Ellen Gould Harmon White

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Ellen G. White (around 1864)

Ellen Gould Harmon White (born November 26, 1827 in Gorham , Maine as Ellen Gould Harmon , † July 16, 1915 in St. Helena , California ) was a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church . She spent most of her life in the United States . From 1885 to 1887 Ellen White visited various countries in Northern and Western Europe and from 1891 to 1900 she lived in Australia .

Life

Early Years, Calling, and Marriage

Ellen Gould Harmon was born on November 26, 1827 in Gorham (Maine) together with her sister Elisabeth (Lizzie) in the northeastern United States . The twin daughters were the youngest of eight children of a poor hatter family who belonged to the Methodist Church . Father and mother were considered committed church members, and Ellen, too, took the Christian faith very seriously from an early age. Lizzie was the only one of her siblings to turn away from the faith and died in 1891.

At the age of nine, Ellen was so badly injured by another girl in an argument on the way to school by another girl that she "lay there numb for three weeks" and suffered fainting spells for years. As a result, school attendance had to be stopped. From then on, Ellen appeared sickly with little prospect of full recovery, but continued her education by reading independently. "The sickly one survived all but one - her sister Mary, who was three years older - by decades."

From 1840 the Harmon family had close contact with the movement around the Baptist lay preacher William Miller and, together with the other believers, expected the return of Christ. On June 26, 1842, Ellen was baptized in the Methodist Church. A year later, however, she and her family were expelled from their church for " Millerism ". The immediate expectation of a return was disappointed, first in March and then in October 1844. But even after the parousia did not take place, the family continued to support Miller's interpretation.

About two months later, after the last "return date" had passed, Ellen had her first vision during a prayer hour , which gradually helped to stabilize the young Advent movement. This “face”, which she saw in Portland ( Maine ) in the second half of December 1844 at the age of 17 and which was also called the “midnight call” due to the thematic focus, was the first in a long series that continued until the end of hers Should continue life. When Ellen began sharing this vision with congregations in various locations in Penobscot County in the spring of 1845 , she received another vision in Exeter, Maine. Back in Portland, she sees the “New Earth” in a third, significant vision, but is also confronted with an influential preacher who is twenty years older and abuses his power.

In that spring of 1845, William and Sarah Jordan, friends of siblings, accompanied Ellen White on her first lecture tour in the extreme northeast of the United States. In Orrington ( Maine ) they wanted to bring back his horse to the young Adventist preacher James White . James had known Ellen from Portland since the summer of 1843 and had also heard of her affirmative vision. He walked 30 kilometers from Palmyra, Maine to hear her in person and to speak to her longer. After this encounter, he decided to take care of her personal protection. Both of them initially refused to marry because of their youth and his continued expectation. In order not to cause public offense, they married on August 30, 1846. From then on, James supported Ellen as organizer, companion at her public appearances and as editor of her writings.

The marriage had four children:

  • Henry Nichols (1847-1863) died on December 8 at the age of 16 years of pneumonia ;
  • James Edson (1849–1928) was a difficult but creative child; he experienced - inspired by Ellen White's book "Our Duty to the Colored People" - a late conversion and, as a grown man, took a boat on the Yazoo River for educational work among African Americans , which was still a taboo at the time;
  • William Clarence (1854–1937) followed in his father's footsteps at the age of 27 and, as a close associate of the mother, stood up for her written legacy beyond her death;
  • John Herbert died of sore rose shortly after his birth in 1860 .

The Sabbath doctrine , which calls for "holding the Saturday" as the biblical day of rest, she took over after some hesitation by Joseph Bates . On April 3, 1847, this teaching was confirmed to her through a vision in Topsham , Maine . Despite financial difficulties, the White couple traveled tirelessly through the United States to share the knowledge of the Sabbath, the second coming of Christ, and his mediation in the heavenly sanctuary. The Adventist doctrine was complete early, because with the adherence to the expectation of a visible second coming, four further pillars of the doctrine were already firmly connected in 1848.

In 1849 the first magazine was founded under the title The Present Truth . Many other newspapers, tracts, and book series followed. Starting in 1852, a printing company was to be built for this purpose, which was finally settled in Battle Creek , Michigan in 1855 . “The climate… the rental prices, fuel and other facilities seem to speak for this place.” Ellen White gave the first impetus in 1848: “When I came out of the vision, I said to my husband: 'I have a message for you. You have to start printing a little magazine. '"

Through the combination of organizational talent, personal commitment, spiritual sense of mission and the possibility of publication, the White couple promoted the growth and structural development of the so-called Advent movement , which was founded in 1863 as the Seventh-day Adventist Church . James White became one of the first presidents, while Ellen White never held an official position. However, through her spiritual mandate, numerous books and regular newspaper articles, she significantly influenced the decisions of the young church.

After the death of James White

From 1863 onwards, a new theme dominated Ellen White's consciousness. Due to the poor health of her husband, who u. a. came about due to malnutrition and overwork, and visions inspired her to become involved in life and health reform . Several books on this subject followed and sanatoriums , naturopathic seminars and several schools were founded.

Nevertheless, she then suffered the premature death of her eldest son and her husband: “Between 1865 and his death in 1881, James White suffered at least five strokes . Although the first was by far the most severe, the following increased the damage. ”When James White died on August 6, 1881, Ellen White first moved to Healdsburg , on the shared farm in Dry Creek Valley , California , but then moved on more than before in the public field of vision of the Seventh-day Adventists.

Four years later, from 1885 to 1887, she went on her first trip abroad with her son William and his family and other confidants and relatives, which took them to England , Switzerland , Scandinavia , Italy , France and Germany . The headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventists in Europe was then in Basel , where they kept returning. From there she also traveled several times to the Waldensian area around Torre Pellice , Piedmont .

Accompanied by Ludwig R. Conradi , Ellen White attended a meeting in Vohwinkel near Wuppertal from May 27-29, 1887 (at Pentecost ) . After the sermon she surprised those present with her invitation to share “testimony” in the service; a ritual that is known to this day among German Seventh-day Adventists and has remained popular as a “living community”. Before going on via Hamburg to Copenhagen, Ellen White made a detour to Mönchengladbach , Rheydt . On the non-working Whit Monday early in the morning, she visited the Dörner family's silk weaving mill and was then taken to the family's private estate. A daughter of Johann Lindermann, who had married into the Dörner family, was already waiting for them there.

Johann Heinrich Lindermann (1806-1892), the pioneer of the pietistic-free church sabbath movement in Germany, rejected infant baptism as early as 1850, resigned from the Reformed Church and in 1852 registered a free evangelical congregation in Velbert with the Prussian authorities . But the religious nonconformist did not want to stop there, despite the experience of violent resistance, temporary collaboration with the Brethren movement and later competition with Julius Koebner . Among the 700 members at the height of his movement there were in particular “the groups in Mettmann (Boschdell) and in Haan ( Vohwinkel - Tesche ) ... under the leadership of the Weinand, Drinhaus and Dörner families, the [a] nucleus of the emerging Sabbath Adventism '“Formed.

As a result of her trip to Europe, Ellen White was geographically far removed from the looming internal struggles over the theological course of the church, 25 years after its foundation. But she was confronted with expectations and accusations at the general conference in Minneapolis in 1888, and even more so a year after her return. The editors of the Adventist Signs of the Times from Oakland , California , Alonzo T. Jones (1850–1923) and Ellet J. Wagoner (1855–1916), also a teacher at an Adventist college in Healdsburg , dared to question a consensus, which the President George I. Butler (1834-1918) and the editor of the Adventist Review in Battle Creek , Uriah Smith (1832-1903), tried to secure in advance with inappropriate means.

Ellen White did not react as expected and took a stand against the traditional position of the older leaders and on the side of the 20 years younger editors Wagoner and Jones. But in spite of her reputation now established in the Church, her inter-party influence seemed so worn out that she considered leaving during the session. But she stayed at her post. The newly elected President Ole A. Olsen was later to specifically encourage her to think about new plans in distant Australia, after she had successfully prevailed in Minneapolis against all kinds of rumors about a “California conspiracy”. The fact that her son William initially represented the President-elect for six months did not change that.

From 1891 to 1900 she lived in Australia and from there drove her publications, but also the health and education work of the community, although she was not only very unsure about the location before leaving. After their arrival on December 8, 1891, six years earlier, the Adventists had reached the continent for the first time, she lived first in Melbourne (until August 1894), then Sydney (until December 1895) and finally until 1900 in Cooranbong, which is now the City of Lake Macquarie , owned in New South Wales . She was in regular correspondence with the USA and has continued to publish articles in the journals there. In Australia she also completed two of her most successful books: her conversion classic Steps to Christ (1892) and the gospel harmony The Desire of Ages (1898). In addition, other works were created that are considered to be a by-product of her life of Jesus narrative: one on the Sermon on the Mount ( Thoughts of the Mount of Blessing , 1896) and another on the parables of Jesus ( Christ's Object Lessons , 1900).

After overcoming intense rheumatic complaints in the first year of her stay, she went to visits and lectures in New Zealand and most of Australia ( Tasmania , Victoria , South Australia , New South Wales and Queensland ). It is thanks to their direct influence that an Adventist school system was established in Australia to match their concept of holistic education. Today around 14,000 students are cognitively, socially, physically and spiritually cared for in 47 schools in Australia. To this end, she helped the Avondale School for Christian Workers, which she co-founded in 1897 (meanwhile Avondale University College ) in Cooranbong, to the rank of a model school. The nurses for the Sydney Sanitarium (since 1973 Sydney Adventist Hospital ) in Wahroonga are trained there to this day, which only opened its doors in 1903, when Ellen White had already left Australia. Between 1896 and 1907, however, she also took an intensive part in this establishment.

Return to the United States

“In 1900, Battle Creek was to Adventists what Jerusalem was to Jews and Salt Lake City is to Mormons. However, the new century saw the decline of the Adventist 'holy city'. ”Immediately after her return, Ellen White and the administrative specialist Arthur G. Daniells (1858–1935) set about reorganizing the general conference, the main features of which are still valid today . Daniells took over an idea from Asa T. Robinson (1850-1949), who did construction work in South Africa (1891-1897) and then in Australia (1898-1903), and for the first time added the "Union" as a new administrative unit below the level of the General conference a. Now the church could be managed by church officials (“ secretaries ”) with a flexible but globally uniform administrative structure from different departments down to the “association” as the smallest, decentralized administrative unit .

At the general conference (assembly) in Battle Creek on April 1, 1901, Ellen White repeated her criticism of the “royal” claims to power of individuals, which she had already articulated many times since the 1890s. She wasn't just referring to elected church officials, because after George Butler, it was John Harvey Kellogg who drove into a confrontation with Ellen White. The Battle Creek Sanitarium burned down on the morning of February 28, 1902 , and the Review & Herald publishing house on the evening of December 30 of that year. Subsequent property and legal disputes alienated Kellogg and the sanatorium he had rebuilt from the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In 1904, Ellen White accompanied the general conference (world leadership) move from Battle Creek, Michigan to Takoma Park , Washington, DC. In May 1905, at her urging, another sanatorium was purchased on a large property in Loma Linda , California. In November of the same year, the sanatorium was able to resume operations, but Ellen White continued to push for the area to be enlarged. According to their vision of October 10, 1901, a new teaching hospital was to be built there in place of the lost Battle Creek Sanitarium , where the Loma Linda University Medical Center is now located. She visited the place for the first time in June 1905 and for the last time in April 1911.

After Ellen White had fewer and fewer public appointments since 1909, she finally withdrew into private life in 1912. She died on July 16, 1915, at the age of 87, at her home in Elmshaven , St. Helena, California.

effect

Ellen White was already perceived by Seventh-day Adventists as a “ prophet ” during her lifetime and therefore had a special position. She herself never contradicted this claim, but preferred to call herself the “messenger of the Lord”, whose writings were a “little light” and should lead to the “great light” (the Bible ).

1919 Bible Conference

Four years after her death, a Bible conference took place, followed by a meeting of church historians, which finally turned to questions of inspiration from Ellen White and the Bible. Both meetings were presided over by Arthur G. Daniells, a close associate and President of the Seventh-day Adventists since Ellen White's Australian phase in the first two decades of the twentieth century. At the beginning of the debate on inspiration at the end of the long conference, he pointed out the fact that "some of the believers gathered here believe in word-for-word inspiration, and some believe in thought inspiration," and afterwards he held It would be better that the entire transcript of the conference should be kept in a vault and only be viewed for study purposes.

The notes were forgotten. Finally, F. Donald Yost, the archive director of the General Conference was, on 6 December 1974 in the vaults of the world church two bundles of transcripts of the Bible Conference in 1919, which is about four years later by Molleurus Couperus, the former chief editor of the Spectrum Magazine of without consent Archives director were partially published. The archivist was outraged and some letters to the editor reflected the audience's astonishment, which 60 years ago had not expected an open-hearted discussion in this form. Today the entire collection is well known and generally accessible.

Influence and importance

Although White's importance does not extend significantly beyond the circle of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which she co-founded , she is one of the most important religious figures of the 19th century in North America. With Mary Baker Eddy , the founder of Christian Science , she is one of the few women who were significantly involved in the development of a religious community. “Instead of the [disappointed] Second Coming, she imparted to the believers the ideal of perfect physical and spiritual health ... [or] to put it in a nutshell, she founded a church by promoting the faith of her followers through prophetic powers shaped that this did not decrease in that project. "

Ellen White had a tremendous influence on the emergence of Adventist welfare and educational institutions. In her numerous writings she devotes herself to questions of everyday congregation and the Christian way of life. In addition, it presented comprehensive historical concepts that stretched from biblical times to the present. Your work The Great Controversy can be read as a correction or counter-draft to The God State of Augustine . “Most Adventists assume that Ellen White developed the 'great war' theology. But Joseph Bates' insights and the publication of his little book The Seventh-Day Sabbath preceded Ellen White's vision on the subject by three months. "

To this day, Ellen G. White's position is controversial within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Seventh-day Adventist world church leadership recognizes in their scriptures a "gift of prophecy" and a "prophetic authority" useful for "comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction." At the same time, the church leadership emphasizes that the writings of Ellen G. White are by no means on an equal footing with the biblical writings, but that the Bible alone is regarded as a “standard” and “test stone”. In the congregations, including in Germany, this stipulation meets with different echoes: While some Adventists, above all the current general conference president Ted NC Wilson, recognize her and her writings as having a prophetic leadership role with appropriate authority, other Adventists see it merely as one for honored the fate of the church as an important author of edification in the context of the 19th century.

Since the end of the 20th century, more and more knowledgeable historians and theologians have been researching the life, work and impact of Ellen G. White. Several works on the history of church and theology are also available in German, mostly from the church Advent publishing house. In October 2009, the first joint scientific project was discussed at a conference in Portland , Maine . The volume, to which 20 different authors contributed, was published in 2014 by Oxford University Press under the title Ellen Harmon White: American Prophet .

Fonts

During her lifetime, Ellen White wrote over 20 books and numerous writings, in addition to tracts and articles (over 5000), in particular, many letters and manuscripts (approx. 8000). Her estate contains over 60,000 manuscript pages, including sermons, messages from God (“testimonies”) and diaries. Numerous compilations were published after her death. Many works are available online (see also the German section of EGW writings ).

Due to her limited formal education and the abundance of her activities, Ellen White employed a number of literary assistants ( scribes , shorthand typists and editors ). The first typewriter came on the market in 1874, and since Ellen White appreciated good, modern equipment, she bought several for her office in 1885. Among the 20 or so people who helped her were family members such as Marian Davis (1847–1904) and Fannie Bolton (1859–1926). Davis enjoyed absolute confidence and Bolton was fired (and reinstated) several times for showing too much arbitrariness. Ellen White commented on this in a draft letter: “The books are not Marian's work, but my own, compiled from all of my writings. Marian has a lot of resources to fall back on and her ability to arrange the material is very valuable to me. It saves me having to go through all the material myself, because I don't have the time. ... Fannie may have claimed she was making my books, but she doesn't. This is Marian's domain, and her services are far more valuable than anything Fannie has done for me. "

The nine volumes (approx. 5000 pages) of the Testimonies for the Church are especially aimed at Seventh-day Adventists. They contain Ellen White's letters, articles, sermons, reports of visions, and instructions for everyday life. The first 4 volumes appeared in 1885 after the general conference (plenary assembly) ordered the edition. Until the publication of volume 5 (1889), the certificates follow a chronological order; volumes 6 - 9 (1900–1909) are arranged thematically. Between 1914 and 1918, initially 2 volumes of selected passages were translated into German under the title From the Treasury of Testimonies . After the Second World War (1956–1959) a new translation was published in 3 volumes, almost doubling the volume. Volume 1 contains messages from the years 1855–1881, Volume 2 those between 1882–1889 and Volume 3 contains a selection of their older works (1900–1909).

However, the series on biblical history and eschatology , which build on each other, are best known : Spiritual Gifts (4 volumes, 1858–1864), Spirit of Prophecy (4 volumes, 1870–1884) and Conflict of the Ages Series (5 volumes, 1888 -1917). The last, fully developed series is often referred to as the “decision series” in the German-speaking world. These five titles, which are repeatedly reprinted in German in a modified form, are:

  • Patriarchs and Prophets (1890) - ( Patriarchs and Prophets , How It All Began , The Prelude )
  • Prophets and Kings (1917) - ( Prophets and Kings , Power and Powerlessness , The Chosen )
  • The Desire of Ages (1898) - ( The life of Jesus , The victory of love , Jesus of Nazareth , The victor )
  • The Acts of the Apostles (1911) - ( The Work of the Apostles , Good News for All , The Ambassadors )
  • The Great Controversy (1888/1911) - ( The Great Controversy , From the shadows to the light , the finale )

She herself considered her book The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan to be one of the most important. Most successful in sales during her lifetime was Steps to Christ .

Other English editions (selection)

  • Early Writings. Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington (DC) 1882.
  • Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-Day Adventists. Imprimerie Polyglotte, Basel 1886.
  • Steps to Christ. Fleming H. Revell, Chicago 1892.
  • Thoughts of the Mount of Blessing. Review & Herald Press Association, Battle Creek 1896.
  • Christ's Object Lessons. Review & Herald Press Association, Battle Creek 1900.
  • Education. Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View 1903.
  • The Ministry of Healing. Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View 1905/1909.
  • Life Sketches of Ellen G. White. Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View 1915.

German editions (selection)

literature

  • Terrie Dopp Aamodt, Gary Land, and Ronald L. Numbers (Eds.): Ellen Harmon White: American Prophet. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014. ISBN 978-0199373857 .
  • Lothar Bily :  White, Ellen Gould. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 1002-1009.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Merlin D. Burt: "The Historical Background, Interconnected Development, and Integration of the Doctrines of the Heavenly Sanctuary, the Sabbath, and Ellen G. White's Role in Sabbatarian Adventism from 1844–1849." Dissertation, Andrews University, Berrien Springs 2002. (University server)
  • Hilary M. Carey, "Ellen G. White and Female Prophetic Authority in the Adventist Tradition in Australia." In: Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies. Volume 5, No. 1, 2000, pp. 3-19.
  • Dwight A. Delafield: Ellen G. White and the Seventh-day Adventist Fellowship. Advent-Verlag, Hamburg 1971.
  • Dwight A. Delafield: Ellen G. White in Europe. Review & Herald, Washington (DC) 1975.
  • Denis Fortin and Jerry Moon (Eds.): The Ellen G. White Encyclopedia. Review & Herald, Hagerstown 2013. ISBN 978-0-8280-2504-1 .
  • Martin G. Klingbeil: "Ellen White as an Intercultural Missionary." In: Misión y contextualización: Llevar el mensaje bíblico a un mundo multicultural. Editorial Universidad Adventista del Plata, Entre Ríos 2005, pp. 113–130.
  • George R. Knight: In anticipation of his coming. A Seventh-day Adventist Short Story. Advent-Verlag, Lüneburg 1994. ISBN 978-3-8150-1257-4 .
  • George R. Knight: Reading and Understanding White. Advent-Verlag, Lüneburg 1998. ISBN 978-3-8150-1285-7 .
  • George R. Knight: Ellen White's Life and Work. Advent-Verlag, Lüneburg 2001. ISBN 978-3-8150-1842-2 .
  • George R. Knight: It wasn't always like that. The development of Adventist beliefs , Advent-Verlag, Lüneburg 2002. ISBN 3-8150-1858-7 .
  • George R. Knight: Joseph Bates. The theological founder of the Seventh-day Adventists. Advent-Verlag, Lüneburg 2007. ISBN 978-3-8150-1884-2 .
  • George R. Knight: When saints quarrel. The unsolved problem of the general conference 1888. Advent-Verlag, Lüneburg 2010. ISBN 978-3-8150-1916-0 .
  • John J. Robertson: Some clarifications about Ellen White and her work. Advent-Verlag, Zurich, 1982.
  • Alden L. Thompson: Are Prophets Infallible? Advent-Verlag, Lüneburg 2007. ISBN 978-3-8150-1809-5 .
  • Gerald Wheeler: James White. Trailblazer and first leader of the Seventh-day Adventists. Advent-Verlag, Lüneburg 2006. ISBN 978-3-8150-1883-5 .

Web links

Commons : Ellen G. White  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Ellen G. White  - Quotes

swell

  1. ↑ Knight: Ellen White's Life and Work , pp. 66f. and 147ff.
  2. ↑ Ellen White: My early life and work , p. 10. (see also in EGWritings )
  3. ↑ “When I once received the message about life reform [for the first time], I was weak and powerless and exposed to frequent attacks of fainting. I called to God for help and he revealed the reform of life to me. "( Treasury of Testimonies , Vol. 3, p. 308)
  4. ↑ Knight: Ellen White's Life and Work , p. 65.
  5. ↑ After the great disappointment, the early Advent movement had to struggle with two tendencies in particular: spiritualization and fanaticism. Ellen White summarized both under the term "Spiritualism". a. also the editor of the Millerite magazine The Day-Star , Enoch Jacobs from Cincinnati , Ohio in view (cf. especially her reflections in early writings , pp. 19-22 and ibid. , p. 68). In 1963, the editors of the early writings explained in a long foreword (pp. III-XXXIII) and in the appendix (on p. 290) the context of how they dealt with the resistance that met them from the start.
  6. ↑ Cf. the explanations in the preface to the early writings , p. XVII with those in “Ellen White's Role” in Burt: “Historical Background” , p. 170ff. It is believed that Ellen White received approximately 2,000 visions in the 70 years of active service, the last public vision found in Portland ( Oregon held in June 1884).
  7. ↑ The first written report of the "Midnight Call" was printed a year later on January 24, 1846 under her maiden name in the Day-Star as a letter to the editor. This letter to the editor also contains an account of her third major vision of the "New Earth" and appeared in Volume 9, No. 7-8 , pp. 31-32. Originally it was not intended by her for publication, but addressed to the editor personally. The second letter to the editor, March 14, in Volume 10, No. 2 , p. 7, dealt with the Exeter vision and was intended as a commentary. The German translation can be found in early writings , pp. 12–18 (first letter) and pp. 45–46 (second letter), and the context is not specifically indicated again in the second passage.
  8. ↑ “Joseph Turner and John Howell, under the guise of piety, spread fear among the trembling, conscientious believers. I saw that it was my duty to go and give my testimony in Maine. ”( My Early Life and Work , p. 102) Joseph Turner (1807–1862) initially supported Ellen and her visionary talents, but also tried to support them under his control through "mesmerism" . When he did not succeed, he turned the tables and denounced their prophetic gift as a fabrication of James White and was quite successful with it (Burt: "Historical Background" , pp. 215f. And 270). To overcome this resistance see Ellen White: My early life and work , pp. 103–116 ( here also in English) and especially "Joseph Turner, mesmerism, and Ellen Harmon's new independence" in Burt: "Historical Background", p. 140-146. A summary of two highlights of the confrontation can be found in Merlin D. Burt: Adventist Pioneer Places. Review & Herald, Hagerstown 2011, pp. 28f., Cf. also Moon: Encyclopedia , pp. 530-531.
  9. ↑ James White justified this with the fact that Ellen "needed a legitimate protector and we should work together" ( Life Sketches quoted from Wheeler: James White , p. 53) Although some saw their connection as a marriage of convenience, there was a love relationship between the two (ibid., P. 55). George Knight paints an impressive portrait of marriage in Ellen White's Life and Works (pp. 69–79).
  10. ↑ Wheeler: James White , p. 86. Gerald Wheeler also points out that incorrect medical treatment has also contributed to this (ibid., P. 218).
  11. ↑ See introduction and text on the website blacksdahistory.org by Benjamin Baker with further material on "Ellen G. White and Black People" .
  12. ↑ Jerry Moon, "William Clarence White." In: Encyclopedia , p. 564.
  13. ^ Wheeler: James White , p. 200.
  14. ↑ After a personal Bible study, Ellen White was initially not convinced by the self-confident Bates (Knight: Joseph Bates , pp. 112f.), But wrote years later: “In the fall of 1846 we began to observe, teach, and assign the Biblical Sabbath defend. "(Knight: Kurzgeschichte , p. 34f.)
  15. ↑ See Ellen White: Early Writings , pp. 23–26.
  16. ↑ "If you look at these [first three] visions as a unit, then they gave the experience of October 1844 lasting significance and supported the emergence of the sanctuary doctrine." (Burt: "Historical Background" , p. 170) The Seventh Day Adventists teach two phases of the redemption event, which only together result in the perfection of salvation. Jesus is both a victim on the cross and, after his ascension, the high priest in the heavenly sanctuary. The throne scene in Revelation chapters 4-5 indicates his inauguration.
  17. ↑ “The sanctuary was the key to the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. A complete system of truth, harmoniously connected, became visible and showed that God had led the great Advent movement. The present task of the people of God became evident when their position and duty came to light. ”( The Great Controversy , p. 425) On the five basic doctrines (Second Coming, Sanctuary, authenticity of the gift of prophecy, duty to keep the Sabbath, conditional immortality) see Knight: Short Story , p. 38.
  18. ↑ From 1851 to 1977 the magazine was mostly listed as "Advent Review and Sabbath Herald", today it is only called "Adventist Review". For the name variants see Review Archives and for the general history of the church publisher “Review & Herald” see the overview in “Our Story” .
  19. ↑ James White: Adventist Review and Sabbath Herald , May 15, 1855 (quoted from Wheeler: James White , p. 116); see. also Merlin D. Burt: "Beginnings in Battle Creek" . Battle Creek in Michigan remained the center of her life until 1891, although the couple did development work in California in the 1870s and therefore owned five properties in four American states at the same time during that time.
  20. ↑ Ellen White: My early life and work , p. 155. (see also in EGWritings )
  21. ↑ James White initially declined the chairmanship, but between 1865 and 1880, with interruptions, he was available for the office again and again (cf. Wheeler: James White , p. 159).
  22. ↑ "Although Ellen White had no administrative office in the Adventist Church, she was officially ordained as a minister in her later years." (Knight: Ellen White's Life and Work , p. 127)
  23. ↑ "With the poor diet and everything he was trying to create, James ruined his health. ... The American population at that time was generally suffering from constant disease and the death rate was high. .. In the Seventh-day Adventist Free Church that was being organized, ill health had become a serious problem: John Andrews, John Loughborough, Uriah Smith, and others were frequently ill. James White was on the verge of a physical and mental breakdown; Ellen had been fainting for a long time. Something had to change. The impetus for this came from a vision that Ellen received from God on the evening of June 6th, 1863 near Otsego, Michigan. ”(Wheeler: James White , pp. 72, 105 and 219).
  24. ↑ Wheeler: James White , p. 313. The first stroke occurred on August 15, 1965 at the age of 44 (ibid., P. 228) and the last probably two days after his 60th birthday on August 4, 1881 ( ibid., p. 393).
  25. ↑ In her Life Sketches (1915) she later wrote: “The God-chosen protector of my youth, the companion of my life, the participant in my labors and sufferings, was taken from my side and I was left alone to finish my work and to continue the struggle. "( Life and Work , p. 283.)
  26. ↑ Delafield names u. a. the Danish Anna Rasmussen (1840–1931) and the American nurse Sara McEnterfer (1855–1936), who was both their partner and private secretary (cf. Ellen G. White in Europe , p. 23). On September 16, 1886, Ellen White met McEnterfer's predecessor, German-born Jennie Hussman-Ings (1841–1921) (ibid., P. 217) in England , who now joins Ellen White again, around six months later on the way to Vohwinkel and Mönchengladbach (ibid., p. 253) .
  27. ↑ See “Chronology.” In: Delafield: Ellen G. White in Europe , pp. 13-15. But there are also indications that she was there a fourth time (cf. Klingbeil: “Ellen White as an Intercultural Missionary”, p. 118f.).
  28. ↑ See “Germany and the Vohwinkel Vision.” In: Delafield: Ellen G. White in Europe , pp. 275–285.
  29. ↑ Klingbeil gives a clear description and classification of this ritual: "Ellen White as an Intercultural Missionary", pp. 124–128. See Delafield: Ellen G. White in Europe , p. 279.
  30. ↑ Dwight Delafield in his description ( Ellen G. White in Europe , pp. 281–283) erroneously committed to Bergisch Gladbach because Ellen White only mentioned “Gladbach” once in her report (see footnote below).
  31. ↑ See Ellen White: The Review and Sabbath Herald , October 11, 1887 ( here , here, and here ).
  32. ^ Daniel Heinz: "Johann Heinrich Lindermann and the Pietist-Free Church Roots of the German Adventists", AdventEcho Extra (April 2000), passim; see. also Hartmut Wahl: “The history of the FEG Velbert”, in: Evangelical-Free Church Community Velbert (Ed.), 100 years in the middle… , Velbert 2011, pp. 13-15.
  33. ↑ Daniel Heinz notes: “In 1851 an angry crowd of 70 to 80 people stormed a Lindermann assembly in Mettmann-Bovensiepen. Doors and windows were smashed and some of Lindermann's followers were beaten bloody. ”( AdventEcho Extra , p. 3) Ellen White still reacts to these sensitivities after around 50 Sabbath keepers from the Lindermann group joined the Seventh-day Adventist mission in Vohwinkel in 1875 in Basel: “Here in Europe a great deal of work has to be done. From what I have been given light on the people of this part of the country - and perhaps all of Europe - it appears that the presentation of the truth risks arousing their belligerence. ”( Address to Adventist missionaries of the Swiss Tract and Mission Society on September 13, 1886 in Basel)
  34. ↑ Heinz: AdventEcho Extra , p. 3.
  35. ↑ On this in detail George Knight: When saints argue , Lüneburg 2010.
  36. ↑ George Butler wrote a series of letters to Ellen White between June 1886 and October 1888. "They show that he was putting more and more pressure on them and practically wanted to force them to provide him with a binding interpretation ... If he had been successful, he could have written a book called How to Push a Prophetess ." (Knight: When Saints Argue , p. 149) Butler was very frustrated that his questions went unanswered (ibid., P. 29)
  37. ↑ In her address on October 21, 1888, she pointedly stated: “God shows men chosen by him precious truths for our time. He saved these truths from association with error and placed them in their appropriate framework. ... I don't call it a new light; but it is strangely new to many. ”(Knight: When Saints Argue , p. 54)
  38. ↑ Knight: When Saints Argue , p. 124. “In the period before that, she had often been attacked by non-Adventists, and her own fellow believers had occasionally criticized her; in Minneapolis, however, she encountered doubt and widespread hostility even in the leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist fellowship. ”(ibid., 121)
  39. ↑ "On March 19, [1890] she spoke about the fact that Australia was close to her heart, claimed Olsen in a letter and expressed the assumption that now that the conspiracy theory was over, she would soon leave for Australia." (Knight: When Saints Argue , p. 136). Six years later she realizes that the newly elected president was instigated by the long-established editor in Battle Creek to suggest that she should leave the country for a second time as soon as possible. (ibid.)
  40. ^ Moon: Encyclopedia , p. 564.
  41. ↑ On August 14th, she wrote to Olsen: “I had just decided to finish some publications in the next year [here], but if you mean I should travel now with sufficient support to enable me to achieve the desired success come, then I will be willing to go along with the committee’s decision. I have no specific indications that it is my duty to travel now, but I am ready and trust that God will show me the way as I go forward. ” (Letter 89, 1891)
  42. ↑ See Gary Krause: "Ellen Gould White." In: Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 12, Melbourne University Publishing, 1990.
  43. ↑ "In 1890, Ellen White was so angry with the Adventist publisher in Battle Creek that she refused to trust him with manuscripts while the publisher showed such disinterest in them" (Knight: When Saints Argue , p. 129) Because of them Anger was published in Steps to Christ by Fleming H. Revell in 1892. The Desire of Ages did not appear until 1898 after a change in leadership occurred.
  44. ↑ When she entered the continent, there were just about 500 members in 7 parishes (cf. Moon: Encyclopedia , p. 625). When they left the continent, there were four times as many and a year later their number increased again by more than half (cf. Carey: “Female Prophetic Authority” , pp. 3 and 15).
  45. ↑ Two lines of their recommendations can be distinguished: the emphasis on manual and practical work alongside intellectual work and the idea of ​​orienting the curriculum on the Bible rather than on the ancient classics. For more information, see Allan G. Lindsay: The influence of Ellen White upon the development of the Seventh-day Adventist school system in Australia, 1891-1900 (Master's thesis, University of Newcastle, New South Wales 1978, circle.adventist.org ) and Milton R. Hook: The Avondale School and Adventist Educational Goals, 1894-1900 (Dissertation, Andrews University, Michigan 1978, college server )
  46. ↑ See figures on the website of Adventist Schools Australia , for the goals and their contexts see in particular Home: “Goals” and Resources: “Special Character” .
  47. ↑ On the development of the Australian model, cf. George R. Knight, “Early Adventist Education in Australia.” In: The Journal of Adventist Education , Volume 44, No. 4, 1982, 10-11 and 45-46 (PDF file) and Ellen White's Foundation in “Proper Education " (1872) and " Our College " (1881).
  48. ↑ Knight: Kurzgeschichte , p. 111. There were meanwhile a number of aid organizations that overlapped in terms of personnel with the “over-centralized” administration of the general conference, but were legally independent despite their concentration in Battle Creek and therefore did not extend organizationally to the associations.
  49. ↑ From 1888 to 1901 the number of local congregations doubled to around 2000 and the number of members tripled to around 78,000. The reorganization made both a bundling of functions and a delegation of decisions possible and thus ultimately brought about the decentralization of institutions (cf. Knight: Kurzgeschichte , p. 102ff.).
  50. ↑ Cf. General Conference Bulletin of April 3, 1901: “God has not established any royal power in the Seventh-day Adventist Church to rule the community or to rule part of it.” ( Treasury of Testimonies , Volume 3, p. 204)
  51. ↑ Ellen White saw a connection between the two events: "In night visions I saw an angel stretching out a fiery sword over Battle Creek." And quoted a firefighter who observed: "Our extinguishing water had more the effect of gasoline." Lewis R. Walton: Iceberg Ahead! Advent-Verlag, Zurich 1994, pp. 29–31.
  52. ↑ The removal of Kellogg's name from the congregation list after 52 years was preceded by intensive correspondence during which she repeatedly warned him not to leave the church. The White couple had sponsored the education of their sons' schoolmate, but alienation in questions of power became palpable as early as the 1890s (cf. Michael W. Campbell: John Harvey Kellogg. In: Moon, Encyclopedia , pp. 434–438.)
  53. ↑ See Richard A. Schaefer: On Becoming Skyrock , Review and Herald, Hagerstown 2005, pp. 19ff. Linda University operates the largest Seventh-day Adventist University Hospital in the world .
  54. ↑ For example in Review & Herald Volume 80, No. 3 (January 20, 1903), p. 15. (PDF file)
  55. ↑ On July 30, 1919, the assembly discussed "The use of the spirit of prophecy in our teaching of bible and history" and on August 1, 1919, "Inspiration of the spirit of prophecy as related to the inspiration of the Bible".
  56. ↑ See Robert W. Olsen: "The 1919 Bible Conference and Bible and History Teachers' Council", memorandum of September 24, 1979, p. 4, White Estate Digital Resource Center (PDF file) , with George Knight: It was not always so ... , Lüneburg 2002, p. 126. The current explosiveness of the oriental question at the conference by far covered the questions of hermeneutics at the subsequent conference.
  57. ↑ The Spectrum Magazine. Volume 10, No. 1 (May, 1979), pp. 23-57 (PDF file) contains the relevant parts of the 200-page transcript from the Historiker-Tagung. In the subsequent editions (August and November 1979) a total of five letters to the editor on this pirated print appeared.
  58. ↑ As a photocopy collection in the online archives of the world church leadership and as a searchable digital collection in Logos . For more information, cf. Michael Campbell: 1919. The Untold Story of Adventism's Struggle with Fundamentalism. Pacific Press Publishing Association, Nampa (Idaho) 2019 or ders .: "The 1919 Bible Conference and its Significance for Seventh-day Adventist History and Theology" (Dissertation, Andrews University, Michigan 2008, university server ).
  59. ^ Lothar Bily:  White, Ellen Gould. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 1002-1009.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  60. ^ Hilary Carey, "Female Prophetic Authority," p. 8.
  61. ↑ Knight: Joseph Bates , p. 136. Joseph Bates became a staunch Sabbath keeper in 1845 by reading the tract "According to the Commandment" by Thomas M. Preble. He read the tract published in the February / March issue of the Adventist magazine Hope of Israel the following month and published his first own book on the Sabbath ( The Seventh Day Sabbath. A Perpetual Sign ) in August 1846 . This font in turn convinced Hiram Edson , Crosier and Hahn as well as James and Ellen White (Knight: Joseph Bates , p. 127f.).
  62. ↑ See Belief No. 18: "The Gift of Prophecy" . The 60th General Conference (World Synod) of Seventh-day Adventists in San Antonio had revised an earlier phrase that their scriptures were "an ongoing, empowered voice of the truth" to avoid the misunderstanding that their scriptures were equated with the Bible (See Ed Zinke: "What Got Changed in Fundamental Beliefs" , Adventist Review July 7, 2015).
  63. ↑ “It is the measure of character and the touchstone of all experiences.” (From Belief No. 1: “Holy Scripture” ) The last sentence of Belief No. 18 expresses the same and makes a complaint for the writings of Ellen White: "They also make it clear that the Bible is the standard by which all doctrine and experience must be tested."
  64. ↑ See Alex Carpenter. "Scholars to Publish Book on Ellen White" , Spectrum magazine of 5 October 2009.
  65. ↑ In the meantime, more than 100 titles have been published in English, cf. List of their writings .
  66. ↑ See Jerry Moon: "Ellen White's Use of Literary Assistants" (2004), p. 8 (PDF file) and Roger W. Coon: "Ellen G. White as a Writer" , passim.
  67. ^ Letter draft 61a, 1900 ( here and here ). For more information, see Jerry Moon: "William Clarence (WC) White: His Relationship to Ellen G. White and Her Work" (dissertation, Andrews University, Michigan 1993, university server )


personal data
SURNAME White, Ellen Gould Harmon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES White, Ellen Gould; Harmon, Ellen Gould (maiden name); White, Ellen G.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Co-founder and prophet of the Seventh-day Adventists
DATE OF BIRTH November 26, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH Gorham , Maine
DATE OF DEATH July 16, 1915
Place of death St. Helena , California