Joseph Bates

Gary Land

Prisoner of war, sea captain, moral reformer, and itinerant preacher, Joseph Bates led a varied and fascinating life and, as recognized by several scholars, achieved historical significance by co-founding the Seventh-day Adventist Church." So begins Gary Land in his Introduction to this reprint of the autobiography of Joseph Bates (1792-1872). The story first appeared as a series of fifty-one articles in The Youth's Instructor, a Seventh-day Adventist publication, between November 1858 and May 1863. In 1868 the articles were combined in a volume titled The Autobiography of Elder Joseph Bates; Embracing a Long Life on Shipboard, with Sketches of Voyages on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas; Also Impressment and Service on Board British War Ships, Long Confinement in Dartmoor Prison, Early Experience in Reformatory Movements; Travels in Various Parts of the World; and a Brief Account of the Great Advent Movement of 1840-44. The autobiography was again released in 1877 as The Early Life and Later Experience and Labors of Elder Joseph Bates, edited by James White, and in 1927 as Life of Joseph Bates: An Autobiography, abridged and edited by C. C. Crisler. This volume, part of the Adventist Classic Library, will "continue to attract readers in the twenty-first century, whether they simply want to vicariously relive the ages of sail, revival, and reform; are seeking to better understand nineteenth-century American society [e.g., the War of 1812, American maritime trade, and the Second Great Awakening]; or want to encounter directly the self-understanding of the 'real founder' of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The Autobiography of Joseph Bates

Covering the Millerite movement of the 1830s and 1840s, sabbatarian Adventism prior to organization of the denomination, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church since its organization in 1861-63, this volume provides a comprehensive history of the denomination. The first major element of the book is a chronology of Adventist history that begins with William Miller's conclusion in 1818 that the Second Advent of Jesus would occur about 1843 and extends through the Science and Theology Conferences of 2002-04. The interpretive introduction that follows places the emergence of Adventism within the context of the Second Great Awakening, describes the development of sabbatarian Adventism from its early opposition to church organization to its highly institutionalized and bureaucratically structured contemporary form, and examines the denomination's geographical expansion from a small North American sect to a global church. The dictionary entries that constitute the bulk of the volume address individuals, organizations, institutions, and doctrines that have been important in the history of the church, including dissident movements and individuals who have emerged as critics of the denomination and its beliefs. Second, there are entries on the development and current situation of Adventism in many individual countries. Finally, thematic entries on such subjects as art, music, literature, health care, and women address other elements important to understanding church life. The dictionary entries are followed by a bibliography of scholarly and popular works published by the denomination, commercial and academic presses, and individuals and organizations.

The A to Z of the Seventh-Day Adventists

Profiles a large Christian denomination that is only two centuries old, but has a rapidly growing member base, including a large presence in the Third World. Reviews the notable historical events in a chronology; explains the development of the Seventh-day Adventist as a world religion in the introductory essay; describes the persons, places, events, doctrines, publications, institutions, organizations, and societies that played a significant role in shaping the religion; and provides an extensive bibliography of works on Seventh-day Adventism and books expressing Adventist views on theological and other issues.

Historical Dictionary of Seventh-Day Adventists

Terrie Dopp Aamodt

Numbers

In America, as in Britain, the Victorian era enjoyed a long life, stretching from the 1830s to the 1910s. It marked the transition from a pre-modern to a modern way of life. Ellen White's life (1827-1915) spanned those years and then some, but the last three months of a single year, 1844, served as the pivot for everything else. When the Lord failed to return on October 22, as she and other followers of William Miller had predicted, White did not lose heart. Fired by a vision she experienced, White played the principal role in transforming a remnant minority of Millerites into the sturdy sect that soon came to be known as the Seventh-day Adventists. She and a small group of fellow believers emphasized a Saturday Sabbath and an imminent Advent. Today that flourishing denomination posts twenty million adherents globally and one of the largest education, hospital, publishing, and missionary outreach programs in the world. Over the course of her life White generated 50,000 manuscript pages and letters, and produced 40 books that have enjoyed extremely wide circulation. She ranks as one of the most gifted and influential religious leaders in American history, and Ellen Harmon White tells her story in a new and remarkably informative way. Some of the contributors identify with the Adventist tradition, some with other Christian denominations, and some with no religious tradition at all. Taken together their essays call for White to be seen as a significant figure in American religious history and for her to be understood her within the context of her times.

Gary Land

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