Understanding Ellen White

7. Study each statement in its historical and literary context

One of the most important principles in interpreting Ellen White’s writings is to study them in their context. The first aspect of context is historical setting. UEGW 74.5

Along that line, I will never forget my first day as a school principal in the era of the miniskirt. My first phone call was from a woman who wanted me to pontificate on the proper length of skirts. Among other thoughts, my mind drifted to a suggestion that Ellen White had made in the 1860s that women should shorten their skirts eight or nine inches. Now, there was an interesting thought. To shorten some of the skirts that I had seen in the late 1960s and early 1970s by eight or nine inches would have put the bottom of the hemline somewhere above the top of the waistband. UEGW 74.6

Now, it doesn’t take a great deal of insight to know that to cite Ellen White on shortening skirts by eight or nine inches was quite inappropriate in the age of the miniskirt. That is obvious. But, and this is an important point, for many other statements it is not nearly so clear as to whether they apply exactly to a specific individual in another time and place. It takes study into the original counsel in its historic context to make such determinations. UEGW 74.7

W. C. White hits on this point when he writes that “when we take what she has written, and publish it without any description, or particular reference to the conditions existing when and where the testimony was given, there is always the possibility of the instruction being used as applying to places and conditions that are very different.” ²³ UEGW 75.1

A second crucial aspect of context is literary setting. People have too often based their understandings of Ellen White’s teachings upon a fragment of a paragraph or upon an isolated statement entirely removed from its literary setting. Thus she writes that UEGW 75.2

many study the Scriptures for the purpose of proving their own ideas to be correct. They change the meaning of God’s Word to suit their own opinions. And thus they do also with the testimonies that He sends. They quote half a sentence, leaving out the other half, which, if quoted, would show their reasoning to be false. God has a controversy with those who wrest the Scriptures, making them conform to their preconceived ideas. ²⁴ UEGW 75.3

Again she comments about those who by “separating . . . statements from their connection, and placing them beside human reasonings, make it appear that my writings uphold that which they condemn.” ²⁵ UEGW 75.4

Ellen White was repeatedly upset with those who pick out “a sentence here and there, taking it from its proper connection, and applying it according to their idea” Such “poor souls,” she noted, became “bewildered, when could they read in order all that has been given, they would see the true application, and would not become confused.” ²⁶ On another occasion she observed that “extracts” from her writings “may give a different impression than that which they would were they read in their original connection.” ²⁷ UEGW 75.5

W. C. White often had to deal with the problem of people using material out of its literary context. In 1904, he noted that “much misunderstanding has come from the misuse of isolated passages in the Testimonies, in cases where, if the whole Testimony or the whole paragraph had been read, an impression would have been made upon minds that was altogether different from the impression made by the use of selected sentences.” ²⁸ UEGW 75.6

As to her attitude toward selecting abstracts from her writings to make a private compilation, W. C. White had the following to say: UEGW 75.7

Sister White maintains that to be properly understood, her writings should be read in their connection. She says that she was not commissioned of God to write proverbs. Moreover she feels that it is an injury to the cause of truth for men to select from her writings short passages here and there, presenting her strongest statements on one phase of a subject, while leaving out other qualifying passages, and such presentation of other phases of the subject as are essential to a well-balanced and comprehensive view of her teachings. UEGW 76.1

She says: [“]If those advocating health reform will take my books where all phases of these subjects are presented, or if they will study my articles as a whole, they will get precious truths But for them to take a sentence here, and a paragraph there, and a few lines somewhere else, and group them together according to their fancy or judgment, they may sadly misrepresent my teachings and give the people distorted views of Health Reform, or of whatever subject they are handling.[”] ²⁹ UEGW 76.2

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of studying Ellen White’s articles and books in their contexts rather than merely reading topical compilations or selecting out quotations on this or that topic through the use of the Comprehensive Index to her writings or electronic resources such as the White Estate’s CD-ROM, The Published Ellen G. White Writings. Such approaches, if used exclusively, would make the Index and the CD-ROM disk the worst thing that ever happened to Ellen White studies. Such tools have their places, but we should use them in connection with broad reading that helps us to be more aware not only of the literary context of Ellen White’s statements but also of the overall balance in her writings. UEGW 76.3