Ellen G.

Whites Writer Skills Summarized 1

Ellen G. Whites Writer Skills Summarized

Eduard C. Hanganu
B.A., M.A., Linguistics
Lecturer in English, UE

Draft 5
Revised January 11, 2015
2015

Ellen G. Whites Writer Skills Summarized 2

Ellen G. White Writer Skills Summarized

There should be no doubt that Ellen White could not and did not author the books that
were published in her name, for which she claimed to have a divine source, and for which she
took credit, because:
1. In the first place, her claimed books were not original. Sentences, paragraphs, and chapters
were plagiarized from different sources and afterwards compiled into new books that were
published and credited to her name. States Rea:

My four complete manuscripts on Great Controversy, Acts of the Apostles,

and Prophets and Kings and Desire of Ages prove beyond any reasonable
doubt that far more than 80 percent of the material enclosed within the
covers of these books was taken from other authors, and that if there had
been no other authors to copy, these four books could not have been
produced with the information they now contain In the last year with the
additional work done line by line page by page and chapter by chapter, it is
now certain that if every sentence was footnoted as should have been from
the beginning, every page would have been proof that all the material came
from the books of Ellen Whites library[emphasis added]..
All of this material which is now available to anyone wishing to find out truth for themselves, has been and
will be seen by Adventist and non-Adventist throughout the world by the thousands. The material does not
claim to be exhaustive in the research, but new findings will only add to the proof of how Ellen White used

Ellen G. Whites Writer Skills Summarized 3

others material to make her claims that all of it came from GOD. While what material has been found only
deals with a small fraction of the copy work of the life work of Ellen White, what has been discovered does
clearly reveal many things. Some of the conclusions that now have to be faced and still are not being faced
by the church leaders are:

a.

That very little if anything in the Conflict Series came from Mrs. White or

her visions that was significant, and had not been expressed by others often
in the language she claimed was given her by God or His angels

[emphasis

added].

b.

That not only the words, thoughts, form, expressions, Bible texts, but the

speculations, suppositions, imaginations, and conjectures of others writers

became divine absolutes by carefully calculated and deliberate design
through the pen of Ellen White [emphasis added].

c.

That in no way can the book Great Controversy as it was conceived and

written by others before Ellen White, be considered a divine revelation of

the future but only a weak apology or justification for the failures of the
Millerite and early Adventist movement [emphasis added].

d.

The manuscripts make positive that most if not all the criticism of the pen

of Mrs. White and her work had some validity, and that those [sic!] criticism
must now be given new attention and new answers in the light of the new
discoveries [emphasis added].

Ellen G. Whites Writer Skills Summarized 4

e. It

has been undeniably proven that much of what reached the final stage in

the Conflict Series did not come through the pen, inspiration, or work of
Ellen White alone, but was given its final form, beauty and intelligence by
the effort, skills, and expertise of others, and that Mrs. White did not always
supervise or have the final words of what was drafted under her name Others
had enormous latitude and authority to make changes that were often vital
and significant. There is no way the church can prove that those five books
were the sole genius of Mrs. Whites effort or that GOD helped her write
them. The church has also admitted that the original manuscripts have been
destroyed [emphasis added].1
2. In the second place, because Ellen Whites writing style was illiterate and incoherent, the
authorial consistency Ellen White could have provided for the books published in her name
would have made impossible their publication.
There is no argument that the five books in the Conflict Series that were published
under Ellen Whites name and for which she took credit demonstrate a CONSISTENT
LYTERARY STYLE, but whose writers style was reflected in those volumes if more than 80

% of the content in the five books [emphasis added], Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophets
and Kings, The Desire of Ages, Acts of the Apostles, and The Great Controversy, was plagiarized
from other books? Ellen Whites illiterate writing style? To claim that the stolen books reflect
her incoherent and inept style would indicate either sheer ignorance or blatant deception.

Ellen G. Whites Writer Skills Summarized 5

The simple explanation for consistent text productions in Ellen Whites published works
must be that the same secretaries or editorial assistants compiled the five volumes in the
Conflict Series, and therefore insured a consistent and invariable textual style through all her
books. There were two secretaries or editorial assistants who spent almost all their lives in
Ellen Whites ghost writer book shop, Marian Davis and Frances Bolton. Marian Davis worked
for Ellen White for 25 years, while Frances Bolton labored hard in Ellen Whites book shop, with
some interruptions, also for a long period of time.2 Between the two of them, these ghost writers
could have provided a consistent style in the books Ellen White took credit for.
While Ellen White herself could have copied, that is, plagiarized, in coarse and illiterate
longhand the sentences, paragraphs, and chapters used in the books for which she took credit, her
scribbles still needed to be edited and formatted for the press. We must never forget that Ellen
Write was illiterate, that is, could not write in a legible and coherent form, and did not have the
skills required to prepare a manuscript for publication. The bare fundamentals of her writing
style are as follows:
1. She acknowledge that she [was] not a scholar,3 and, therefore,
2. She could not prepare [her] own writings for the press,4
3. Her knowledge of the technical rules of writing was [therefore] limited. 5
4. She had weaknesses in composition and faulty grammar.

5. Her texts contained needless repetition7

6. She paid little attention to the rules of punctuation, capitalization, and

spelling, 8

Ellen G. Whites Writer Skills Summarized 6

7. There was much repetition and faulty grammatical construction [in her
paragraphs].9
8. Because she used helpers, she devoted less and less attention to style,

grammar, and penmanship [emphasis added] and her writing skills regressed with time.10
9. Some of [Ellen Whites] writing seems to be a rush and tumble of words,

as though the writers thoughts were flooding ahead of her pen [emphasis added].11
10. [Her] Sentences [were] chaotic [emphasis added]12
11. [Her] Punctuation [was] erratic [emphasis added]

13

12. [Her] Quotations [were] inexact [emphasis added]14

13. [Her] Meanings [were] obscure [emphasis added].15
Conclusion
The books Ellen White claimed to have written based on visions or angelic dictations and
that were published and credited in her name could not have been her production because (1)
their content had been plagiarized to the largest degree and there was nothing original in those
books for which Ellen White could have claimed ownership, and because (2) Ellen Whites
illiterate and inept writer (non)skills would not have allowed her to prepare the books for the
press. Those who edited the plagiarized pages and integrated them into literate, coherent, and
original texts that could be sent to the press and published were the little known or invisible
editorial assistants or helpers who never received credit for writing the books released under
Ellen Whites name.

Ellen G. Whites Writer Skills Summarized 7

References
1

Walter T. Rea. (2002, September 14), EGW: The Continuing Saga, San Diego Adventist Forum,

pages 4-5.
2

Jerry Moon (2004), Ellen G. Whites Use of Literary Assistants. Retrieved December 30,

2014 from www.andrews.edu/~jmoon/Documents/.../03.pdf, 6.

3

The White Estate. MR No. 657-E. G. White Not a Grammarian. Manuscript Releases Volume

Eight

[NOS.

526-663],

page

448.

Retrieved

on

December

30,

2014

from

http://text.egwwritings.org/publication.php?pubtype=Book&bookCode=8MR&pagenumber=448
4

The White Estate. MR No. 657-E. G. White Not a Grammarian. Manuscript Releases Volume

Eight

[NOS.

526-663],

page

448.

Retrieved

on

December

30,

2014

from

http://text.egwwritings.org/publication.php?pubtype=Book&bookCode=8MR&pagenumber=448
5

Arthur L. White, Ellen G White Messenger to the Remnant (Ellen G White Publications, 1956),

67-69.
6

Idem.

Idem.

Idem.

9Idem.
10

Ronald D. Graybill, The Power of Prophecy: Ellen G. White and the Women Religious

Founders of the Nineteen Century (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). (Baltimore, Maryland:

Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983), 191-192.
11

Idem.

Ellen G. Whites Writer Skills Summarized 8

12

Idem.

13

Idem.

14

Idem.

15

Idem.