Ellen G. White

Life

Ellen Gould White was born in 1827 in Gorham, Maine. Her maiden name was Ellen Gould Harmon, and she was raised in a Methodist family. At about the age of nine, she was struck in the face by a stone and seriously injured, which kept her from receiving much formal schooling.

As a girl, she and her family took part in the Advent movement led by William Miller, who predicted that the Second Coming of Christ would occur in 1844. When the Second Coming did not take place on the appointed date of October 22, 1844, many believers scattered; Adventists call this event the "Great Disappointment." White testified that she received her first vision in December of that year, and she stated that she continued to receive visions and dreams on many occasions throughout her life.

In 1846 she married James White, a preacher in the Advent movement. Together with her husband, Joseph Bates, and others, she went on to lead a community centered on observance of the Saturday Sabbath and belief in the Second Coming. This community was formally organized in 1863 as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. White also worked in Europe (1885–1887) and Australia (1891–1900). She died in 1915 at her home in St. Helena, California.

Ministry and Contributions

White never held administrative office in the church. Adventists nevertheless regard her as a bearer of the "Spirit of Prophecy," that is, as one who received the gift of prophecy. The church's fundamental beliefs hold that her writings carry prophetic authority, while also stating that all teaching must be tested by the Bible.

She produced a large body of books and other writings. Her best-known works include The Great Controversy, Steps to Christ (1892), and The Desire of Ages (1898). She also promoted a health reform movement emphasizing vegetarianism and abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, and she advocated a Christian education that develops body, mind, and spirit together. These ideas laid the foundation for the hospitals and schools established by the Adventist Church.

In The Great Controversy, White interpreted the Day of Atonement ritual described in Leviticus 16. Of the two goats used in this ritual, she regarded the "goat for Azazel" (the scapegoat) as a symbol of Satan. According to her interpretation, responsibility for sin is ultimately placed on Satan at the end of time.

Influence on the Korean Church

The Adventist Church in Korea is generally understood to have begun in 1904 through Koreans who had embraced the Adventist faith in Japan. The name "Sahmyook" (三育, "threefold education"), borne by Adventist schools and hospitals, refers to the combined development of the intellectual, moral, and physical dimensions of a person and derives from White's educational philosophy. Her books have been translated into Korean by Adventist publishing houses and continue to be read. Her influence also persists in Adventist health ministries, such as vegetarian cooking classes and anti-smoking campaigns.

Assessment

Within the Adventist Church, White is honored both as a leader who set the church's direction and as a prophet. White herself described her writings as a "lesser light" leading people to the "greater light," the Bible.

She has drawn considerable criticism from other Protestant denominations. The principal criticisms are as follows:

• That granting authority to her writings is inconsistent with the principle of sola scriptura
• That the doctrine of the "investigative judgment," which holds that Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary entered a new phase in 1844, is unsound
• That her interpretation of Azazel assigns Satan a role in bearing sin
• That she places excessive emphasis on Saturday Sabbath observance (see Sabbath and Sunday)

Regarding the Azazel interpretation, Adventists respond that atonement was accomplished by Christ alone and that Satan merely bears responsibility for having caused people to sin.

For these reasons, many Korean Protestant denominations have distinguished the Adventist Church from orthodox Protestantism, and some regard it as heretical. By contrast, the American evangelical scholar Walter Martin, after holding discussions with Adventist leaders in the late 1950s, criticized a number of their doctrines but concluded that the Adventist Church holds to the essentials of the Christian faith.

In the 1980s, Walter Rea and others charged that White had copied substantial portions of other authors' writings without acknowledging her sources. The Adventist Church has acknowledged that she borrowed from other literature but has maintained that this was common practice at the time and does not undermine the authority of her writings.