Understanding Ellen White

1907-1933

From 1887, it was 20 years until the next public plagiarism charge—the period of the “Battle Creek controversy.” The earliest discussions of Ellen White’s use of sources up to and including this time appear to have been limited to her writings on history and health, specifically The Great Controversy, Sketches From the Life of Paul, and the series Health, or How to Live.⁶ Two Battle Creek physicians—Charles E. Stewart and John Harvey Kellogg—reintroduced the plagiarism question in 1907. UEGW 146.5

Stewart outlined his “evidences of plagiarism” in a letter to Ellen White sent through W. C. White, May 9, 1907. ⁷ It consisted of illustrations of copying found in Sketches From the Life of Paul and The Great Controversy, with the suggestion of similar copying in The Desire of Ages. In an expanded version printed later that year, Stewart reacted against “various explanations” that had been offered for the obvious similarities between Ellen White’s books and other authors. First, that it was the “fault of the proofreader” he found to be an insufficient argument because the proofreader’s duty is to “follow copy,” not insert quotation marks where none are found in the manuscript. Second, quotation marks could not even be “readily used” due to the fact that in many instances thoughts are paraphrased and not quoted verbatim. Third, Ellen White’s acknowledgment of her use of other authors in her preface to the 1888 edition of The Great Controversy was merely the result of a protest by “a prominent member of the denomination” against “sending out literature in this manner.” ⁸ UEGW 147.1

He summarized by posing a question to Ellen White: “Is that special light you claim to have from God revealed to you, at least to some extent, through your reading the various commentaries and other books treating of religious subjects?” ⁹ UEGW 147.2

Kellogg, in his parting interview with Battle Creek church elders, also in 1907, made clear that he was that “prominent member of the denomination” who had protested to W. C. White concerning The Great Controversy’s use of Wiley’s History of the Waldenses. Apparently also the source of Stewart’s rebuttal to the “fault of the proofreader” defense, Kellogg opined that “it would not have been proper to put [these excerpts] in quotation marks when there were so many words and phrases changed; they were not quotations; they were borrowed. They were plagiarisms and not quotations. There is a difference between plagiarism and quotation.” ¹⁰ UEGW 147.3

What responses did Ellen White’s supporters offer to this round of criticisms? Because Kellogg’s interview was stenographically recorded but not publicly disseminated at the time, there is no record of any direct response to his comments. Stewart’s letter, however, was published anonymously a few months later, and led to discussions among the “Elmshaven” staff and certain General Conference leaders on how best to deal with the questions raised—which involved considerably more than the plagiarism issue. Among the plans suggested was a “full and frank statement” on the plagiarism issue, “with a view to its publication in leaflet form”¹¹ UEGW 147.4

A review of denominational publications in the years immediately following Stewart’s letter does not yield any article or leaflet on the plagiarism question. Responses seem to have been given verbally or through meetings with interested parties. A. G. Daniells summarized the five-pronged approach he took in publicly meeting the plagiarism allegation as follows: (1) A writer’s use of another’s thoughts and words does not necessarily make him or her a plagiarist “in either motive or spirit” (2) Given the voluminous writings of Ellen White, she had no need to “purloin” the writings of others. (3) The themes and subject matter of her books were unique; (4) Ellen White explained the reasons for her use of others’ writings in her preface to The Great Controversy. (5) Ellen White may have copied material from Conybeare and Howson’s Life and Epistles of St. Paul without inserting quotation marks that would have alerted the stenographer, the editor, or the publisher of her use of their work. ¹² W. C. White answered the question on Conybeare and Howson’s book faulting his (W. C. White’s) “lack of experience in the publishing work that such acknowledgment was not made”¹³ UEGW 148.1

Three other events should be noted from this period. First, Ellen White’s new edition of The Great Controversy, published in 1911, allowed W. C. White to explain his mother’s use of historians and the role her assistants played in supplying correct references to what was quoted. W. C. White presented his explanation before church leaders in 1911, an explanation that Ellen White supported, saying, “I think he has presented the matter correctly and well”¹⁴ UEGW 148.2

Second, Canright’s charge of plagiarism was revived in 1919 with his publication of Life of Mrs. E. G. White. The two or three paragraphs in Seventh-day Adventism Renounced were expanded to an eighteen-page chapter, “A Great Plagiarist” the bulk of which reprinted Dr. Stewart’s 1907 letter as published in the “Blue Book” UEGW 148.3

Third, the Bible and History Teachers’ Council, following the 1919 Bible Conference, included a discussion of Ellen White’s use of sources, particularly as it related to the question of inerrancy and revisions in her writings. ¹⁵ UEGW 148.4