A Critique of the Book Prophetess of Health

Ellen White’s Grief

On page 182 it is stated that after James White’s death his “grief-striken widow sank into a year-long depression.” The mere reading of the Life Sketches account of James White’s death and its aftermath should be sufficient to correct this statement. While her grief was for a reasonable time, her depression was short-lived and given the state of her own health at the time of her husband’s death, she seems to have recovered from the trauma of the experience in a relatively short time. The chapter in Life Sketches titled “Fortitude Under Affliction” indicates how quickly she was back at work, attending campmeetings and speaking in churches. She was not during this time slowly rediscovering the meaning of life. The truth is, she never lost her grasp of its meaning. CBPH 86.3