be inclined to give the green light for the forceful evacuation of the several dozen teenage settlers who vowed to put up a tough resistance.
The police are preparing for the evacuation of hundreds of settlers who reoccupied the settlement of Homesh which was evacuated and destroyed in the summer of 2005 under Israel's disengagement plan.
Police officials said should the settlers fail to evacuate willingly, the government would be inclined to give the green light for the forceful evacuation of several dozen teenage settlers who vowed to put up a tough resistance.
Hundreds of settlers heeded police calls to evacuate the former West Bank settlement which was declared a closed military zone by the army following the 2005 disengagement plan of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, but many teenagers remained there.
"Our aim is not to confront the security forces but to build Homesh anew and therefore, as far as we are concerned, the issue is not a struggle. If they evacuate us we will return," said Yossi Dagan, an organizer of the plan to reoccupy the former settlement.
The army blocked roads leading to the settlement on Monday night to stem the flow of settlers.
Despite the army's measure, Zefat Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu managed to reach Homesh along with a dozen right-wing activists and gave Torah lessons to teenage settlers on the ruins of the former settlement.
Settlers slammed the army for not allowing them to provide food, water and medicine to their comrades in Homesh.
"If people dehydrate, this will fall under the responsibility of the political elements who gave the army these orders," settlers said.
The Chairman of the National Union-NRP faction, MK Uri Ariel, described the army's attitude towards the settlers as "inhumane," charging that the military allowed food supplies into former Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat when he was besieged in Ramallah.
"Homesh was rebuilt yesterday, and even if the prime minister and defense minister decide based on small political evaluations not to fix the mistake of eviction and evict us for a second time from our land, we will return to Homesh and rebuild the settlement again," said Dagan.


A recent Creighton University study shows that non-inhaled, intranasal carbon dioxide may be an effective treatment for many of the 40 million Americans who suffer from seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) due to pollens such as grass and ragweed.
Patients receiving CO2 reported improvement in congestion, sneezing and other nasal conditions within 10 minutes, and lasting 24 hours. Within 30 minutes of treatment, 50 percent of those taking CO2 reported more than a 50 percent improvement in nasal symptoms, compared to 27.6 percent in the placebo group.
The study used 89 subjects, 18 to 75 years of age, who had at least a two-year history of seasonal allergies requiring pharmacology. Of these, 60 received CO2, and 29 received plain air. Patients took the gas intranasally twice, once for each nostril, for a total dosage of 1,200 milliliters, avoiding inhaling the gas by breathing through the mouth, allowing the gas to flow in one nostril and out the other.
"It could be a good alternative for people who don't want to take intranasal steroids," said Dr. Thomas B. Casale, MD, Chief of the Creighton School of Medicine's Division of Allergy Immunology. He noted that despite currently available treatments, a significant number of patients with allergic rhinitis continue to suffer symptoms that impair their quality of life. The medical costs associated with SAR are estimated at $6 billion a year in the United States.
Thomas B. Casale, M.D., the study's principal investigator, is president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and the study will be published in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.
Cell Phone Tower Dangers Psychological?
A study out of the United Kingdom points the finger at psychological causes, not electromagnetic waves as the cause of ill health in "electromagnetic" allergy sufferers.
While stating that the distress felt by individuals was "real," the UK study pointedly noted that many of those who blamed cellular towers for their problems/symptoms reported greater problems when they thought the towers were on–even when they weren't.
According to Professor Elaine Fox who led the three year study, "belief is a very powerful thing…. If you really believe something is going to harm you," she said, " it will."
Critics contested the findings. One, Mast Sanity, protested that currently accepted physical conditions were "initially dismissed as psychological."
Adults plagued by allergies can be affected by cat dander even if they aren't specifically allergic to felines, a new European study shows.
"Exposure to cats is more of a problem than was thought," said study author, Susan Chinn, a professor of medical statistics at the Imperial College, London.
Scientists say a molecule called interleukin-12 can protect against food allergies. A team at the Institute of Food Allergy Research in Norwich noted that interleukin-12 is absent during the body's allergic response.
"He took a bite of the cookie and he said to his friend, 'I shouldn't have eaten that,'" said his mother. Severely allergic to peanuts, the 16-year-old from western Massachusetts made the dire mistake of not asking about the ingredients. Within minutes he developed a severe allergic reaction to the cookie, which contained peanuts.


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Ralph Carmichael - The Electric Symphony (1970, US, electronic)
Saturday, February 17, 2007, 10:40 PM - Music, - US, English
This is a religious Moog album on the Light record label. You can tell that from the titles, but you can hardly hear it. The music is good and the Moog well used. It is played by Clark Gassman, the same guy who played the Moog on Martin Denny's Exotic Moog. Ralph Carmichael was the director. Carmichael wrote and arranged pop tunes for Peggy Lee, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, and Stan Freberg(!). And he composed for Bonanza, Lucy Ball and Danny Kaye shows.
I bought this record very cheap because it had a bump at the border. So the first track on each side is unplayable. Therefore I post mp3's I got via the web some years ago.
1 All My Life
2 Bright New World
3 The New 23rd
4 I've Got Confidence
5 His Land
1 He's There Waiting
2 A Quiet Place
3 Searching Questions
4 My Little World
5 The New Hallelujah
[Listen to low quality fragments]
Adrian Munsey - Main Theme (1981, UK, serious)
Wednesday, February 14, 2007, 07:45 PM - Music, - UK, English
This single lacks the lonely sheep. But there is some sad singing on the b-side.
1 Main theme
2 I think it's going to rain today
Pink Military - Do Animals Believe in God? (1980, UK, new wave/electronic)
Tuesday, February 13, 2007, 06:39 PM - Music, - UK, English
The only lp of Pink Military. I like side two especially, four songs are competing for the White Noise Award. And the winner is Do Animals Believe in God? with nine points.
After this not so successfull album, Casey reformed the band and named it Pink Industry.
1 Degenerated Man
2 I Cry
3 Did you see her
4 Wild West
5 Back on the London Stage
6 After Hiroshima
1 Living in the Jungle
2 Dreamtime
3 War Games
4 Heaven , Hell
5 Do Animals Believe in God
[Listen low quality fragments]
Other post of Pink Military stuff on Annie's Animal.
Even more downloads on Mezzanine Floors.
Pink Military - Blood & Lipstick (1979, UK, new wave/electronic)
Monday, February 12, 2007, 06:58 PM - Music, - UK, English
Pink Military is a band Jayne Casey formed with Nicky Cool, after Big in Japan broke up. Their first release was a 7" live ep Buddha Waking Disney Sleeping. This is their first and only 12". Side one has up tempo songs and side two is more experimental. I Cry is very different from the lp version (which I post tomorrow) and gets an eight on the White Noise Scale.
1 Spell Bound [2:34]
2 Blood & Lipstick [3:54]
3 Clown Town [4:56]
4 I Cry [6:03]
Bob Callaghan - Instrumental Moog Synthesizer (1973, IT, electronic)
Saturday, February 10, 2007, 02:07 AM - Music, - IT, English
This lp was a nice puzzle. If it wasn't for the four letter word on the cover, I wouldn't have purchased it. I bought it yesterday and I tried to figure out who played on it and why.
It's on a Dutch label, but clearly intended for the Italian market.
Most of the songs are played by Bob Callaghan, he had some hits with synthesizer covers at that time, the remaining tracks are mostly covers of the hit parade of October 1972 in Italy.
Two songs are played by 'Blue Marvin' on ARP. That is a pseudonym for Alberto Baldan Bembo, Blue Marvin is a nickname for the first model of the ARP 2600.
Very special is the Flamenco Moog by the Dan Lacksman Association. So, an early song of Dan Lacksman, later member of Telex and performer of Disco-Computer as Transvolta, a previous post of mine. Lacksman had an lp with the same title, I would love to hear that. And the 7" 'Happiness is a Cold Beer'.
A lot of the stuff is available on cd again.
1 Il Gabbiano Infelice
2 Alone Again
3 Noi Due Nel Mondo E Nell'Anima
4 Love theme from the Godfather
5 Viaggio du un Poeta
6 Rusticano Moog
1 Carmen Brasilia
2 The Flamenco Moog (Dan Lacksman Association)
3 Il Cammino dei Girasoli
4 Indian Fig
5 Penny (Blue Marvin)
6 My Intermezzo (Blue Marvin)
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The Danse Society - Womans Own (1982, UK, new wave/electronic)
Tuesday, February 6, 2007, 09:38 PM - Music, - UK, English
This is the first record I bought from The Danse Society, and it was the reason why I purchased a lot of their other stuff. But the Womans Own 12" still is the best. Continent deserves a 6 on the White Noise Scale.
1 Womans Own [3:24]
2 Continent [4:39]
3 We're so happy [5:05]
4 Belief [4:29]
Mrs. Miller - Does her thing (1968, US, novelty)
Friday, February 2, 2007, 07:32 PM - Music, - US, English
Capitol released on Ultra Lounge Wild, Cool & Swingin' a magnificent collection of the first three Mrs. Miller lp's. Those were all Capitol lp's. But there is a fourth lp on Amaret: Mrs. Miller Does her thing. This is never (officially) released on cd.
"After three albums, Mrs. Miller was dropped from Capitol Records, only to be picked up by the small Amaret label. On her forth album, 'Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing' the reality of Elva Miller was even further distorted. On the cover she is pictured in a psychedelic hippie dress, with an outreached plate of green brownies. The album included songs such as Mary Jane, Green Tambourine, Green Thumb, Renaissance of Smut, and the infamous Granny Bopper.
Elva was completely unaware of the drug symbolism until the album was already in stores. The song 'Mary Jane' became the theme for a feature film of the same name, which featured pop star Fabian as high school teacher fighting a marijuana gang.
Record executives had transformed the image of Mrs. Miller into an aspiring late sixties drug icon. Whereas Elva was happy to join in on the joke before, here is when the joke began to betray her."
from The Elva Miller Historical Society Comprehensive Biography.
Like any aspiring singer, Mrs. Elva Miller has had to struggle to be heard. In her case, though, the struggle has been going on for most of her 58 years. When she was a child, people were forever telling her to knock off the singing and please go skip rope or something. But she persevered, joined the high school glee club and the church choir, later studied voice for seven years at Pomona College.
Her husband felt that everyone should have an outlet, so he underwrote the cost of her first record-cutting sessions. It was during one of her recording sessions at Capitol Records studio in Hollywood that Mrs. Miller was discovered and introduced to a company producer who immediately signed her to a contract.
'The record certainly wasn't my idea,' explains Mrs. Miller. 'I'd never attempted popular songs, the studio men just popped the music in my hands- sorta sneaky like- and I started.'
from www.mrsmillersworld.com.
In 1967 Mrs. Miller had a role as herself in The Cool Ones, you can see here part on YouTube.
1 Renaissance of Smut
2 Up Up and Away
3 Anything Goes
4 Green Tambourine
5 Tiptoe Through The Tulips
1 Green Thumb
2 The Roach
3 I Sleep Easier Now
4 My Pet
5 Mary Jane
6 Granny Bopper
The Delta Merchant - Switched on Blues (1970, US, electronic/soul)
Four-year prison sentence for blogger "Kareem Amer" (2007, EG)
Genesis - As Though Emerald City (1975, UK, symphonic rock)
De Dommedaris - Doe Maar Dom!! (1995, NL, carnaval)
Berend Dubbe - Cantina @ vpro (maandag 19 feb 2007 12:02 747 AM, NL)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl