Ellen Gould White (née Ellen Gould Harmon; November 26, 1827 - July 16, 1915) was an author and an American Christian pioneer. Along with other Sabbatarian Adventist leaders such as Joseph Bates and her husband James White, she formed what became known as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Smithsonian magazine named Ellen G. White among the "100 Most Significant Americans of All Time.
White experienced some 200 alleged visions in public and private meetings throughout her life, which were witnessed by Adventist pioneers and the general public. She verbally described and published for public consumption the content of the alleged visions. The Adventist pioneers viewed these experiences as the Biblical gift of prophecy as outlined in Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 19:10 which describe the testimony of Jesus as the "spirit of prophecy." Her Conflict of the Ages series of writings endeavor to showcase the hand of God in Biblical history and in church history. This cosmic conflict, referred to by Seventh-day Adventist theologians as the "Great Controversy theme," became foundational to the development of Seventh-day Adventist theology. Her book on successful Christian living, Steps to Christ, has been published in more than 140 languages.
White was considered a controversial figure by her critics, with much of the controversy centering on her reports of visionary experiences and on the use of other sources in her writings. Historian Randall Balmer has described White as "one of the more important and colorful figures in the history of American religion". Walter Martin described her as "one of the most fascinating and controversial personages ever to appear upon the horizon of religious history". Arthur L. White, her grandson and biographer, writes that Ellen G. White is the most translated female non-fiction author in the history of literature, as well as the most translated American non-fiction author of either gender. Her writings covered a broad range of subjects, including religion, social relationships, prophecy, publishing, nutrition, creationism, agriculture, theology, social justice, evangelism, Christian lifestyle, education, and health. She advocated vegetarianism. She promoted and was instrumental in the establishment of schools and medical centers. During her lifetime she wrote more than 5,000 periodical articles and 40 books. As of 2015 more than 100 White titles are available in English, including compilations from her 100,000 pages of manuscript. Some of her other notable books include The Desire of Ages and The Great Controversy.
Video Ellen G. White
Personal life
Early life
Ellen and her twin sister Elizabeth were born November 26, 1827, to Robert and Eunice Harmon at a home on Rte. 114 in Gorham, Maine. Robert was a farmer who also made hats using mercuric nitrate.
Charles E. Dudley, Sr., in his book The Genealogy of Ellen Gould Harmon White: The Prophetess of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the Story of the Growth and Development of the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination As It Relates to African-Americans claims that Ellen White had an African-American ancestry. In March 2000, the Ellen G. White Estate commissioned Roger D. Joslyn, a professional genealogist, to research Ellen G. White's ancestry. Joslyn concluded that she was of Anglo-Saxon origin.
At the age of nine, White was hit in the face with a stone. This occurred while she was living in Portland, Maine, and probably attending the Bracket Street School. This, she said, started her conversion: "This misfortune, which for a time seemed so bitter and was so hard to bear, has proved to be a blessing in disguise. The cruel blow which blighted the joys of earth, was the means of turning my eyes to heaven. I might never had known Jesus Christ, had not the sorrow that clouded my early years led me to seek comfort in him". A few years after her injury, Ellen, with her parents, attended a Methodist camp meeting at Buxton, Maine; and there, at the age of 12, a breakthrough occurred in which she had a conversion experience and felt at peace.
Millerite movement
In 1840, at age 12, her family became involved with the Millerite movement. As she attended William Miller's lectures, she felt guilty for her sins and was filled with terror about being eternally lost. She describes herself as spending nights in tears and prayer and being in this condition for several months. On June 26, 1842, she was baptized by John Hobart in Casco Bay in Portland, Maine, and eagerly awaited Jesus to come again. In her later years, she referred to this as the happiest time of her life. Her family's involvement with Millerism caused them to be disfellowshipped by the local Methodist church.
Marriage and family
Sometime in 1845 Ellen Harmon came in contact with her future husband James Springer White, a Millerite who became convinced that her visions were genuine. A year later James proposed and they were married by a justice of the peace in Portland, Maine, on August 30, 1846. James later wrote:
We were married August 30, 1846, and from that hour to the present she has been my crown of rejoicing....It has been in the good providence of God that both of us had enjoyed a deep experience in the Advent movement....This experience was now needed as we should join our forces and, united, labor extensively from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific....
The Whites had four sons: Henry Nichols, James Edson (known as Edson), William Clarence (known as Willie or W. C.), and John Herbert. Only Edson and William lived to adulthood. John Herbert died of erysipelas at the age of three months, and Henry died of pneumonia at the age of 16 [White Estate Biography] in 1863.
Final years and death
White spent the final years of her life in Elmshaven, her home in Saint Helena, California after the death of her husband James White in 1881. During her final years she traveled less frequently as she concentrated upon writing her last works for the church. She died on July 16, 1915, at her home in Elmshaven, which is now an Adventist Historical Site. After three funerals, she was buried with her husband James White in Oak Hill Cemetery, Battle Creek, Michigan.
Maps Ellen G. White
Ministry
Visions
From 1844 to 1863 White allegedly experienced between 100 and 200 visions, typically in public places and meeting halls. She experienced her first vision soon after the Millerite Great Disappointment of 1844. She said she had one that led to the writing of The Great Controversy at an Ohio funeral service held on a Sunday afternoon in March, 1858, in the Lovett's Grove (now Bowling Green) public school, an alleged vision of the ages-long conflict between Christ and His angels and Satan and his angels was given to Mrs. White.
Physical phenomena during visions
J. N. Loughborough, who had seen White in vision 50 times since 1852, and her husband, James White, listed several physical characteristics that marked the visions:
- "In passing into vision, she gives three enrapturing shouts of "Glory!" which echo and re-echo, the second, and especially the third, fainter but more thrilling than the first, the voice resembling that of one quite a distance from you, and just going out of hearing."
- For a few moments she would swoon, having no strength. Then she would be instantly filled with superhuman strength, sometimes rising to her feet and walking about the room. She frequently moved hands, arms, and head in gestures that were free and graceful. But to whatever position she moved a hand or arm, it could not be hindered nor controlled by even the strongest person. In 1845, she held her parents' 18.5 pound family Bible in her outstretched left hand for half an hour. She weighed 80 pounds at the time.
- She did not breathe during the entire period of a vision that ranged from fifteen minutes to three hours. Yet, her pulse beat regularly and her countenance remained pleasant as in the natural state.
- Her eyes were always open without blinking; her head was raised, looking upward with a pleasant expression as if staring intently at some distant object. Several physicians, at different times, conducted tests to check her lack of breathing and other physical phenomena.
- She was utterly unconscious of everything transpiring around her, and viewed herself as removed from this world, and in the presence of heavenly beings.
- When she came out of vision, all seemed total darkness whether in the day time or a well-lighted room at night. She would exclaim with a long-drawn sigh, as she took her first natural breath, "D-a-r-k." She was then limp and strengthless.
Mrs. Martha Amadon added: "There was never an excitement among those present during a vision; nothing caused fear. It was a solemn, quiet scene."
First vision
In December 1844, White allegedly experienced her first vision during a prayer meeting at the home of Mrs. Haines on Ocean Street in South Portland, Maine.
At this time I visited one of our Advent sisters, and in the morning we bowed around the family altar. It was not an exciting occasion, and there were but five of us present, all females. While praying, the power of God came upon me as I never had felt it before, and I was wrapt up in a vision of God's glory, and seemed to be rising higher and higher from the earth and was shown something of the travels of the Advent people to the Holy City...
In this vision the "Advent people" were traveling a high and dangerous path towards the city of New Jerusalem [heaven]. Their path was lit from behind by "a bright (light)...which an angel told me was the midnight cry." Some of the travelers grew weary and were encouraged by Jesus; others denied the light, the light behind them went out, and they fell "off the path into the dark and wicked world below." The vision continued with a portrayal of Christ's second coming, following which the Advent people entered the New Jerusalem; and ended with her returning to earth feeling lonely, desolate and longing for that "better world."
As Godfrey T. Anderson said, "In effect, the vision assured the Advent believers of eventual triumph despite the immediate despair into which they had plunged."
Second and third visions
In February 1845, White allegedly experienced her second vision in Exeter, Maine known as the "Bridegroom" vision. Together with the third vision about the new earth, the visions "gave continued meaning to the October 1844 experience and supported the developing sanctuary rationale. Additionally they played an important role in countering the spiritualizing views of many fanatical Adventists by portraying the Father and Jesus as literal beings and heaven as a physical place."
Public testimony
Fearing people would not accept her testimony, White did not initially share her visions with the wider Millerite community. In a meeting at her parent's home when she received what she regarded as confirmation of her ministry:
While praying, the thick darkness that had enveloped me was scattered, a bright light, like a ball of fire, came towards me, and as it fell upon me, my strength was taken away. I seemed to be in the presence of Jesus and the angels. Again it was repeated, 'Make known to others what I have revealed to you.'
Soon White was giving her testimony in public meetings -- some of which she arranged herself -- and in her regular Methodist class meetings in private homes.
I arranged meetings with my young friends, some of whom were considerably older than myself, and a few were married persons. A number of them were vain and thoughtless; my experience sounded to them like an idle tale, and they did not heed my entreaties. But I determined that my efforts should never cease till these dear souls, for whom I had so great an interest, yielded to God. Several entire nights were spent by me in earnest prayer for those whom I had sought out and brought together for the purpose of laboring and praying with them.
News of her visions spread and White was soon traveling and speaking to groups of Millerite followers in Maine and the surrounding area. Her visions were not publicized further afield until January 24, 1846, when her account of the first vision: "Letter From Sister Harmon" was published in the Day Star, a Millerite paper published in Cincinnati, Ohio by Enoch Jacobs. White had written to Jacobs to encourage him and although she stated the letter was not written for publication, Jacobs printed it anyway. Through the next few years it was republished in various forms and is included as part of her first book, Christian Experience and Views, published in 1851.
Two Millerites claimed to have had visions prior to White - William Ellis Foy (1818-1893), and Hazen Foss (1818?-1893), White's brother-in-law. Adventists believe the prophetic gift offered to these two men was passed on to White when they rejected it.
Middle life
White described the vision experience as involving a bright light which would surround her and she felt herself in the presence of Jesus or angels who would show her events (historical and future) and places (on earth, in heaven, or other planets). The transcriptions of White's visions generally contain theology, prophecy, or personal counsels to individuals or to Adventist leaders. One of the best examples of her personal counsels is found in a 9-volume series of books entitled Testimonies for the Church, that contains edited testimonies published for the general edification of the church. The spoken and written versions of her visions played a significant part in establishing and shaping the organizational structure of the emerging Adventist Church. Her visions and writings continue to be used by church leaders in developing the church's policies and for devotional reading.
On March 14, 1858, at Lovett's Grove, near Bowling Green, Ohio, White received a vision while attending a funeral service. On that day James White wrote that "God manifested His power in a wonderful manner" adding that "several had decided to keep the Lord's Sabbath and go with the people of God." In writing about the vision, she stated that she received practical instruction for church members, and more significantly, a cosmic sweep of the conflict "between Christ and His angels, and Satan and his angels." Ellen White would expand upon this great controversy theme which would eventually culminate in the Conflict of the Ages series.
Personality and public persona
White was seen as a powerful and sought after preacher. While she has been perceived as having a strict and serious personality, perhaps due to her lifestyle standards, numerous sources describe her as a friendly person.
Major teachings
Theology
- Christ-centered salvation by grace
- The Great Controversy theme
- Obedience to revealed truth a sign of genuine faith
Jerry Moon argues that White taught assurance of salvation. Arthur Patrick believes that White was evangelical, in that she had high regard for the Bible, saw the cross as central, supported righteousness by faith, believed in Christian activism, and sought to restore New Testament Christianity.
Education
White's earliest essays on education appeared in the 1872 autumn editions of the Health Reformer. In her first essay she stated that working with youthful minds was the most delicate of tasks. The manner of instruction should be varied. This would make it possible for the "high and noble powers of the mind" to have a chance to develop. To be qualified to educate the youth (she wrote), parents and teachers must have self-control, gentleness and love.
White's idea of creating a Christian educational system and its importance in society is detailed in her writings Christian Education (1893, 1894) and Education (1903).
Health reform
White expounded greatly on the subjects of health, healthy eating and a balanced diet. In her book Counsels on Diet & Foods, she gives advice on the right foods and on moderation. She also warns against the use of tobacco, which was medically accepted in her day. Her views are expressed in the writings Healthful Living (1897, 1898) and The Health Food Ministry (1970) and The Ministry of Healing (1905).
Major writings
Some of her most well known books are:
- Steps to Christ (1892), a classic, concise (evangelical) treatment of personal devotional topics.
- Christ's Object Lessons (1900), about the parables of Jesus.
- Education (1903), principles of Christian education
- The Ministry of Healing (1905), instructions on healthy living and the care of others.
- Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing (1896), about Christ's Sermon on the Mount.
A survey conducted in 2016 found that White was the 11th most-read author in Brazil.
Historic legacy
According to one evangelical author, "No Christian leader or theologian has exerted as great an influence on a particular denomination as Ellen White has on Adventism." Additional authors have stated "Ellen G. White has undoubtedly been the most influential Seventh-day Adventist in the history of the church."
Ellen G. White Estate
The Ellen G. White Estate, Inc., was formed as a result of White's will. It consists of a self-perpetuating board and a staff which includes a secretary (now known as the director), several associates, and a support staff. The main headquarters is at the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. Branch Offices are located at Andrews University, Loma Linda University, and Oakwood University. There are 15 additional research centers located throughout the 13 remaining divisions of the world church. The mission of the White Estate is to circulate Ellen White's writings, translate them, and provide resources for helping to better understand her life and ministry. At the Toronto General Conference Session (2000) the world church expanded the mission of the White Estate to include a responsibility for promoting Adventist history for the entire denomination.
Adventist historic sites
Several of White's homes are historic sites. The first home that she and her husband owned is now part of the Historic Adventist Village in Battle Creek, Michigan. Her other homes are privately owned with the exception of her home in Cooranbong, Australia, which she named "Sunnyside," and her last home in Saint Helena, California, which she named "Elmshaven". These latter two homes are owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the "Elmshaven" home is also a National Historic Landmark.
Avondale College
White inspired and guided the foundation of Avondale College, Cooranbong, leaving an educational legacy from her time in Australia. Avondale College is the main Seventh-day Adventist tertiary institution in the South-Pacific Division.
Biographical writings
The most comprehensive biography of White is an extensive six-volume work called "Ellen G. White: A Biography" written by her grandson, Arthur L. White. Thousands of articles and books have been written about various aspects of Ellen G. White's life and ministry. A large number of these can be found in the libraries at Loma Linda University and Andrews University, the two primary Seventh-day Adventist institutions with major research collections about Adventism. An "Encyclopedia of Ellen G. White" is being produced by two faculty at Andrews University: Jerry Moon, chair of the church history department, and Denis Fortin, dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.
Theatre
Red Books: Our Search for Ellen White is a play about White, a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the various perceptions of her throughout the history of the church. It was produced by the Dramatic Arts Society of Pacific Union College in California. It was based on interviews collected from over 200 individuals. The title derives from White's books, which were traditionally bound with a red cover.
Film
Produced by the Seventh-Day Adventist church in 2016, the movie "Tell the World" chronicles the life of Ellen G. White, "Her guidance and advice, obtained through Bible studies, as well as dreams and visions revealed by God, guided the steps of the Church in becoming a worldwide movement of compassion in the areas of health, education, community development and disaster relief." Today, the Seventh-day Adventist church has grown to nearly 20 million members in hundreds of countries.
Examination of the prophetic value of her writings
Most Adventists believe White's writings are inspired and continue to have relevance for the church today. Because of criticism from the evangelical community, in the 1940s and 1950s church leaders such as LeRoy Edwin Froom and Roy Allan Anderson attempted to help evangelicals understand Seventh-day Adventists better by engaging in extended dialogue that resulted in the publication of Questions on Doctrine (1956) that explained Adventist beliefs in evangelical language.
Evangelical Walter Martin of the countercult Christian Research Institute "rejected White's prophetic claims", yet saw her "as a genuine Christian believer", unlike her contemporaries Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, and Charles Taze Russell. Kenneth Samples, a successor of Martin in his interaction with Adventism, also denies White's prophetic claims yet "believe[s] she, at minimum, had some good biblical and theological instincts."
Adventist statement of belief about the Spirit of Prophecy
White's writings are sometimes referred to as the Spirit of Prophecy by Adventists. The term is dually applied to the Holy Spirit which inspired her writings.
Early Sabbatarian Adventists, many of whom had come out of the Christian Connexion, were anti-creedal. However, as early as 1872 Adventists produced a statement of Adventist beliefs. This list was refined during the 1890s and formally included in the SDA Yearbook in 1931 with 22 points. In 1980 a statement of 27 Fundamental Beliefs was adopted, to which one was added to in 2005 to make the current list of fundamental beliefs. White is referenced in the fundamental belief on spiritual gifts. This doctrinal statement says:
"One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White. As the Lord's messenger, her writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested. (Joel 2:28,29; Acts 2:14-21; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 12:17; 19:10.)"
Criticism
Critics have voiced doubts as to the reliability of Ellen G. White as a true prophet and the authenticity of her visions. Ronald L. Numbers, an American historian of science and a graduate of the Loma Linda University School of Medicine, criticized Mrs. White for her views on health and masturbation, the gist of his criticism being that she followed the medical consensus of her epoch. Numbers argues that she plagiarized vitalist writers (such as Horace Mann and Larkin B. Coles) for her arguments against masturbation. White's book Appeal to Mothers states that she did not copy her text from the health reform advocates and that she independently reached such conclusions. Numbers' criticism is acknowledged as significant by the staff of the White Estate, which sought to refute it in A Critique of the Book Prophetess of Health. Richard W. Schwarz from the Department of History, Andrews University argued that the similarities are due to supernatural inspiration influencing all those authors, which spoke in more or less the same words to all of them.
Roger Coon wrote a lecture arguing that certain followers of the religion were engaging in "equal but opposite dangers" in their view of White. He described one group that overdeified her, and one group that "picks and chooses" from what teachings they follow of hers.
Critics have accused Ellen White of plagiarism. One such was Walter T. Rea, who argued against the "original" nature of her alleged revelations in his book The White Lie. Another critic is Ronald Numbers.
A lawyer employed by the SDA as legal defense, Vincent L. Ramik, undertook a study of Ellen G. White's writings during the early 1980s, and concluded that they were "conclusively unplagiaristic." When the plagiarism charge ignited a significant debate during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Adventist General Conference commissioned a major study by Dr. Fred Veltman. The ensuing project became known as the "'Life of Christ' Research Project". Dr. Roger W. Coon, David J. Conklin, Dr. Denis Fortin, King and Morgan, among others, undertook the refutation of the accusations of plagiarism. At the conclusion of his report, Ramik states:
"It is impossible to imagine that the intention of Ellen G. White, as reflected in her writings and the unquestionably prodigious efforts involved therein, was anything other than a sincerely motivated and unselfish effort to place the understandings of Biblical truths in a coherent form for all to see and comprehend. Most certainly, the nature and content of her writings had but one hope and intent, namely, the furthering of mankind's understanding of the word of God. Considering all factors necessary in reaching a just conclusion on this issue, it is submitted that the writings of Ellen G. White were conclusively unplagiaristic."
In 1911, more than 70 years before charges of plagiarism, White wrote in the introduction to The Great Controversy her reason for quoting, in some cases without giving due credit, certain historians whose "statements affords a ready and forcible presentation on the subject."
See also
- Adventism
- Adventist Baptismal Vow
- Adventist Health Studies
- Conditional Immortality
- Inspiration of Ellen G. White
- Seventh-day Adventist Church Pioneers
- Teachings of Ellen G. White
- Three Angels' Messages
Writings online
- Major books (from the White Estate page)
- Old and new search engines for "The Complete Published Writings of Ellen G. White"
- Adventist Archives Contains many articles written by Ellen White
References
Further reading
- Aamodt, Terrie Dopp, Gary Land, and Ronald L. Numbers, eds. Ellen Harmon White: American Prophet (Oxford University Press, 2014) 365 pp. essays by independent scholars
- Balmer, Randall (2002). "White, Ellen Gould (née Harmon)". Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism. Westminster: John Knox Press. pp. 614-15.
- Butler, Jonathan M. (Winter 1991). "Prophecy, Gender, and Culture: Ellen Gould Harmon [White] and the Roots of Seventh-day Adventism". Religion and American Culture. 1 (1): 3-29. doi:10.1525/rac.1991.1.1.03a00020.
- Douglass, Herbert E. (2010). The Heartbeat of Adventism, the Great Controversy Theme in the Writings of Ellen White (PDF). Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association. p. 416. ISBN 0-8163-2458-1.
- Graham, R. E. (1985). Ellen G. White, Cofounder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. New York: Peter Lang.
- Graybill, Ronald (1983). The Power of Prophecy: Ellen G. White and Women Religious Founders of the Nineteenth Century (Ph.D. diss.). The Johns Hopkins University.
- Graybill, Ron (February 1994). "Visions and Revisions, Part 1". Ministry Magazine. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
- Land, Gary (ed.). The World of Ellen G. White.
a historical background to White's writings without critically comparing the two.
- Martin, Walter (1965). The Kingdom of the Cults. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany Fellowship. p. 379.
- Moon, Jerry; Fortin, Denis, eds. (2013). The Ellen G. White Encyclopedia. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald.
- White, Arthur L. (1985). ""Chapter 7 - (1846-1847) Entering Marriage Life"". Ellen G. White: The Early Years, 1827-1862,. 1.
- White, Arthur L. (August 2000). "Ellen G. White: A Brief Biography". Ellen G. White Estate.
- Campbell, Michael W. (2013). Ellen White and the Gift of Prophecy: An Introduction to Her Prophetic Life and Ministry. Lincoln, Nebraska: AdventSource.
External links
- Ellen G. White Estate, Inc.
- Works by Ellen Gould Harmon White at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Ellen G. White at Internet Archive
- Works by Ellen G. White at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Ellen G. White at Find a Grave
- extensively researched genealogy
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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