Understanding Ellen White

1970-2012

Research into Ellen White’s use of sources from the late 1960s to the 1980s moved the discussion beyond the mere documentation of copying to an analysis of the sources used, the class of material in which borrowing occurred, the nature of inspiration, and Ellen White’s apparent denials of borrowing. UEGW 150.4

William Peterson challenged the reliability of the Protestant historians Ellen White cited and the belief that her reading merely “filled in the gaps” of her visions; ²² Donald McAdams’s research further pressed the question of how much history was actually shown Ellen White in vision; ²³ Ronald Numbers disputed Ellen White’s originality and accuracy in her health writings; ²⁴ and Walter Rea questioned Ellen White’s originality in virtually all areas of her writing—discounting any need for a “divine source” for her writings. ²⁵ UEGW 150.5

Suddenly, F. D. Nichol and his predecessors’ answers came up short. No one had previously questioned the biases of the historians Ellen White quoted, nor had the extent of her borrowing been understood to reach beyond The Great Controversy, Sketches From the Life of Paul, and, to a lesser extent, The Desire of Ages, with sparse examples in two or three other titles. Then, in 1981, evidence came from White Estate researchers that Ellen White had used sources on occasion when reporting the message of a vision. ²⁶ UEGW 151.1

The church responded to the findings of this new generation of questions through articles published in denominational papers, symposiums, workshops, and commissioned reports. ²⁷ Their conclusions are summarized in the next section. UEGW 151.2