History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church

The Seventh-day Adventist Church had its roots in the Millerite movement of the 1830s and 1840s, during the period of the Second Great Awakening, and was officially founded in 1863. Prominent figures in the early church included Hiram Edson, James Springer White and his wife Ellen G. White, Joseph Bates, and J. N. Andrews. Over the ensuing decades the church expanded from its original base in New England to become an international organization. Significant developments in the 20th century led to its recognition as a Christian denomination.

Foundations

The 19th century provided ideal conditions for the Second Great Awakening a revival movement in the United States. Religious diversity was paramount and many minority movements were formed. Some of these movements held beliefs that would later be adopted by the Seventh-day Adventists.

An interest in prophecy was kindled among some Protestants groups following the arrest of Pope Pius VI in 1798 by the French General Louis Alexandre Berthier. Forerunners of the Adventist movement believed that this event marked the end of the 1260 day prophecy from the Book of Daniel. Certain individuals began to look at the 2300 day prophecy found in Daniel 8:14. Hans Wood, an Irish layman reached the same conclusions as Petri; however, due to a different commencement date his calculations pointed to 1880.

Early history

Millerite Roots

The Seventh-day Adventist Church formed out of the movement known today as the Millerites. In 1831, a Baptist convert, William Miller (until then a Deist), was asked by a Baptist to preach in their church and began to preach that the Second Advent of Jesus would occur somewhere between 1843 and 1844, based on his interpretation of . A following gathered around Miller that included many from the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Christian Connection churches. After a number of revisions, October 22 was considered the most probable date that the return would occur. By 1844, over 100,000 people were anticipating what Miller had dubbed as the "Blessed Hope". On October 22 many of the believers were up late into the night watching, waiting for Christ to return and found themselves bitterly disappointed when both sunset and midnight passed with their expectations unfulfilled. This event later became known as the Great Disappointment.

Understanding the Sanctuary

After the disappointment of October 22 many of Miller's followers were left upset and disillusioned. One of the Adventists, Hiram Edson (1806–1882) wrote "Our fondest hopes and expectations were blasted, and such a spirit of weeping came over us as I never experienced before. It seemed that the loss of all earthly friends could have been no comparison. We wept, and wept, till the day dawn." However, a few remained in the church. These people gathered together and spent much time in devoted prayer and study of the Bible. On the morning of October 23, Edson, who lived in Port Gibson, New York was passing through his grain field with a friend where he claimed to have seen a vision. Edson later recounted:

:"We started, and while passing through a large field I was stopped about midway of the field. Heaven seemed opened to my view, and I saw distinctly and clearly that instead of our High Priest coming out of the Most Holy of the heavenly sanctuary to come to this earth on the tenth day of the seventh month, at the end of the 2300 days [calculated to be October 22, 1844], He for the first time entered on that day the second apartment of that sanctuary; and that He had a work to perform in the Most Holy before coming to the earth."

Edson shared what he believed he saw with many of the local Adventists who were greatly encouraged by his account. As a result Edson began studying the bible with two of the other believers in the area, O.R.L. Crosier and Franklin B. Hahn, who published their findings in a paper called Day-Dawn. This paper explored the biblical parable of the Ten Virgins and attempted to explain why the bridegroom had tarried. The article also explored the concept of the day of atonement and what the authors called "our chronology of events".

The findings published by Crosier, Hahn and Edson led to a new understanding about the sanctuary in heaven. Their paper explained how there was a sanctuary in heaven, that Christ, the High Priest, was to cleanse. The believers understood this cleansing to be what the 2300 days in Daniel was referring to.

George Knight wrote, "Although originally the smallest of the post-Millerite groups, it came to see itself as the true successor of the once-powerful Millerite movement." This view was endorsed by Ellen White. However, Seeking a Sanctuary sees it more as an offshoot of the Millerite movement.

The "Sabbath and Shut Door" Adventists were disparate, but slowly emerged. Only Joseph Bates had had any prominence in the Millerite movement.

Adventists viewed themselves as heirs of earlier outcast believers such as the Waldenses, Protestant Reformers including the Anabaptists, English and Scottish Puritans, evangelicals of the 18th century including Methodists, Seventh Day Baptists, and others who rejected established church traditions.

Sabbath observance

A young Seventh Day Baptist layperson named Rachel Oakes Preston living in New Hampshire was responsible for introducing Sabbath to the Millerite Adventists. Due to her influence Frederick Wheeler began keeping the seventh day as Sabbath, probably in the early spring of 1844. Several members of the Washington, New Hampshire church he occasionally ministered to also followed his decision. These included William and Cyrus Farnsworth. T. M. Preble soon accepted it either from Wheeler or directly from Oakes. These events were shortly followed by the Great Disappointment.

Preble promoted Sabbath through the February 28, 1845 issue of the Hope of Israel. In March he published his Sabbath views in tract form. Although he returned to observing Sunday in the next few years, his writing convinced Joseph Bates and J. N. Andrews. These men in turn convinced James and Ellen White, as well as Hiram Edson and hundreds of others.

Bates proposed that a meeting should be organised between the believers in New Hampshire and Port Gibson. At this meeting, which occurred sometime in 1846 at Edson's farm, Edson and other Port Gibson believers readily accepted Sabbath and at the same time forged an alliance with Bates and two other folk from New Hampshire who later became very influential in the Adventist church, James and Ellen G. White. Between April, 1848, and December 1850 twenty-two "Sabbath conferences" were held in New York and New England. These meetings were often seen as opportunities for leaders such as James White, Joseph Bates, Stephen Pierce and Hiram Edson to discuss and reach conclusions about doctrinal issues.

While initially it was believed that Sabbath started at 6pm, by 1855 it was generally accepted that Sabbath begins at Friday sunset.

The Present Truth (see below) was largely devoted to Sabbath at first. J. N. Andrews was the first Adventist to write a book-length defense of Sabbath, first published in 1861.

Trinitarianism

At the formation of the church in the 19th century, many of the Adventist leaders came from churches that believed in the doctrine of Arianism and held to that.(although Ellen G. White was not one of them).

The Present Truth

On November 18, 1848, Ellen White had a vision in which God told her that her husband should start a paper. In 1849, James, determined to publish this paper, went to find work as a farm-hand to raise sufficient funds. After Ellen had another one of her visions, she told James that he was to not worry about funds but to set to work on producing the paper to be printed. James readily obeyed, writing from the aid "of a pocket Bible, Cruden's Condensed Concordance, and an abridged dictionary with one of its covers off." Thanks to a generous offer by the printer to delay charges, the group of Advent believers had 1000 copies of the first publication printed. They sent the publication, which was on the topic of Sabbath, to friends and colleagues they believe would find it of interest. In total 11 issues were published, in 1849 and 1850.

Formal Organization

In 1860, the fledgling movement finally settled on the name, Seventh-day Adventist, representative of the church's distinguishing beliefs. Three years later, on May 21, 1863, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists was formed and the movement became an official organization.

Ellen G. White (1827–1915), while holding no official role, was the dominant personality and moved the denomination to a concentration on missionary and medical work. Mission and medical work continues to play a central role in the 21st century.

Under White's guidance the denomination in the 1870s turned to missionary work and revivals, tripling its membership to 16,000 by 1880; rapid growth continued, with 75,000 members in 1901. By this time operated two colleges, a medical school, a dozen academies, 27 hospitals, and 13 publishing houses.

By 1945, the church reported 226,000 members in the US and Canada, and 380,000 elsewhere; the budget was $29 million and enrollment in church schools was 40,000. In 1960 there were 1,245,125 members worldwide with an annual budget of over $99,900,000. Enrollment in church schools from elementary to college was 290,000 students. As of the year 2000 there were 11,687,229 members worldwide. The global budget was $28,610,881,313. And the enrollment is schools was 1, 065,092 students. In 2008 the global membership was 15,921,408 with a budget of $45,789,067,340. The number of students in SDA run universities, secondary and primary schools was 1,538,607.

Political views

The Adventists had closely followed American politics, matching current events to the predictions in the Bible.

"Seventh-day" means the observance of the original Sabbath, Saturday, is still a sacred obligation. Adventists argued that just as the rest of the Ten Commandments had not been revised, so also the injunction to "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" remained in full force. This theological point turned the young group into a powerful force for religious liberty. Growing into its full stature in the late 19th century and early 20th century, these Adventists opposed Sunday laws on every side. Many were arrested for working on Sunday. In fighting against the real threat of a legally established National Day of worship, these Sabbatarians had to fight for their liberty on a daily basis. Soon, they were fighting for religious liberty on a broader, less parochial basis.

Worldwide Mission

In 1874 J. N. Andrews became the first official Adventist missionary to travel overseas. Working in Switzerland, he sought to organise the Sabbath-keeping companies under one umbrella.

Later History

1888 General Conference

In 1888, a General Conference Session occurred in Minneapolis. This session involved a discussion between the then General Conference president, G. I. Butler; editor of the review, Uriah Smith; and a group led by E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones about the meaning of "Righteousness by Faith" and the meaning of the law in Romans and Galatians. Ellen G. White also addressed the conference.

Early 20th century

The early 20th-century brought with it new challenges to Adventist faith and practice. The death of Adventist prophetess Ellen G. White in 1915 brought new questions about how the church would continue without a living prophet. Adventist leaders participated in a variety of Fundamentalist prophetic conferences during and soon after World War I. The 1919 Bible Conference was a pivotal theological event that looked at how Adventists interpreted Bible prophecy and the legacy of Ellen White's writings for the church. The 1919 Bible Conference also had a polarizing influence on Adventist theology with progressives such as A. G. Daniells and W. W. Prescott pitted against traditionalists like Benjamin G. Wilkinson, J. S. Washburn, and Claude Holmes.

Fundamentalism was dominant in the church in the early 20th century. George Knight dates it from 1919 to 1950.

The edited transcripts of the 1952 Bible Conference were published as Our Firm Foundation.

Mid 20th century

In the mid 1970s, two distinct factions were manifest within mainstream Seventh day Adventism. Defending many pre-1950 Adventist positions was Historic Adventism, while the more liberal Adventism emphasized a different understanding of justification by faith, and sought greater fellowship with Evangelical Christianity. This controversy soon led to what some see as a full-blown internal crisis and fragmentation.

In the 1970s Kenneth Wood and Herbert Douglass, editors of the Review and Herald, began to emphasize historic Adventist teachings which had been the traditional views in the church before Questions on Doctrine such as sinless perfection of a final generation, which was opposed by many Progressive Adventists

Late 20th century

During the 1970s, what is now the Adventist Review carried articles by editor Kenneth Wood and associate editor Herbert Douglass rejecting Questions on Doctrine and arguing for a final perfect generation.

The General Conference addressed this controversy over "righteousness by faith" by holding a conference in Palmdale, California in 1976.

The 1980 General Conference session, held in Dallas, produced the church's first official declaration of beliefs voted by the world body, called the 27 Fundamental Beliefs. (This list of beliefs has since been expanded to the present 28 Fundamentals).

Firing of Desmond Ford

The year 1980 also saw the Adventist church become embroiled in a crisis over its investigative judgment teaching, known as the Glacier View controversy. This precipitated a major schism within the church, and while the mainstream believe in the doctrine and the church reaffirmed its basic position on the doctrine since 1980, many of those within the church's more liberal wing continued to be critical of the teaching, and the effects of which have persisted well into the 21st century. Desmond Ford later apostatized and left the Adventist Church.

Ordination of women

Proposals supporting the ordination of women were turned down at General Conference Sessions in 1990 in Indianapolis and 1996 in Utrecht.

Early 21th century

Video addresses from the then-president of the United States George W. Bush, and Hillary Clinton, were made to the church to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

A review of membership revealed an average of about 2,900 people where joining the Seventh-day Adventist Church every day, which show the denomination now has 16.6 million adult baptized members according to church statistics. Denominational membership showed strong growth and membership audits showed for 2009 as the seventh consecutive year the church had a net gain of more than 1 million members.

See also

Seventh-day Adventist Church

Seventh-day Adventist theology

28 fundamental beliefs

Ellen G. White

Millerites

Sabbath in Christianity

William Miller (preacher)

List of Seventh-day Adventist hospitals

List of Seventh-day Adventist medical schools

List of Seventh-day Adventist secondary schools

List of Seventh-day Adventist colleges and universities

Seventh-day Adventist theology

Teachings of Ellen White#End times

Inspiration of Ellen White

List of Ellen White writings

Ellen G. White Estate

Prophecy in the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Seventh-day Adventist interfaith relations – for relations with other Protestants and Catholics

Second coming

Premillennialism

Investigative judgment

Seventh-day Adventist eschatology

Sabbath in Seventh-day Adventism

Seventh-day Adventist worship

Further reading

Damsteegt, Gerard. Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message & Mission Andrews University Press (publisher's page)

Edwards, Calvin W. and Gary Land. Seeker After Light: A F Ballenger, Adventism, and American Christianity. (2000). 240pp online review

Gary Land, ed. Historical Dictionary of Seventh-day Adventists

Gary Land, ed. Adventism in America: A History, 2nd edition. Andrews University Press (publisher's page)

London, Samuel G., Jr. Seventh-day Adventists and the Civil Rights Movement (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2009. x, 194 pp.) ISBN 978-1-60473-272-6

Morgan, Douglas. Adventism and the American Republic: The Public Involvement of a Major Apocalyptic Movement. (2001). 269 pp. publisher's page, about Adventists and religious freedom

Morgan, Douglas. "Adventism, Apocalyptic, and the Cause of Liberty," Church History, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Jun., 1994), pp. 235–249 in JSTOR

Neufield, Don F. ed. Seventh-Day Adventist Encyclopedia (10 vol 1976), official publication

Pearson, Michael. Millennial Dreams and Moral Dilemmas: Seventh-day Adventism and Contemporary Ethics. (1990, 1998) excerpt and text search, looks at issues of marriage, abortion, homosexuality

Originally Official history, and first written by a trained historian.

Vance, Laura L. Seventh-day Adventism Crisis: Gender and Sectarian Change in an Emerging Religion. (1999). 261 pp.

Primary sources

Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia

Earliest Seventh-day Adventist Periodicals, reprinted by Andrews University Press. Introduction by George Knight (publisher's page)

Adventist Classic Library series, reprints of up to 40 major titles by 2015 (publisher's page)

References

External links

Movement of Destiny by Le Roy Edwin Froom, a classic Adventist work

October Morn by Howard Krug - a look at Hiram Edson on October 23, 1844

"Our Roots and Mission" by William G. Johnsson - A history of the Adventist Review

Seventh-day Adventists: the Heritage Continues

Adventist Archives Search Historical Documents

What is Adventist in Adventism? by George R. Knight.

Prophetic Basis of Adventism by Hans K. La Rondelle.

Pathways of the Pioneers at the Ellen G. White Estate website

Arthur Spalding, Captains of the Host (1949), has scholarly credibility

Articles with subject 'history' as cataloged in the Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index (SDAPI)