Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message and Mission

Part One - The Origins of the Seventh-day Adventist Theology of Mission

Chapter I - The Background for the Origins of the Theology of Mission

As general background this chapter first provides an introductory survey of some of the major characteristics of the religious situation in the U.S.A. during the first half of the 19th century which led to the rise of an interconfessional movement out of which the SDA emerged. This period has been described in the light of two successive historical phases characterized by their dominant features as an “era of good feeling” and an “era of controversy,” indicating a change in the mood of the nation which provided an ideal climate for the development of Adventism. The major part of the chapter describes the major theological and missiological factors that brought about this movement and which are basic to an understanding of the formation of the SDA theology of mission. FSDA 3.1