Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2 October 1994
2 October 1994
Surviving
1844
VOICES OUT OF THE SILENCE
1844 IN GREAT
AMERICAN LITERATURE
~ "DAY-DAWN"-A DRAMATIZATION
THE SANCTUARY-GOD
IN OUR MIDST
i'
I·
! CHANGING OF THE GUARD
L
1 AT LOMA LINDA
l
!·
I
1:
-,)l'oo·'l
11'
.
~!
,, October 1994 ·
Volume 24, Number 2
Spectrum Editorial Board Consulting Editors
Editor Benrt,Beem
Engliab
K.ren Bottomley
History
Edna M.,.e Lmete.
Engliab
Roy Branson Walla Walla College Canadian Union CoDeee La Siena Univenity
RoyBenloa
Bonnie L. c_, l!chrard L111enbeol
Wrlter/Editcx Anlbtopology
Senior Editor Mau.ematical Sdenoea
Washlngtoo, D.C. Atlanlic Union ColleJ!O
Columbia Union CoileJ!O
TomDybdahl RoyBraiWOII Raymcad CoUrell ~R.MeAdamo
Etblos, Kennedy lnaUtute Tbeology Plaidcnt
·Loma Unda, California ·McAdams, Faillace, and Aaooc.
Geori!IO~ Univemty
Assistant Editor Joy C....... Coleman
OarkDavlo Ronald Numben
History History of Medicine
Chip Cassano Fteelan<e Writer
. Benlen Spdnga. Michigan UniYcnity of Soutbcm California Univenlty of~
SPECTRUM is a journal establislled to encourage Seventh-day Adventist Editorial Correspondence: SPECTRUM is published by the Association of
participation in the discussion of CQntemporruy issues from a Ouistian viewpoint, Adventist Forums. Direct all editorial correspondence to SPECfRUM, 7710
to lOok Without prejudice at all sides of a subject to evaluate the merits of diver.;e CairollAvenue, ·Takoma Park, Maryland 20912; Fax: (301) 270-2814. Manuscripts
views, and to foster Oui5tian intellectual and cultural growth. Although effort is should be typewritten, double spaced, or on Apple Macintosh disks. Please
made to ensure accurate scholarship and discriminating judgment, the statements include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Letters to the editors may be
of. fact are the responsability of contnbut01s, and the views individual authors shortened before publication. .
express are not necessarily those of the editorial staff as a whole or as individuals. Subscription Information: In order to receive SPECTRUM, enclose a
1be AssOciation of Adventist Forums is a ·non-subsidized, non-pr0fit membership fee ($25 per 5 issues, $32 in Canada and.in other foreign countries,
organization for which gifts are deductible in the rer.ort of income for purpoSes $18 for students) by check made to the Association of Adventist Forums, Box
ofiaxation. The publishing of SPECTRUM depends 6n subscriptions, gifts from 5330, Takoma Park, MD 20913. Phone: (301) 27<M>423. Single copies are $5. For
individuals, and the voluntary efforts of the contnbutors and the staff. address changes, send old address label along with the new address.
Day-Dawn 24
Betty Cooney offers a dramatized re-creation of the domestic
reality of the Great Disappointment.
DEPARTMENIS
News Updates 50
Adventists in the news, in Rwanda, in health care, and at
Ministry magazine.
-~
Responses 55
Readers respond to Yob's feminine images of God, Burnham
on AIDS in Africa, and Christenson on race.
FROM THE EDITOR
Sutviving the
Great Disappointment
he General Conference has just produced a We are the disappointed, singing in a strange land" (in
by Sharise Esh
N THE KILLING FIELDS OF RWANDA, ADVENTISTS and Rwanda on Wednesday, April 6, 1994.
stand on the back porch, peering in the they believed would come that day. Workers
windows. Because of the blood stains on her spent the day building trailers and putting
dress, and forlorn look on her face, the Booths sides on trucks so they could haul non-
assumed that she had lost her family in the Rwandan students and missionaries across the
slaughter. Actually she was still convinced the border into Zaire.
Booths were harboring Tutsis who needed to Part of Booth's job was hosing blood out of
be killed. truck beds that had been used to haul dead
Saturday returned to relative calmness, with bodies away from the campus. The university's
those on campus preparing for the evacuation trucks had been lent to authorities, but now
0croBER 1994 5
SPECffiUM------------------------------------------------------------------
they would have to haul students and faculty Party. This was a group of civilians armed with
out of the country to safety. The job was machetes, sticks, clubs-basically whatever
especially dangerous because that area of they could find. They knew the people in our
Rwanda has one of the highest incidences of area and where they lived. They would pick
AIDS in the world. Forty percent of Rwandans which ones they wanted to kill, and then go
are HIV positive. Booth couldn't help but find them."
realize that the blood of the victims could These groups were in search of Tutsis, or
cause further casualties. anyone opposing the president's party. If a
Evacuees from the university were finally able person belonged to these groups, he or she
to leave on Sunday, AprillO. Students, mission- was on the list to be killed. Later, the Adventist
aries, and expatriates crossed into Goma, where compound-hosting four missionary families
they spent three days with other missionaries. and an unmarried young woman-found it-
From there, some were taken to Nairobi, with self in the midst of the fighting, sandwiched
others leaving through western Africa. between the government forces on one side,
"While it was happening, I wondered about and the Rwanda Patriotic Front on the other.
myself," recalls Booth. "I have been in several Worried about the people outside the com-
evacuations. However, I've never witnessed pound who were already being killed, Phillips
anything this bad. While it was going on, I had took some American friends to check on some
little emotion. With all the atrocities happen- Adventist Rwandans down the street from the
ing around us, it was like a switch we had to compound. While en route, Phillips and his
flip to get through it. What I do remember is companions witnessed a band of Rwandan
the supportiveness and caring of the people men making their way down the road, going
we worked with, how hard everyone worked from house to house, killing and looting.
for each other." Assuming that no harm would come to
foreigners, Phillips and his friends stood in the
doorway of their Rwandan friends' home, claim-
This Is My House ing it to be their own. The band of men moved
on to the next house. Luckily, the family who
or three years, since December 1990,jerry lived in the house next door had left the day
F Phillips (a pseudonym), who directed an
SDA community project in northern Rwanda,
before, leaving behind only one young boy. He
was able to sneak out of the house and jump the
has lived the war Americans have only re- fence to the house where Phillips and his
cently heard about. However, it wasn't until friends stood guard. By the time the band of
four months after he moved to Kigali, to work men left the house next door, it had been
as a dentist at an Adventist compound, that the gutted-right down to the doorknobs.
fighting became real to the rest of the world. When the young men had finished their
"When the plane carrying the two presi- job, one of the soldiers returned to the house
dents was shot down on April 6, all hell broke where the foreigners still stood. "Aren't you
loose. We didn't know who was killing who. scared?" the soldier asked in the native
People from both tribes were being killed," Kinyarwandan. Not wanting the soldier to
said Phillips, recalling the first day of intense realize how much of his language they un-
fighting. "From what we knew, it was the derstood, they replied in broken fragments,
presidential guard that had taken power and "We aren't scared because you are here to
was doing the killing. There was also a group protect us." The soldier, angered by this,
called the Youth Group of the Extremist Hutu replied, "But you saw what we did! You don't
understand. I will make you scared!" With than the fighting, because we realized that
this declaration, he raised his gun till it was during the silent times, they were going to the
pointing at the group. Phillips reached into surrounding houses rooting out Tutsis, sym-
his pocket and pulled out some bills. "Here, pathizers, and moderates to kill them." It was
this is for you," he said, holding it out to the during one of these times that the Houmanns
drunken soldier. As the man pocketed the heard their backyard neighbors being killed.
money, the group took off running for the Employees-Adventist and otherwise-
compound, with shots ringing over their started coming to their compound, seeking
heads just as they entered. protection. "There were workers and their
families from both tribes. I couldn't under-
stand how they were together, protecting each
Shut Your Gate other. It was amazing to see them putting their
lives on the line for each other." The Houmanns
he director of the dental clinic in Kigali were putting themselves at risk as well, har-
T where Phillips worked was Per Houmann.
When Houmann and his wife Alice stepped
boring workers in their home. "But," says
Alice, "the militia were coming to our home
off the plane in August 1993, they could just as much to rob us as to hurt our workers,
already tell that there was tension in Rwanda- so [our workers] protected us as well."
armed soldiers lined the runway. The Hou- The Houmanns remember one worker who
manns had been warned of the growing was a particular inspiration to them. Francois
tension, but realized the meaning of this more had come in to work the night before the
fully when a rash of incidents took place in fighting, but was unable to go back to his
February 1994. They were forced to tempo- home. His strong Tutsi features would have
rarily close down their clinic, the only full- gotten him killed in the fighting. "He was
service dental clinic in the country. unable to return to his family, who he was sure
"The tensions were bad enough even then were dead by now. Yet he never looked
that my Tutsi workers would have been killed scared. Every night and every morning he
if they attempted to come in to work," said would lead some of the others in singing
Houmann. "We remained closed for a week. hymns and reading the Bible. He was at such
Things seemed to calm down after that, but peace with God it was as if he had no fear.
the tensions were never resolved. About three When we left the compound, all the other
weeks later, our gardener came in and told us Tutsis were looking at us with sorrowful eyes,
to shut our gate, because there were people because they knew that they were going to
right down the street having their throats die. Francois was the only one at peace. It
slashed. About three weeks after that, our reminded me of that text that says 'perfect love
Tutsi night watchman came in after being casts out fear.' That was Francois."
severely beaten by six people, and had to have As the Houmanns left Kigali-four days
his eye patched." after the violence began-with their children
The intense fighting started before sunrise lying on the floor of the car, they felt for the
onApril7, the day after the assassinations. The first time that they were the focus of the hatred.
Houmanns could hear tremendous explo- "Going out of Kigali, we were shot at. At
sions of gunfire about 150 yards from their roadblocks we would see trucks of bodies
home on the compound. "The militia would being hauled out, as well as bodies lying in the
be fighting, and then there would be silence road. At the last roadblock, there were about
for awhile. But the silence worried us more 400 or 500 men and boys with sticks, clubs,
OCTOBER 1994 7
SPEC-mUM--------------------------------------------------------------
and machetes. They had a vacant look in their by the third day, we could tell that something
eyes. It was as if they were possessed. They was different," recalled Wilkens. The first sign
became more and more bold, asking for of trouble came when an Adventist orphanage
money and threatening to puncture our tires. sent a message over the shortwave radio
This was the first time we really felt we were asking for assistance. The somewhat frantic
the focus of their anger." message stated that the militia had already
killed one worker in front of them, and they
couldn't gauge what was happening in the
I'm Needed Here . other areas of the grounds where violence was
breaking out.
arl Wilkens, director of Adventist Devel- "Shortly after this came the big push to
C opment and Relief Agency (ADRA) in
Rwanda, was the only American-and Advent-
evacuate the missionaries stationed there,"
said Wilkens. "The telephones had gone out
ist missionary-to stay after the first two days
in Kigali throughout the of fighting, but we still
months of killing. Dur- Wilkens chose to stay behind had radio contact with
ing that time, only a the American embassy,
very few expatriates of to help protect two of his so it was our job to
any nationality tried to houseworkers, and spent the coordinate the evacua-
remain in Rwanda's tions with them."
capital. Indeed, both the next88nights sleeping in the This was an espe-
United States govern- hallway of his home. Tbeir cially tense time for
ment and the world Wilkens and his family,
leadership of the Ad- diet consisted of oatmeal, not only because of the
ventist Church ordered granola, rice, and beans-- fighting in the city, but
their personnel out of also because Wilkens
Rwanda. But Wilkens food they had stored away and his wife had al-
stayed. Now, both the for just such an occasion. ready decided that if
United Nations and the anything like this ever
U.S. State Department
During the ordeal, Wilkens' happened, he would
have recognized his weight dropped 20 pounds. stay behind while the
unique bravery by rest of his family evacu-
awarding Wilkens written commendations for ated. "We wondered if it was the right deci-
his continued humanitarian service during the sion, but everything happened so fast, we only
most dangerous of conditions. had one night to think about it. We decided
When the crisis broke out, Wilkens had a that we would sleep on it that night and make
house full of relatives. Not only did he have to the decision in the morning. That night, God
worry about his three children, ranging in ages gave us so much peace, we felt it had to be his
from six to 10, and his wife, but also his will that I stay in the country."
parents, who were visiting Rwanda and work- One reason Wilkens chose to stay behind
ing on an ADRA project in the area. was to help protect two of his houseworkers.
"At first, we thought it was similar to the They were at serious risk because of their
crisis that occurred in February. We thought strong Tutsi features. Wilkens' wife, children,
the city would be shut down for a few days and family evacuated to Kenya. Wilkens spent
and then business would resume as usual. But the next 88 nights sleeping in the hallway of
his home. His house guests now included his the large containers of water. Food and dry
two houseworkers, a church worker and his milk were bought for the orphans from the
wife, and their relatives. Their diet consisted of thieves who had been looting.
oatmeal, granola, rice, and beans-food they A secondary responsibility during this time
had stored away for just such an occasion. was to keep up communication between
During the ordeal, Wilkens' weight dropped church workers and the union administration,
20 pounds. working as a link between the groups inside
For the first three or four weeks, Wilkens Rwanda who couldn't contact one another, as
and his group remained completely house- well as getting messages to concerned parties
bound. The government had announced a outside Rwanda. During the entire time,
curfew in the city, and no one could leave his Wilkens was in daily radio communication
or her home. "We spent those weeks in Bible with his wife who stayed in Nairobi, Kenya, so
study, reading, and prayer, not knowing what she could be close to her husband. "That
was about to come. I think God outlined that contact was so important," said Wilkens, "and
time for us to strengthen us," said Wilkens. to learn about the huge prayer network. There
"There were some long days, but I feel it was were literally thousands of people praying for
needed for us to prepare for the shelling, my safety-people I hadn't seen in years,
gunfire, and militia we would have to face people I was sure had forgotten about me. It
when we were finally allowed to return to gave me a sense of courage."
work around the city."
When Wilkens was finally able to leave the
house, it was only in furtive spurts. "We would And God's Hand Led
go out for a couple hours or so, and then have
to stay inside for a couple of days.... We
would have to rebuild our strength and work
up the courage to go out again. But even on
T hese prayers, and the reassurance they
gave him, carried Wilkens through some
very tense times. Wilkens remembers one day
the days when we felt as if we accomplished when a group of about 10 militia-neighbors
nothing, God would show us something that of his-came to his home armed with ma-
we had done. It was often tempting not to go chetes ready to kill the people in his house. "It
out at all. Some didn't, but it was hard for them was only an hour of negotiating and God's
as well. They had to sit and listen to the bombs protection that saved the people in my home,"
all day and wonder if we would return. It was said Wilkens. "We would go back and forth,
a hard time for everyone." arguing:
Wilkens said that "people questioned why "'You're my neighbors, you know me.'
I was staying, when there was nothing I could "'But our problem is not with you, it's with
do. But God showed me that he could still use the Tutsis in your house.'
us to help people." Wilkens and his housemates "'Yes, but they're not part of the war."'
spent their brief excursions out of the house With laconic understatement, Wilkens added,
working with groups of orphans in Kigali- "The group finally left, and no one in the
about 750 in all-taking them food and fresh house was harmed."
water. Since the ADRA vehicles and supplies Another day, Wilkens went with his group
had been stolen, Wilkens worked with his to take food and water to a group of about 250
own car trying to transport the supplies, and orphans, as well as 60 women and children
finally with a large dump truck he borrowed who were also seeking refuge at the orphan-
from the U.N. It was better equipped to haul age. They had been harassed for four or five
OCTOBER 1994 9
SPECffiUM------------------------------------------------------------------
days. Each day the militia took away one "We weren't able to evacuate everyone. The
person to kill. The militia had warned the Rwandans couldn't get out of the country, so
occupants that this would soon stop, and they they had to stay behind. There are still some
would come to kill them all at once. By the killings going on. People who sympathize
time Wilkens arrived with his group, the with the Tutsis are at risk. We worry for their
militia had already surrounded the building. safety. We ask ourselves if we should've
When the group of militia saw the foreigner stayed behind and helped more. These are
approach, carrying a radio, they hesitated. hard questions to answer."
They obviously wanted to wait until Wilkens Equally hard to answer is what these mis-
and his workers left. Wilkens took advantage sionaries will be returning to in Rwanda,
of this time to call the Red Cross and the local which, according to Booth, many of the
authorities on the radio. It took about two missionaries are eagerly waiting to do. There
hours, but finally the local authorities came have been several conflicting reports as to
and dispersed the crowd. Wilkens also se- the amount of damage and stolen items, and
cured a guarantee from the prime minister that it will be interesting to learn the truth.
the orphanage would be protected. About 10 Until that time comes, Booth and his wife
days after Wilkens' arrival, the occupants of will be working on a temporary assignment
the orphanage were finally evacuated to a in Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast.
more secure area. During that time only one "We're just working there until it will be
more person had been killed. possible to re-open the university. We're
Wilkens continued his work for close to hoping it'll be about three months, but it's
three months, until the new government was hard to tell."
in place and the fighting in the city drew to a
close. While many consider Wilkens a hero,
he disagrees. "I'm no hero," he told his family. A Country Dark
"I'm just thankful that I could find out just how With Hatred . . .
precious the Lord can be."
When the fighting quieted down and the "It's so hard to imagine the people in the
city became more stable, Wilkens turned his country being able to recover from the
focus to his family. "The whole time I was hatred that has been passed down from gen-
there, my wife and I looked for indications that eration to generation," reflects Alice Houmann.
the immediate crisis was over and I could "There are neighbors and family members
return to be with my family. This seemed to be killing each other to save themselves. If your
it. My wife had been so selfless in allowing me son married a Tutsi, then you were expected
to stay in the country. It was just as much work to kill the son and daughter-in-law both to
for her to see me stay as it was for me to stay. keep from being considered a sympathizer. I
With the crisis almost over, I knew it was time remember hearing one story of a man living
to go be with my family." down near the orphanage. The militia had
surrounded his house and were calling for his
wife, a Tutsi, to be sent out to be killed. They
Questioning Oneself . said if he didn't comply, they would come in
to kill the whole family. The man had to send
n the aftermath, Booth, a professor in the his wife out. How do you recover from some-
Iversity
business department at the Adventist Uni-
of Central Africa, left with questions.
thing like that?"
is "And what's going on now, that's a whole
OCTOBER 1994 11
Why King Was
Not an Adventist
Martin Luther King's becoming an Adventist "would have
hampered his becoming one of our nation's greatest leaders."
by Roland]. Hill
OULD MARTIN LUTHER KING HAVE BEEN than ever before. I have come to believe more and
black theology of the Baptist Church, and the Notice that his religious experience began
liberal Protestantism of his seminary training with a view of God. Not the God of the white
all played a role in shaping this national man, whose God is mainly a God of the head
leader. Of these three influences, black theol- and not the heart, whose God is colored by his
ogy had the greatest impact on King's life. The privileged position, but the God of an op-
very fibers of King's soul pulsated with the pressed people, who needed not only to
religion of his people. This is what King know God but also to experience God. A God
himself thought of his theological roots: who could not only save their souls but also
I am first and foremost a [black] minister. I love the
liberate their bodies from the shackles of
church, and I feel that civil rights is a part of it. For white oppression. No black man (other than
me, at least, the basis of my struggle for integra- blacks rooted in the white religious experi-
tion-and I mean full integration of Negroes into ence) could escape this view of God.
every phase of American life-is something that
began with a religious motivation ... And I know
that my religion has come to mean more to me
The Black View of God
Roland]. Hill, assistant professor of religion, Southwestern
ing was greatly influenced by his black
Adventist College, received his B.A.from Oakwood College, an
M.Div. from Andrews University, and a D.Min. from the
Reformed 7beological Seminary, jackson, Mississippi. Hill's
K view of God as the God of liberation. It
was not uncommon for blacks to speak of God
first book bas just appeared-Theo Economics: The Call to
Responsibility (Helping Hands Press: Keene, Texas, 1994). as promising to deliver them as he did Israel
12 VoLlhlfE 24, NuMBER 2
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE jOURNAL oF mE AssociA110N OF ADVEN71ST FoRUMS
from Egypt. James Harris in his book, Pastoral is clearly seen by the actions of many of the
Theology-A Black Perspective, writes "black church's pioneers. Many early Adventists, in
theology believes that liberation is the essence response to their understanding of God, lifted
of the gospel of]esus Christ, and any authentic prophetic voices against social ills like slavery
Christian theology affirms that God is on the and alcohol. Our theology hasn't changed, but
side of the oppressed. "2 Even though black our practice has.
theology as we know it today is relatively new, I can remember my own father, now a
most black churchmen and leaders agree that retired Adventist pastor, leading the first
it does reflect the roots of black religious "sit-in" protests in Savannah, Georgia. His
thought. James Cone believes King's theology actions were in defiance of official commu-
emerged from black faith. niques from the General Conference warn-
ing against involvement in the civil-rights
King's faith was derived primarily from his people's movement. Despite the church's official
suffering and struggling in a society where whites
talked of freedom and justice, while blacks expe-
stand, many black preachers participated in
rienced slavery and segregation. A separate faith the civil-rights movement, but seldom in a
emerged among black Christians in the United leadership role, for fear of reprisal from the
States because they believed that the God of the leadership of the church. Their fears were
Exodus, the prophets, and Jesus did not condone not without basis, for Adventist history docu-
the mistreatment they received from whites ....
It was a black faith that emphasized God~s will to
ments the treatment of men who sought to
make right what white people made wrong, so be leaders of social change in the black
that the rule of love would be established among community. These men were banished from
all races of people. This was the hope that the church and left without any supporting
encouraged black Christians to bear witness, organization. It appears that black theology
through public protest, to God's creation of
human beings, just like white people, and not as
forms a natural resistance to white theology
slaves or as second-class citizens.3 and sets black preachers and leaders, of
which Martin Luther King was a part, on a
This black view of God shaped Martin collision course with white Protestant Ameri-
Luther King and the other black ministers' cans.
views about civil and political action against
injustice. Since God was on the side of the
oppressed and they were on God's side, they The Blackness of
had no other choice. If they were to be on the the Black Church
side of God, they must protest against the
oppressor. King's theology was in sharp
contrast to that of Seventh-day Adventism
and the theology of any other predominantly
T he black church played perhaps the most
crucial role in liberating Martin Luther
King to be the leader of the civil-rights move-
white religious organization. ment. Unlike the development of new white
For the white Protestant American, God is churches, the black church was not born out
indeed a transcendent, omnipotent God. Dur- of some new theological proposition, but
ing the civil-rights movement, whites magni- solely on sociological grounds. The black
fied God's transcendence at the expense of church was a clear response to white oppres-
His immanence. It seemed that white people sion. Gayraud S. Wilmore, reflecting on the
viewed God as concerned about human be- roots of the black church, writes about the
ings' spiritual welfare, but could not see him Free African Society-the forerunner of the
as concerned about their everyday living. This African Methodist Church:
0croBER 1994 13
SPECJmUM---------------------------------------------------------------------
Wherever the Societies were organized, they personality developed by the Negro on Ameri-
began as a protest against white prejudice and can soil. A leader, a politician, an orator, a
neglect and with the objective of providing not
only for religious needs, but for social service,
boss, an intriguer, an idealist--all these he is,
mutual aid and solidarity among people ofAfrican and ever too, the center of a group of men."5
descent.4 Peter J. Paris correctly states:
Because the black church is centered in The experience ofself-governance provided blacks
protest, this has given rise to protest leaders. with the opportunity to practice the basic rights of
In fact, simply by leading black churches, citizenship long before the basic rights became
preachers get programmed to protest. Any constitutionally guaranteed and politically en-
acted for them. Ironically, it became the destiny of
preacher in the black tradition is expected to the black preachers to emerge as the freest of all
be involved in social change. In black theol- persons, black and white alike, because they
ogy, the church and community are tied embodied the condition of independence and
together in single garment of destiny. In fact, freedom more than any other. In their pulpits they
ina 1968 Gallup Poll, 75.6 percent of the black could condemn virtually any social evil in either
the white or the black community without fearing
community expected the church to be in- the possibility of censorship.6
volved in the civil-rights movement. It is no
small wonder, then, that Martin Luther King
The black preacher of bygone days entered
surfaced as both a Baptist preacher and a civil-
the ministry, built up a sizable church and
rights leader.
personal following, and then combined parish
Black ecclesiology sets the preacher as the
work with political work. Even today, many
center of church life. He is the leader, the
black politicians are a senior or associate
general, and in many situations, the ultimate
pastor of a church. In a 1965 Gallup survey,
authority among the people. He is the Moses
88.3 percent of the blacks polled favored the
come to liberate his people. W. E. B. Du Bois
involvement of the preacher in political mat-
expresses the position of the black preacher in
ters. It was therefore easier for Martin Luther
these terms: "The preacher is the most unique
King than for a white preacher to become
involved in the civil-rights movement.
Adventist views of the church place the
movement ahead of the preacher. This view
becomes detrimental to the production of great
leaders. Adventist ecclesiology has no room for
men who overshadow the organization. Martin
Luther King towered over his local congrega-
tion, which he eventually gave up, and even
over the organization he founded, the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference. The black
tradition gave its churches and its ministers
almost full autonomy, something the Adventist
Church could not afford to do.
In order to keep its centralized government,
the Adventist denomination can never have
any superstars. Leaders such as Martin Luther
King must have their independence. Advent-
ism as we know it today could not survive the
14 VoLUME 24, NuMBER 2
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE jOURNAL oF mE A5:S'OCIA710N OF ADVEN71sr FoRUMS
growth of ecclesiastical giants. A centralized men and women are depressed and in agony
government demands control. Clearly, Martin because of their earthly filth . . ., where the
darkness of life surrounds so many of God's
Luther King would have had a difficult, if not children. I say to you that religion must be
impossible, time working within the Adventist concerned not merely about the streets flowing
Church. with milk and honey, but about the millions of
God's children in Asia, Africa, and South America
and in our nation who go to bed hungry at night.
The Mission of It will be concerned [not only] about a long white
the Black Church robe over yonder, but about [people] having
some clothes down here. It will be concerned not
merely about silver slippers in heaven, but about
nlike the Adventist Church, which sees its men and women having some shoes to wear on
U primary mission as preaching the third-
angel's message to the world in preparation for
earth.8
the second coming of Christ, black missiology The social conditions of black people fore-
has more of a "this-world concern." ordained that the mission of black churches
would encompass the whole life of the black
The mission of the black churches has always community. Indeed, concerns for the plight of
transcended their own constituency by aiming at
the reform of the larger white society, that is, black Americans brought the black church
causing the latter to practice racial justice as an into existence.
expression of genuine Christian understanding Martin's missiology also took shape around
and devotion. Their mission, therefore, has had Walter Rauschenbusch's social gospel. King
both internal and an external dimension in that studied the writings of Rauschenbusch and
they have sought religious, moral, and political
reform in both the black and the white commu- reflected his thinking in most of his writings.
nity, though not in the same respect.7 Rauschenbusch believed that personal exist-
ence is basically social, and that a relevant
With a mission that has as one of its major Christianity would "bring men under repen-
concerns social justice, it would logically pro- tance for their collective sins" and would
vide encouragement for preachers to become
involved in social concerns. In fact, in the
black community the church has always been
the largest institution. It must take on a large
social role if social change is to occur. This
broad mission of the black church allowed
King to preach in a sermon at Ebenezer, his
father's church:
OCI'OBER 1994 15
SPEClm~------------------------------------------------------------------
proclaim a corresponding social salvation. He appealing to their goodwill, they would re-
contended that the church should be at the spond positively. A new age would begin.
forefront of social change through a program Had King been an Adventist, his theology
for more revolutionary social action. The so- would have checked any overly optimistic
cial gospel movement was characterized by a view of human nature. He would have believed
sharp criticism of social injustices, especially that human beings are basically evil-that
economic injustices. A cursory reading of social changes do not change the human heart.
King's writing and his sermons, reveals strains Adventism teaches the need to work for the
of the social gospel woven throughout. betterment of society, but does not see social
Of course, two major problems of the social cures as the answer to the moral condition of
gospel was it utopian elements and strained humanity. Only a renewed heart can really
view of the nature of humanity. change the human heart and thus society.
King's liberal anthropology and his black
theology gave rise to a soteriology that tended
Black Views of Humanity to be "this worldly." In his famous "I Have a
and Salvation Dream" speech, King implied that the salva-
tion of humanity will come from overturning
ing's understanding of salvation
K (soteriology) was also affected by the
social gospel. To understand his soteriology,
oppressive systems. Little in his soteriology
called for deliverance from sinful human na-
ture.
we must first investigate his view of humanity.
King, like the liberal Protestants of his time,
believed that humanity is basically good-that Black Eschatology
the reason humans do evil things is because of
their lack of knowledge. This philosophy is artin Luther King's theology shaped his
seen in King's optimistic view of white preach-
ers during the civil-rights movement. He be-
M views on the end of time. King's ultimate
goal was a new world order on the earth.
lieved that by educating them about the injus- Again, in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech,
tice done to black people in this country and we catch a glimpse of this eschatology.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise
up and live out the true meaning of its creed, ...
I have a dream that one day ... sons of former
slaves and sons of former slave owners will be
able to work together, to pray together, to struggle
together, knowing that we will be free one
day ... This will be the day when all God's
children will be able to sing with new meaning,
"My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of
thee I sing. "9
safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon the great leader of America's civil..:rights move-
them." ment. It also becomes clear that Adventist theol-
Investigating Martin Luther King's thought ogy and practice would have hampered his
allows us to understand how he could become becoming one of our nation's greatest leaders.
1. James Cone, Martin & Malcolm & America: A 5. James H. Harris, Pastoral Theology: A Black-
Dream or Nightmare? (New York: Orbis Books, 1992), Church Pe13pective(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991),
p. 122, 123. p. 77.
2. Peter J. Paris, The Social Teaching of the Black 6. Paris, p. 109.
Churches (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), p. 60. 7. Ibid., p. 111.
3. Cone, p. 120. 8. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Remember Who You Are,"
4. Gayraud S. Wilmore, Black Religion and Black sermon given July 7, 1963 at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Radicalism (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 9. Martin Luther King, Jr., March on Washington,
1972), p. 113. . Washington, D.C., 1963.
OcToBER 1994 17
SPECIAL SECTION: SURVIVING THE GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT
Voices Out of
The Silence
Luther Boutelle and Hiram Edson remember
October 22, 1844, and the days that followed.
Hiram Edson
whole souls. Thus the cry, "Behold, tracts, leaflets, voicing the coming of mind and pleasurable expecta-
the bridegroom cometh!" was, by glory, were scattered broadcast and tion on the part of those who
the "time argument," made to end everywhere, like autumn leaves in regarded the point of time with
in the fall of 1844, Jewish time, the forest. Every house was visited interest. There was a nearness of
tenth day of the seventh month, by them. They were angels of mercy approach to God, and a sacredness
supposed to be Oct 20, 21, or 22. sent in love for the salvation of of communion with him, to which
This brought us to a definite time, men. Everything now began to those who experienced it will ever
and in coming up to it, the works of converge to a point. October was recur with pleasure. During the last
Adventists demonstrated their faith the closing time of probation! the ten days secular business was, for
and honesty, not to be questioned. judgment and rewards! A mighty the most part, suspended, and those
As they moved on with the point of effort through the Spirit and the who looked for the advent gave
time before them, all grew more word preached was made to bring themselves to the work of prepara-
enthusiastic. Crops were left unhar- sinners to repentance, and to have tion for the event as they would for
vested, their owners expecting the wandering return. All were death, were they on a bed of sick-
never to want what they had raised. awake to this great end-salvation. ness, expecting soon to close their
Men paid up their debts. Many sold The tenth day of the seventh month eyes on earthly scenes forever."-
their property to help others to pay drew nigh. With joy all the ready History of the Second Advent Mes-
their debts, who could not have ones antidpated the day. Solemn, sage.
done it themselves. Beef cattle were however, were the last gatherings. These quotations harmonize
slaughtered and distributed among Those of a family who were ready with what I knew to be at the time.
the poor. At no time since "the day to meet the Lord, expecting an Such a concentration of thought,
of pentecost was fully come" had eternal separation from those who such a oneness of faith was never
there been the like-a day when were not ready. Husbands and before witnessed; certainly not in
that pentecost was so completely wives, parents and children, broth- modem times. All that did speak
duplicated as in 1844, when Ad- ers and sisters separated, and that spoke the same things. Solemn, yet
ventism prevailed and reigned. forever! The leading preachers of joyful. Jesus coming! we to meet
There was a great stir and talk, in Adventism had all endorsed the him! Meetings everywhere were
many places, about putting the Mil- tenth day of the seventh month as being held. Confessions made,
lerites under guardianship. But this the time when the Lord should be wrongs righted; sinners inquiring
did not cause any to go back on their expected. On Oct. 6, Mr. Miller what they should do to be saved.
faith. They were firm and held fast, accepted the argument as true, and Those who were not with us were
believing they should speak and act. wrote an endorsement to it. mightily effected [sic]. Some were
Thus they were known by their Geo. Storrs, Sept. 24, 1844, in exceedingly frightened with awful
fruits. There was some fanatidsm, the Bible Examiner said, "I take my forebodings.
but the body of Adventists were pen with feelings such as I never But the end of October passed,
sober, honest, a holy people, with had before. Beyond a doubt in my making unspeakably sad the faith-
strong faith and ready to meet their mind the tenth day of the seventh ful and longing ones; but causing
Lord-to see the King in his beauty. month will witness the revelation the unbelieving and wicked to re-
As the time to which all looked drew of our Lord Jesus Christ from joice. All was still. No Advent Her-
near, the Bible was studied even heaven." ald; no meetings as formerly. Ev-
more, and a fuller consecration made. The Voice of Truth, of Oct. 2, eryone felt lonely, with hardly a
There was a harmony that made us stated that Elders Marsh, Galusha, desire to speak to anyone. Still in
a unit at this time, and the represen- Peavy and others had endorsed it. the cold world! No deliverance-
tatives of Adventism and the flock In closing the Advent Herald the Lord not come! No words can
were all one. office on the 16th of October, an express the feelings of disappoint-
immense edition of that paper was ment of a true Adventist then. Those
issued for free distribution in all only who experienced it can enter
The Great parts of the land. This was consid- into the subject as it was. It was a
Disappointment ered the last edition ever to be humiliating thing, and we all felt it
published. alike. All were silent, save to in-
We now give an extract from quire, "Where are we?" and "What
he Advent Herald, the Mid-
T night Cry, and other Advent
papers, periodicals, pamphlets,
Bro. S. Bliss. He wrote, "The time
immediately preceding the 22nd of
next?" All were housed and search-
ing their Bibles to learn what to do.
October was one of great calmness In some few places they soon be-
0croBER 1994 19
SPECTRUM---------------------------------------------------------------------------
gan to come together to watch for come together to stay until the Lord In eighteen hundred forty-four,
some developmentoflight, relative came. I felt like visiting them. Ac- We thought the curse would be
to our disappointment. cordingly I took a carriage ride to no more.
the place. I found about seventy The things of earth we left be-
hind,
ot quite content with being believers in a large house, living
N housed, after such stirring
times, I went to Boston. Found the
there ·and having meetings daily.
They had put all their money in a
To meet the Saviour of mankind.
With many we took the parting
hand,
Advent Herald office closed, and all milk-pan, and when they paid for Till meeting in a better land.
still. I next went to New Bedford. anything they took the money from The day passed by-no tongue
Found the brethren in a confused the pan. All was common stock. We can tell
state. Had a few meetings; com- held a meeting with them and ad- The gloom that on the faithful
forted those who came as best I vised them as best we could to fell.
could, telling them to hold fast, for keep the faith and separate, and That what it meant they hardly
knew
I believed there would be a good see to their individual interests, and
But to their Lord they quickly
come out of this matter. Returning those of their families, which ad- flew.
from New Bedford to Boston, I vice they kindly took, and very They searched the Word, and
found the office of our Herald soon separated, going each to his not in vain,
open, and Bro. Bliss there. He said or her calling. For comfort there they did ob-
he had hardly been from his house tain.
since the time passed. He inquired fter a time in looking over the They found "the bridge" they
if there were any meetings being
held. I told him there was to be one
A way the Lord had led us, and
bearing the reproach in consequence
had passed o'er;
Then they rejoiced and grieved
no more.
in the city that evening and that in of our failure, we found there was to
Their faith was finn in that blest
other places they were coming to- be a disappointment in the fulfill- Book,
gether to comfort one another. Some ment of the parable. The words of And still for Jesus they did look.
fanaticism was seen, but the many Jesus were, "While the bridegroom
were sober watchers for their Lord. tarried, they all slumbered and slept."
I learned of a company that had From the first of our experience as
Adventists, we believed we were
Resuming the
fulfilling the parable by going forth to Work With
We came into the meet the Lord in our faith and preach-
ing of his coming, but we did not see
Good Courage
tarrying time. This that the Bridegroom-the Lord-
would not come when we expected nd now a new era was begun.
helped us to bear him. But it was not long after our
disappointment before the light be-
A These divine utterances were
heard with such distinctness that it
our disappoint- gan to break in upon us, and we saw was easy to believe them; and with
ment, and put our there was to be a waiting time, a
midnight before the Lord would come.
a zeal equal to our former one, we
took hold of the work now given
feet on solid land. Turning to Rev., tenth chapter, we us to do. We found that the truth
saw that after the "little book" was was not to be all learned at once.
Prophecy again eaten, and sweet in the mouth, there Thus we came into the tarrying
was a bitterness to be experienced. time. This helped us to bear our
rang in our ears, Our disappointment was bitter, and disappointment, and put our feet
and we were now it was by eating the word of God, or
the little book. Since that time a new
on solid land. Prophecy again rang
in our ears, and we were now on
on the wing again, inspiration has been given us, and the wing again, and the world
we have done even more than we found Millerism, which they bur-
and the world did before our disappointment; for ied, still alive. So while the Bride-
found Millerism, the little book was to "prophesy
again before many peoples, and na-
groom tarried, meat in due season
was to be given. With the assur-
which they buried, tions, and tongues, and kings." Thus
the word of God is fulfilled by us,
ance of light and divine help we
quickened our pace in itinerating,
still alive. and we can still repeat: and soon found the whole body
was breathing more freely. We as a the signs of the Lord's soon coming manger. But the voice which said,
people righted up, and the sound before the people. Thus encour- "Go talk the truth to your neigh-
of rejoicing was heard. The scat- aged, our meetings, Conferences bors, and fellow men," and my
tered Advent body was gathered and Campmeetings were resumed promise to do so, was lost sight of,
again, and commenced anew their with the former interest, while the and did not come into mind.
work of love. way opened wonderfully before us I was endeavoring to walk care-
In Jan. 1845, the Advent Herald for missionary work, scattering the fully before the Lord. I did not want
appeared again in the field, ac- light of the gospel in all directions. to loose [sic] the victory, the liberty,
knowledging our disappointment, We now had calls as many as we and freedom I had been sharing.
but urging the necessity of keeping could attend to. But notwithstanding all my efforts
darkness was stealing over me; the
heavens became as brass, and I
could find no answer from God-
"We Wept, and Wept, I knew not why, until I sought the
Lord in persevering secret prayer,
and, ineamest, toknowwhatinter-
Till the Day Dawn" vened and hid his face from me. At
length while in prayer in the forest
Hiram Edson, a Millerite farmer lane, pra1smg God with a loud my mind was carried back to the
from Port Gibson, New York, after voice. He gazed and listened with voice which said, "Go talk the truth
1844 joined the small group of wonder and astonishment at the to your neighbors," which I had
sabbatarians who formed the Sev- narration of what God had wrought. promised to do, and that I could
enth-day Adventist Church. Thefol- Pale, and trembling he returned not share the light of his counte-
lowing recollection, from an un- home, relating what he had seen nance, or freedom of his spirit,
dated manuscript fragment in the and heard, his residence being but until I lifted that cross and dis-
possession of the Heritage Room, a few doors from the church where charged that duty. This seemed the
Andrews University Library, begins the lectures were given. heaviest cross which had ever been
with the evidence that convinced When Monday evening came presented for me to lift. It seemed
him of the truth of Millerism and [both?] our [families?] went to the more than I could consent to do;
ends in mid-sentence in a discus- prayer meeting, appointed the night but no relief came, till, at length, I
sion of the seventh-day Sabbath. before at the close of the lectures. consented to make the effort. And
The meeting house, though large, not until I reached the third family
began to muse on this wise; If all was filled to overflowing as it had did much victory or freedom return
Itrine,this is the fruit of the new doc-
the evidence is clear that it is
been during the lectures. It was
judged best to have a short sermon
to me, but here the cloud seemed
to break, and old and young, the
from heaven; for it is written, "by and then a season for testimonies. greyheaded and youth, were melted
their fruits ye shall know them." "A The brother who had been healed, to tears; expressing their desire for
corrupt tree cannot bring forth good and myself, bore our testimonies: saving grace. As I moved forward
fruit;" And thus this question was what God had wrought for us; in this work day times; and attend-
settled with me. which had its influence on the ing the evening meetings; for they
In this incident of my experi- minds of the congregation. Before were protracted, until it was claimed
ence I also learned an additional the close of the meeting, our that between three and four hun-
lesson, namely, that God was ready preacher very hesitatingly gave a dred professed conversion, the
and willing to hear and answer faint invitation, that, if there were cross grew lighter, or, my strength
prayer for the sick, and to stretch any in the congregation who felt increased in bearing it. There was
forth his hand to heal and raise like seeking the Lord, and desired one family I had passed several
them up, and restore them to health. prayer for them, if they would times without calling on them. The
Since which time, I have shared in, make it manifest by rising on their head of the family was dissipated,
and witnessed many incidents of feet we would engage in prayer for and I thought it would be but
like character. them; when some eighty at once casting pearls before swine; so 1
The next morning the physician arose, without being urged. And passed them by.
came to visit his patient, and to his thus I saw literally fulfilled, what After laboring as above, night
great astonishment met him out of was presented before me the night and day, I became worn and felt I
doors walking up and down the before, when in prayer before the needed rest. I decided not to attend
OcToBER 1994 21
SPECJmUM------------------------------------------------------------------------
meeting that evening, also, not to bring forth good fruit" tenth of the seventh month, 1844.
make any more calls but go directly During what is called the sev- Having the true cry, Behold the
home and obtain rest. On passing enth month movement, in 1844, Bridegroom cometh, on the tenth
the above named house I was myself and several other Bm. were day of the seventh month, and,
stopped in the road opposite the engaged in circulating publications having been early taught by mod-
house, by some unseen power, and on the coming of Christ, day times, em orthodoxy that the coming of
could not make progress. I know and holding meetings at my own the Bridegroom to the marriage
not what was the cause, and began private house evenings. As we were would be fulfilled in the personal
to ponder whether it was duty to about to commence our evening second advent of Christ to this
enter the house. While thus waiting meeting on one occasion, a two earth, (which was a mistaken idea)
a shadowy form in human shape horse waggon load of entire strang- we confidently expected to see
stood before me, and led toward ers came; and after preparing seats Jesus Christ and all the holy angels
the house, at which I said, Can for them we commenced our meet- with him; and that his voice would
there be duty to call here? The form ing by singing, "Here o'er the earth call up Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
repeated the lead toward the house as a stranger I roam, Here is no rest, and all the ancient worthies, and
twice, or thrice, and I followed, is no rest." It was sung with the near and dear friends which had
gathering assuredly that the Lord's spirit and with the understanding, been torn from us by death, and
angel was accompanying me and and the spirit which accompanied that our trials and sufferings with
leading me in the way I should go. the singing gave to it a keen edge, our earthly pilgrimage would close,
I entered the house, was received and before the hymn was sung and we should be caught up to
kindly, had a free time talking and through, the entire company of meet our coming Lord to be forever
praying with them, learned that strangers were so deeply convicted with him to inhabit the bright golden
they were backsliders, and were that rather than bear the reproach mansions in the golden home city,
desiring to return unto the Lord. of being convicted, or converted at prepared for the redeemed. Our
The above revival and ingathering a Millerite meeting, they all started expectations were raised high, and
of souls, being the result and legiti- to leave the house. One man and thus we looked for our coming
mate fruit of the above lectures, his wife succeeded in getting out of Lord until the clock tolled 12 at
was additional evidence that this doors; but the third one fell upon midnight. The day had then passed
new doctrine was from heaven; for the threshhold; the fourth, the fifth, and our disappointment became a
it is a good tree that brings forth and so on, till the most of the certainty. Our fondest hopes and
good fruit. "A corrupt tree cannot company were thus slain by the expectations were blasted, and such
power of God. And such agonizing a spirit of weeping came over us as
cries and pleading for mercy, is not I never experienced before. It
often witnessed. Some thirteen, or seemed that the loss of all earthly
Tbe day had then more, were converted before the friends could have been no com-
meeting closed. The man and his parison. We wept, and wept, till
passed and our dis- wife who left the house labored the day dawn.
appointment be- hard to persuade the rest of their I mused in my own heart, say-
company to leave at once for home; ing, My advent experience has been
came a certainty. but not succeeding, and rather than the richest and brightest of all my
remain through the meeting they christian experience. If this had
Our fondest hopes went home on foot in a dark night, proved a failure, what was the rest
a distance of five, or six miles, of my christian experience worth?
were blasted. It carrying a child a year old. But this Has the Bible proved a failure? Is
seemed that the loss was not their heaviest burden. Their there no God-no heaven-no
conviction was too deep to be golden home city-no paradise? Is
ofall earthlyfriends easily shaken off; they were back all this but a cunningly devised
again at the next evening meeting fable? Is there no reality to our
could have been no found pardon, and peace in believ- fondest hopes and expectation of
ing. And, "so, mightily grew to these things? And thus we had
comparison. We word of God and prevailed." something to grieve and weep over,
wept, and wept, till Passing over other like manifes- if all our fond hopes were lost. And
tations of the power of God, we as I said, we wept till the day dawn.
the day dawn. glance at our disappointment at the A second glance over past expe-
rience, and the lessons learned, receive a kingdom, dominion, and sending out the light on the subject
and how when brought into strait glory; and we must wait for his ofthesanctuary. Wedecideditwas
places where light and help was return from the wedding, and my just what the scattered remnant
needed by seeking the Lord he had mind was directed to the tenth ch. needed; for it would explain our
answered by a voice and other of Rev. where I could see the vision disappointment, and set the breth-
ways, I began to feel there might be had spoken and did not lie; the ren on the right track. We agreed to
light and help for us in our present seventh angel had began [sic] to share the expense between us, and
distress. I said to some of my breth- sound; we had eaten the littl [sic] said to Crosier, "Write out the sub-
ren, Let us go to the bam. We book; it had been sweet in our ject of the sanctuary. Get out an-
entered the granary, shut the doors mouth, and it had now become other number of the Day Dawn,
about us and bowed before the bitter in our belly, embittering our and we will try to meet the ex-
Lord. We prayed earnestly; for we whole being. That we must proph- pense." He did so, and the Day
felt our necessity. We continued in esy again, etc., and that when the Dawn was sent out bearing the
earnest prayer until the witness of seventh angel began to sound, the light on the sanctuary subject. It fell
the Spirit was given that our prayer temple of God was opened in into the hands of Elders James
was accepted, and that light should heaven, and there was seen in his White, and Joseph Bates, who
be given, our disappointment be temple the ark of his testament, etc. readily endorsed the view; and it
explained, and made clear and sat- While I was thus standing in the was shown in vision to be light for
isfactory. After breakfast I said to midst of the field, my comrade the remnant. This number of the
one of my brethren, "Let us go and passed on almost beyond speaking Day Dawn opened a communica-
see, and encourage some of our distance before missing me. He tion between us and these Eastern
brn." We started, and while passing inquired, "Why I was stopping so brethren. We appointed a confer-
through a large field I was stopped long?" I replied, "The Lord was ence of the scattered brethren to be
about midway of the field. Heaven answering our morning prayer; by held at my house, and invited these
seemed open to my view, and I saw giving light with regard to our our Eastern brethren to meet with
distinctly, and clearly, that instead disappointment." I talked these us. Br. W. made the effort to come,
of our High Priest corning out of the things to my brethren. but his way was hedged up. Father
Most Holy of the heavenly sanctu- In those days I was closely asso- Bates came on. His light was the
ary to come to this earth on the ciated with 0. R. L. Crosier; and Dr. seventh-day Sabbath.
tenth day of the seventh month, at F. B. Hahn, Crosier making his From my understanding of the
the end of the 2300 days, that he for home with me a portion of the opening of the tabernacle of the
the first time entered on that day time. He examined the Bible on the testimony in heaven, and the seeing
the second apartment of that sanc- subjectofthesanctuary. F. B. Hahn of the ark of his testimony, and a
tuary; and that he had a work to and myself, was connected with few lines I had seen from the pen of
perform in the Most Holy before Crosier in the publication of the T. M. Preble, I had been looking at
corning to this earth. That he came paper called, "The Day-Dawn." Br. the subject of the seventh-day Sab-
to the marriage at that time; in other Hahn and myself, held a consulta- bath and talking it to my Bm. I had
words, to the Ancient of days, to tion with regard to the propriety of said to them, "If we abide by ...
OCTOBER 1994 23
Day-Dawn
(A tidy, unassuming bouse in a know it. The Bible says he'll come he comes, and he'll take us with
small town in New Hampshire. like a thief in the night. him. If he doesn't, there's no point
Cora, in her mid-20s, and Forrest, losing sleep at an all-night prayer
in his early 30s-a comfortably Forrest: Well, there you are. What meeting. I'll just have to go to work
married couple-are talking) sort of thief is going to come when in the morning.
there's a meeting room of saints
Forrest: Well, the great day has waiting up for him? Cora: (Earnestly) But Forrest, you
fmally come, hasn't it? have to have faith. You have to
Cora: (Looking at him with a mix- believe he's coming, or you'll be
Cora: (Warning, almost playju./. ture of fondness and regret) Do left behind.
She ts used to this sort ofgo around) you know, sometimes I think you're
Now Forrest, don't start. hopeless. Forrest: (Unmoved) He made me,
didn't he? Why wouldn't he take
Forrest: Seems like any other day Forrest: I'm a God-fearing man, me home?
tome. Cora. I told you, if the Lord comes
down for me, I will very willingly Cora: Because ... (almost afraid to
Cora: (Triumphant) Now that accompany him up again. I've got say it) because you might not be-
doesn't prove anything, and you nothing against being a citizen of prepared.
heaven.
Forrest: Because I won't go to the
Betty Cooney, who bas worked for 15 Cora: (Suddenly animated, fer- meetings with you. (It ts not a
years in communications for the Sev- vent) Then come with us, Forrest- question)
enth-day Adventist Church, is a gradu- come wait with us at the meeting!
ate of Atlantic Union College. Prior to
What could it hurt for you to come Cora: Well ...
workingfor the denomination, she was
a freelance writer in New York City,
with us just this once?
writing not only for Adventist publica- Forrest: (With slow-building an-
tions, but satiricalpiecesfor a variety of Forrest: (Shaking his bead) I sup- ger) That's it, isn't it? You think
media. Tbe scene published here is pose it wouldn't hurt, but what heaven will only have those built to
adaptedfromber 1979play, The Great good would it do? That's what I sit and think for hours at a time.
Disappointment. want to know. If the Lord comes, The rest of us restless ones who
can't sit more than a few minutes again, almost shouting) Prepared! Some time later, a neighbor stops
without cracking our knuckles, we'll Prepared! I'll tell you what I'm not by.Hisvoiceisindistinct, butwesee
just have to set up camp by the lake prepared for. I'm not prepared to him gesturing around the bouse. It
of flre. give up on all my investments and becomes clear that he wants to buy
sell everything just to pay off our it. Tbe two men sit at the dining
Cora: (Neroous) Now Forrest, I debts. I'm not prepared to go off room table and draw up a con-
didn't say ... with you on this . . . this goose- tract. Forrest signs, and the neigh-
chase-going off to wait for the bor leaves. Forrest raises his glass in
Forrest: No, and you didn't have end of the world, for . . . for the a silent salute.
to. There's an awfully self-right- Lord to come down out of the sky
eous tone to all those meetings, like some magician's sideshow. I'm Much later. Tbe sun has risen, and
and don't think it doesn't show. a grown man, Cora. Now leave me we see Cora returning slowly, stum-
Well, go ahead. Go with your be. blingly. Reaching the house, she
people and get ready for your long finds the door locked and knocks.
journey. I'll stay here and do some- Cora: (She looks at him for a long Forrest answers, obviously drunk)
thing worldly-maybe try to figure moment, and begins to cry) I'll
how to get us out of debt. If anyone never see you again, Forrest. Forrest: (Loud, his voice slurred)
asks where my wife is, I'll tell them Who's there? Who's there? (Bawl-
she didn't really leave me-just (1be suddenness of her statement ing) Answer!
took off for heaven. catches him offguard, and be turns
away from her, shaking his bead) Cora: It's your wife, dear; please
Cora: (With quiet dignity, but obvi- open the door.
ously hurl) I'm sorry, Forrest. Cora: (Crying harder) I'll never see
you .... I can't ... I don't know if Forrest: (Decided, shaking his
Forrest: (Not finished yet) And I can ... (Sobs choke her, and she head) Not mywife. Can't be.
maybe while you're there, you can covers herface)
point out to the Lord that, evil as Cora: (Urgent) But it is, Forrest. It's
your husband may be, he does (He comes to her hesitantly, and me, Cora. Please let me in.
have one virtue. touches her arm. She puts her arms
around him. 1bey stand for a mo- Forrest:Notmywife, no. Mywife's
Cora: (Still burl, her mind else- ment, then a knock sounds on the a Millerite. She's gone up. (He
where) And what is that? door)
Forrest: (Newous,ftdgeting) Well, one no one will ever buy? Cora: (Softly, resigning herself to
I didn't really figure the world the idea.) We're going to be in that
would end, but I thought it might Forrest: (Firmly) Cora, if you lose boarding house for a long time,
make you happy, anyway, and faith in the Lord, I can stand it, but aren't we? (He shrngs and tries a
besides, we could pay off our debts you've got to have some faith in hopeful smile) Well, I guess I could
and ... er, well, get started again. me. Do you think it was easy for me take in a little work- (Her opti-
to sell the house that we've both mism and energy are starting to
Cora: (A btt dazed) When do we worked so hard for? But that 1s take over, and she begins to gather
have to move our things? what you asked me to do. Now herself against the years ahead) I
you've got to believe in me, just a can teach fine stitching, or maybe
Forrest: (Newously) Well ... (Pan- little at least. I know I'm taking a even French-put that fancy edu-
icky laugh) that's another good chance, but I want to see what I can cation I got to use.
thing about it. We won't have to do, maybe as much as you wanted
move anything. to go up to those pearly gates. I Forrest: (Beginning to glow) That's
think the Lord understands that, it, Cora. That's all I need. Things
Cora: (Stt/1 dazed) You sold our Cora, and I wish you'd at least try. will be different now, I know it.
furniture, too? (He nods) Well. Say-I'm starved. Let's go buy a
(Again) Well. (Starting to snap out Cora: (Softening) I believe in you, dinner at the Endicott Hotel. We're
of it) But Forrest, where will we Forrest; it's those pedal showers and debt free. We'll celebrate. (Helooks
live? electrified bathtubs that worry me. down at himself, sees hts rnmpled
clothes) You just wait while I
Forrest: A ... urn, well, a boarding Forrest: (Feroent) That's because change. I won't be a minute. (He
house, I thought. (Plunging ahead) you're not an investor, like me. bounds up the stairs)
Just listen, Cora, it's for the best. When I see a peddle shower, I
Think of it. There'll be no more don't see just one. I see hundreds (The early winter sun 1s beginning
creditors at the door, and in no time of them, all with happy people to set, filling the room with a soft,
I'll start getting returns on my in- inside, pedaling away. And I see orange light. Cora stands quietly,
vestments. We'll have our own them thanking me for bringing them taking in the scene. Then she turns
house again, and better than this, such a wonderful invention. It may to the soja and picks up her coat,
before you know it. still sell. And this bathtub, it may go preparing to go out)
very well. They say they've had
Cora: (Almost bitter) I wish I could some dramatic successes in Eu- Cora: (Softly, to herselj) Well, there's
believe that. You're going to invest rope. They've just got to tinker with always tomorrow. (Even more qui-
in that bathtub, aren't you? That it a little more. etly) Always tomorrow.
OCTOBER 1994 27
1844 in Great
American Literature
Millerites and apocalyptic expectation as a part of the canon
of American culture.
by Gary Scharnhorst
OR OVER A CENTURY, THE MOST NOTORIOUS Miler legend2 and, as John P. McWilliams has
0croBER 1994 29
SPECJmUM------------------------------------------------------------------
month. 7 However, as Daniel Hoffman notes, as John Stuart Mill,lO In "Mellonta Tauta," a
he probably was influenced by Miller's phrase which Poe elsewhere translated as
millennia! expectations as early as 1839 when, "These things are in the future, "11 a pundit
in "The Conversation ofEiros and Charmion," aboard a balloon in the year 2848--a literal
he described a fiery holocaust which con- millennium in the future-repeats the refer-
sumes the earth. 8 From the realm of Aidenn, ence to "one Miller, or Mill." An ironic revela-
Eiros recalls that as the End grew near "Man- tion in the form of a gossipy letter, this tale
kind grew paler" until "All human operations ends as Pundita's balloon collapses and she
were suspended." Finally, there occurred "A descends, a comic Christ, into the sea.t2
combustion irresistible, all devouring, omni- Similarly, Hawthorne was fascinated by
prevalent, immediate;-the entire fulfillment, Miller's prophecies and recurrently referred
in all their minute and terrible details, of the to him in tales written at the height of the
fiery and horror-inspiring denunciations of enthusiasm. Theorizing that a writer of ro-
the prophecies of the Holy Book. "9 mances should eschew verisimilitude "to the
Millerismseems to have sparked Poe's apoca- probable and ordinary course of man's expe-
lyptic fantasies, and he profitably mined his rience" and aim instead to depict "the truth of
vein in such later works as Eureka (1848) and the human heart," Hawthorne composed
"Mellonta Tauta" (1849). In Eureka, he dis- tales set in the neutral territory "where the
cussed "the inevitable catastrophe" or "great Actual and the Imaginary may meet." In order
End" which he prophesied "is at hand," and to work modern materials into his fiction, he
substantiated his metaphysical musings with had to select what was neutral though not yet
astronomical evidence about a comet much as distanced by history. William Miller was type-
the Millerites in 1843 had regarded a comet as cast for Hawthorn's repertory of "phan-
proof of the imminence of the End. Moreover, tasmagorical antics," most notably in "The
he described "one Miller or Mill" as the most Hall of Fantasy" (February 1843), because, as
clever logician of the nineteenth century, a visionary, he already moved in shadowy
presumably alluding to William Miller as well circles between fact and invention.13
Nathaniel Hawthorne Hawthorne in this tale clearly did not treat
Miller in a tone of amused condescension.
Rather, the prophet's celebrated mystique
and his skepticism about the efficacy of social
reform entitled him to prominent station in
the Hall.
Hawthorne contemplated the implications
of Miller's prophecy in several romances writ-
ten during ensuing months. In "The New
Adam and Eve" (February 1843), he imagined
"good Father Miller's interpretations of the
prophecies to have proved true. The Day of
Doom has burst upon the Globe, and swept
away the whole race of men." Upon this
frame, he constructed a jeremiad lamenting
the vanities of civilization. The new Adam and
Eve wander amid the ruins of the past and
"pass unconscious judgment upon the works
and ways of the vanished race" (pp. 247, 262). on the Last Day, though almost certainly
In "The Christmas Banquet" Oanuary 1844), apocryphal, illustrates his cheerful skepticism.
published only weeks before the expiration of When asked by a fanatic "Sir, do you not know
the year when, according to Miller's original that tonight the world is coming to an end?"
calculations, the overripe earth was destined Emerson reportedly replied, "I am glad of it;
to be plucked from the heavens. Hawthorne man will get along better without it."l9 Cer-
seemed to sympathize with a disconsolate tainly, he expressed no strong hostility toward
prophet whose expectations were liable to the movement in his several allusions to it.
disappointment. In "Earth's Holocaust" (May After reading an article in Signs of the Times
1844), written, according to F. 0. Matthiessen, early in 1843, for example, he recorded in his
"when the activity of the Millerites had caused journal that he had learned "of an excellent
him to ponder how reforming zeal might bring Millerite who gives out that he expects the
to destruction all the age-old abuses and second advent of the Lord in 1843 but if there
encumbrances of the world,"14 Hawthorne is any error in his computation,-he shall look
envisioned a vain attempt by earth's inhabit- for him until he comes. "20 A few months later,
ants to destroy their "accumulation of worn- he opined that "New England cannot be
out trumpery ... by a general bonfire" like the painted without a portrait of Millerism with the
final conflagration (pp. 381, 403). Though he new advent of hymns" and copied into his
was not a Millerite apologist, in fme, Hawthorne journal the lyrics of a popular Millerite an-
like Poe was intrigued by the possibilities them. On the same page, he listed Millerism as
Millerite doctrine opened to the writer of the first characteristic of "The Age."21
romance.15 Moreover, Emerson may have alluded to
The Transcendentalists of the 1840s offered the movement in several of his compositions
a second response to Millerism. Though op- published in Essays: Second Series (1844). For
posed to forms of dogma, the Transcendental- example, his reference in "The Poet" to popu-
ists recognized their ancestry with the Miller- lar religious imagery-" some stars, lilies, leop-
ites in the "come-outer" tradition. Both groups ards, a crescent, a lion, an eagle, or other
denounced the sensuality of the physical
world of appearances and preached a mystical
faith in the dawning of the millennium. Thus
when Theodore Parker, Bronson Alcott, George
Ripley, and Christopher Cranch visited a Mil-
lerite meeting in 1840, they "found themselves
at least superficially in agreement" with them.16
Whereas Millerites came out to await the literal
thousand-year reign of Christ inaugurated
through supernatural intercession, Transcen-
dentalists hoped for a spiritual millennium
progressively inaugurated through the sym-
bolic agency of Nature.17 Thus Parker once
declared that October 22, 1844 was "too long
to wait" for the millennium. IS
Ralph Waldo Emerson adopted an even
more sanguine attitude toward Millerism. An
anecdote about his encounter with a Millerite
0C1DBER 1994 31
SPEdRUM----------------------------------------------------------------
figure which came into credit God knows the "Miller mania" and protested "the prolon-
how, on an old rag of bunting, blowing in the gation of a popular delusion [which] cannot
wind" probably describes murals depicting fail to be attended with evil consequences."24
the dream ofNebuchadnezzar and the apoca- Although he admitted that he had no personal
lyptic vision of John, which Millerite evange- acquaintance with Miller himself, he noted
lists used to illustrate their sermons.22 To be with regret that two of Miller's chief lieuten-
sure, in "Nominalist and Realist" Emerson ants, Himes and Charles Fitch, had defected
regretted that a prophet with impunity may from abolitionist ranks. 25 A few weeks later,
declare '"I thought I was right, but I was not"' another former abolitionist wrote Tbe Libera-
and demand "the same immeasurable credu- tor to defend his decision to resign from a
lity" from his followers, 23 much as Miller had temporary movement to enlist in Miller's eter-
in March 1844. Still, despite misgivings, he nal one, and his letter met with Garrison's curt
appreciated Millerism as a come-outer enthu- reply: "Our friend B. speaks of two kingdoms
siasm akin to his own Transcendental faith. of Christ-one of peace and joy in the Holy
The Quaker poet and abolitionist John Ghost, set up 1800 years ago, and another that
Greenleaf Whittier remains to be set up, at
shared a third contem- the end of the world!
porary perspective on Edgar Allan Poe and We do not think that
Millerism with progres-
sive reformers in the
Nathaniel Hawthorne re- any improvements can
be made upon the first
millennia! or post- sponded with apparent one."26
millennia! tradition, appreciation for the imagi- postmillennialists, Like all progressive
including Adin Ballou, Gar-
John Humphrey Noyes, native thrust of the Millerite rison scorned idle
and William Lloyd Gar- movement and claimed ro- chiliastic speculation
rison. Like the Tran- and pressed for con-
scendentalists, these mantic kinship with the structive social reform.
reformers anticipated prophet. This was the attitude
eventual amelioration Whittier shared. Like
of all earthly imperfections and a reign of Garrison, he could express his abolitionist
saints in a this-worldly paradise. They also dream and postmillennial expectations, as in
believed that the Second Advent was either a his poem "The New Year" (1839), as well as
spiritual, ahistorical event or would occur only admonish the Millerites for the social quietism,
after the millennium. As Hawthorne recog- as in "The World's End" (1844). In this essay,
nized, they were liable to charge pre- Whittier acknowledged that Millerism was not
millennialists like the Millerites, who believed a doctrinal aberration, but that a similar proph-
the earth was doomed, with shirking respon- ecy had been uttered "in every age since the
sibility to reform its institutions. Christian era" began. Still, he confessed that he
Garrison deplored the adverse effect of could not sympathize with his Millerite friends
Millerism on the effort to abolish slavery, and because "the effect of this belief in the speedy
his statements on the subject warrant review destruction of the world and the personal
for the light they shed on Whittier's thought. In coming of the Messiah, acting upon a class of
early 1843, shortly before the commencement uncultivated, and in some cases, gross minds,
of the millennia! year, he published a two-part is not always in keeping with the enlightened
series in Tbe Liberator in which he excoriated Christian's ideal of the better day." By promot-
0croBER 1994 33
SPECJmUM ________________________________________________________________
The patrician Cooper, embittered by the tiful nor pictorially accurate, one obviously
libel accorded him in the press for his oppo- formed by rumor and prejudicial newspaper
sition to the Anti-Renters of New York, re- reports rather than personal observation. In-
garded Millerism as further evidence of the deed, the account of the evangelist's arrival in
rabid mob mentality threatening the republic. the New England village contains the earliest
Though at least one group of itinerant Miller- allusion in American literature to the gowns
ites held meetings in Cooperstown during the allegedly worn by Millerites on the Day of
millennia! year,34 Cooper himself probably Doom. The infection carried by this evangelist
did not attend them, for in correspondence he quickly spreads through the village. One
disparaged the movement.35 Moreover, he evening, as the fanatics sing one of their
intruded into his novel Wyandotte (1843), set "awful and ludicrous" hymns to gloom and
in pre-Revolutionary New York, a preachment doom, an orphan, convinced by their theol-
upon the dangers of Millerism. He contrasted ogy of fear that she has been consigned to a
his genteel protagonist, who "saw and felt the sinner's hell and that she labors hopelessly
consequences of education, habits, manners, beyond the pale of deliverance; drowns her-
opinions and senti- self in a river-an inci-
ments," with "the ordi- dent Longfellow obvi-
nary demagogue, a Tbe Transcendentalists recog- ously could not have
wretch equally incapa- witnessed (p. 102).
ble of setting an ex-
nized their ancestry with the Holmes ridiculed Mil-
ample of any of the Millerites in the "come-outer" lerites in an early
higher qualities in his installment of Tbe Au-
own person or prac-
tradition. When Theodore tocrat of the Breakfast-
tice, an of appreciating Parker, BronsonAlcott, George Table (1857-1858),
it when exhibited by Ripley, and Christopher originally published in
others." Lest his com- the organ of Brahmin
mentary be misunder- Cranch visited a Millerite meet- culture, the Atlantic
stood, Cooper specified ing in 1840, they jound them- Monthly. Referring to
"Miller's interpretations the comet of 1843, the
of the prophecies" as selves at least superficially in sardonic Autocrat ad-
one example ofthe dem- agreement" with them. mits he would have felt
agoguery he feared.36 more nervous "if I had
Although his own modest postmillennialism is thought the world was ripe. But it is very green
evident in his utopian novel The Crater(1847), yet, if I am not mistaken; and besides, there is
he expressed in a letter written soon after its a great deal of coal to use up, which I cannot
publication the same bias against Millerism bring myself to think was made for nothing. If
that he shared with other conservative con- certain things, which seem to me essential to
temporaries. 37 a millennium, had come to pass, I should have
With their assumption of Brahmin superior- been frightened." He then declaims a satiric
ity, Longfellow and Holmes mocked Millerism poem, entitled "Latter-Day Warnings," detail-
as a virulent strain of mass lunacy. Though ing in eight quatrains those conditions he
Longfellow's publisher advertised Kavanagh would consider harbingers of the End. Only
(1849) as "a beautiful picture of life in our own "When legislators keep the law/When banks
times,"38 this story included a description of a dispense with bolts and locks," etc.-when all
Millerite camp-meeting that was neither beau- this transpires let "Miller's saints blow up the
globe;/But when you see that blessed day,/ Julia's shrewish mother, a misunderstanding
Tben order your ascension robe. "39 and estrangement, and the evil machinations
Significantly, antebellum authors who men- of a mustachioed villain. Yet, as William
tioned the ascension robes allegedly worn by Randel observes, the novel "has value not
Millerites usually viewed the movement with because of its plot but because of the scenes
patrician condescension: suffered limited, if and events that form the background of the
any, personal exposure to it; and referred to plot. The climax of the love story coincides
robes, which they considered symptoms of with the day which the Millerites had an-
madness, in works composed years after the nounced as the end of the world. "45
movement had lapsed into disarray. Most of Having adopted the method of a realistic
the other contemporary figures surveyed here novelist and social historian, Eggleston por-
seemed sympathetic to the spirit of Millerism, trayed the Millerites as pious and sane citizens.
though not its dogma, and Whittier even Elder Hankins, the evangelist who propagates
acknowledged its orthodoxy. The picture that Miller's "new-fangled" faith in the community
emerges is from this literature suggests, as of Sugar Grove, converts many residents whose
Whitney R. Cross has concluded on other expectation of the End relieves "the fearful
bases, that the Millerites "cannot be dismissed monotony of their lives" (p. 59).
... when the whole of American Protestantism In all, rather than depicting the Millerites as
came so very close to the same beliefs. "40 a collection of crazies on the fanatical fringe of
frontier society, Eggleston suggested that the
A lthough the memoirs of Annie Fields41 movement enjoyed mass appeal. As he con-
l"l..and the letters of Thomas Wentworth cluded in his own voice: "The assured belief
Higginson42 indicate that a dispersed remnant of the believers had a great effect on others.
of Millerites continued into the 1860s to expect ... An eminent divine, at that time a pastor in
Christ's imminent Second Advent, the genera- Boston has told me that the leaven of Advent-
tion of authors who matured during the Age of ism permeated all religious bodies, and that he
Realism regarded the enthusiasm exclusively himself could not avoid the fearful sense of
as a historical event. Occasionally, as in John waiting for some catastrophe" (p. 251). This
DeForest's Witching Times (1856) and Irene realistic appraisal of the movement earned the
the Missionary (1879), these realists distilled praise of W. D. Howells, who like Eggleston
details for their literature from recorded Miller- had been a young boy living in the Ohio River
ite history. 43 Typically, however, literary real- valley during the millennia! year. Howells
ists treated Millerism as historical backdrop for agreed in his review of the novel that during
local color stories. "the great Millerite excitement . . . vast num-
This ostensibly objective view of the move- bers of good people throughout the. country
ment was adopted first by Edward Eggleston, believed that the end of the world was at hand,
who believed that the novelist shared the and probably most men were touched with a
obligation of the historian to "set down things vague fear that it might be so. "46
as he finds them"44 and who thus designed his In four climactic chapters, Eggleston
novelTbeEnd ofthe World(1872) as a history chronicled the events of the Last Day and
of Millerism in southern Indiana. Its melodra- following morning. "Work was suspended
matic plot deserves little comment, for it everywhere" (p. 256), he reported, and popu-
hardly differs from myriad sentimental stories lar terror seized upon crimson clouds and
then popular: the love of Julia Anderson and shooting stars as signs of the End. Retiring to
August Wehle triumphs over the opposition of "a large bald hill" to await their ascension,
OCTOBER 1994 35
SPECJmUM------------------------------------------------------------------
these Millerites "wept and shouted with the the outburst of enthusiasm, explaining that
excitement" (p. 257). Like the Philadelphia "every religious delusion has grown from
sect that suffered poor weather on the night some fundamental error in the previous reli-
they expected the End, they finally were gious teaching of the people" (p. 58). He
dispersed by a torrential rainstorm. A lightning even praised the descendants of the Miller-
bolt "produced a startling effect upon the ites, "the Adventists of to-day," as "a very
over-strained nerves of the crowd. . . . And respectable denomination, a doing work
then the hurricane struck them, and they half- which deserves more recognition, from oth-
ran and were half-carried down the rear slope ers than it receives" (p. 57). However flawed
of the hill" (pp. 275-276). Sobered by the dawn the factual basis of his history, Eggleston at
of another day, "Some declared that the world least adopted the conventions of historical
had ended and that this was the new earth," investigation and disregarded the jaundiced
while others "still waited for the end," and still view of Millerism then popular. If his account
others reacted by embracing "the blankest is not entirely accurate, neither is it deliber-
atheism and boldest immorality" (p. 278). ately malicious.
Purporting to record social history, Eggleston Mary E. Wilkins, a New England local
even attributed some of these details to other colorist, also used Millerism as historical
sources. backdrop for her short story "A New England
Yet how accurate is this picture of Millerism? Prophet" (1894). Although she claimed that
Unfortunately, most of Eggleston's evidence she had based her story upon an actual
seems to have been hearsay. Despite errors incident in her hometown of Randolph, Mas-
of method and fact, however, the work merits sachusetts,47 Wilkins probably modeled it
modest praise for the realistic tone in which upon Eggleston's novel. Like Elder Hankins,
it attempted to treat a movement that had Wilkins' prophet "expounded strange and
become the butt of ridicule. He exonerated subtle mathematical calculations and erratic
the Millerite leaders for irresponsibility for interpretations of history as applied to revela-
tion with a fervor which brought conviction
to his audience."4 8 In both accounts, a promi-
nent Millerite suffers the scoffing of a skepti-
cal brother who saves him from ruin by
assuming ownership of his farm before the
scheduled Day of Doom and returning it after
the day has passed. The climax of both
stories, the marriage of a young Millerite
woman and her unconverted lover, occurs
while the band of believers await the End
atop a hill. And Wilkins in her denouement
described the "pallid shivering people" re-
turning to their homes the next morning
(p. 611) much as had Eggleston in his novel.
Unfortunately, Wilkins also compounded Eg-
gleston's historical inaccuracies. Whereas
Eggleston had alluded only once to ascen-
sion robes, for example, Wilkins recurrently
mentioned them. Jane Marsh Parker, a writer
of popular didactic stories and the daughter these literalists could calculate from biblical
of a Millerite evangelist, was so provoked by clues the exact time of Christ's return.
this distortion of the historical record that she
publicly rebuked Wilkins for reinforcing The seven times began with Babylon, 677 years
"many erroneous impressions of a movement before Christ, and these seven times were 2520
years, and then like any simple sum in subtraction
which, disastrous as it was, did much to was 2520 - 677 = 1843. The getting of that 2520
clarify the theological atmosphere."49 years was easy enough: one had but to multiply
Though Parker doubted the reliability of seven (representing times) by 12 (representing
Wilkins' history, she certainly appreciated months) and the product by 30 (representing
Millerism's potential as a subject for realistic days), and there it was.
fiction. Nearly a decade earlier, she had at-
tempted to set straight the record of the oreover, Parker attributed Millerism's
movement in an historical novel entitled Tbe
Midnight Cry (1886).50 Judged only on aes-
M popularity to its orthodox extremism,
rather than, as had Eggleston and Wilkens, the
thetic grounds, it is a poor novel indeed, with titillation it offered bored and illiterate farmers
stilted characters and a contrived plot; consid- (pp. 96-101). Though she colored these para-
ered as a study of Millerism, however, it is graphs with her personal recollections, she
remarkable, for it combines the virtues of accurately delineated in them important theo-
eyewitness reporting with the advantages of logical and historical characteristics of the
historical retrospect, and although patently movement.
autobiographical, it is probably the most com- In the remainder of the novel, Parker fleshed
plete and reliable history of Millerism written out this skeletal outline by illustrating the
before Francis Nichol's definitive apology Tbe orthodoxy of Millerism and the normality of
Midnight Cry(1944). Millerites. Although Parker admitted that the
The value of Parker's novel as a historical End might seem "scientifically unthinkable
source has been overlooked despite Parker's and theologically monstrous" to her modern
methodical refutation of popular misconcep- readers, she assured them that forty years
tions about the "memorable fanaticism."51 In earlier sane Christians had not been so enlight-
an early chapter, she constructed a factual ened (p. 223). Though she acknowledged that
frame for reminiscence by summarizing Mil- adventism forestalled institutional reforms
lerite doctrine, history, and exegetical method. (pp. 53, 134, 210), she also documented the
During the summer of 1844, she reported, benevolent influence it exercised through
about 50,000 Millerites fixed the day "when individual regeneration (pp. 223-224).
the Lord should literally descend from heaven." As in the stories by Eggleston and Wilkins,
Though this spiritual quickening often was the climax of Parker's novel occurs simulta-
jeered, "Thousands who scoffed at the teach- neously with the climax of religious excite-
ings of Father Miller in public, trembled in ment, though her eyewitness report of the Last
secret." Rather than apologizing for the delu- Day contains none of their lurid details. Parker
sion, Parker candidly admitted its errors, though had precluded suspense about the terror at-
she added that the Millerites, as biblical liter- tending the End by paraphrasing in another
alists, navigated the mainstream of fundamen- early chapter a seminal exegetical work usu-
talism, not a backwash of apostasy. Once ally ignored by historians of the movement,
establishing that 1843Jewish time "did not end Miller's "Dream of the Last Day." Like Michael
until 1844 Roman time" and that ''Jewish Wigglesworth's "The Day of Doom" and Hal
authority was paramount in such matters," Lindsay's Tbe Late Great Planet Earth, end-
0croBER 1994 37
SPECJmUM----------------------------------------------------------------
points of a popular American tradition in the local history of Millerism, illustrate the
which it may be placed, Miller's work de- process by which the rumor embellished the
scribed "a globe reeling to destruction, the gospel truth.
stars hurled from the heavens, the children of
men crying in vain unto the Judge, descend- n the twentieth century, American authors
ing, attended by a retinue of angels and
archangels" (p. 141). The eventual climax of
I have adopted a peculiarly modern attitude
toward Millerism. Those in the realistic tradi-
the novel hardly compares with this vision. tion, including critical realists, have slighted
Rather than describing ecstatic flocks perched the anachronistic subject. Upton Sinclair re-
on hills awaiting the new dispensation, Parker ferred only incidentally to it in his muckraking
set her climactic chapter in a private home essay Tbe Profits of Religion (1918),53 and
where her adolescent heroine passes a fever- Sinclair Lewis in Elmer Gantry (1927) and
ish night (pp. 278-281). This incident and her Waldo Frank in The Bridegroom Cometh 0938)
repeated references to ignored Miller though
the disquieting effect they censured modern
of chiliastic doctrine on A survey of Millerism in adventists. On the other
young minds (pp. 101, American literature suggests hand literary modern-
157, 179, 188) suggest ists, infatuated with the
that, however sympa- that during the nineteenth abstract ideas of time
thetically she sketched century the enthusiasm was and the absurd, have
the Millerites, her novel
cannot be construed as not dismissed merely as celebrated Miller as a
prophet of nonsense.
an unqualified apology wholesale madness but was Much as Poe and
for them. As one re- Hawthorne had been
viewer concluded she
recognized by such authors fascinated with Miller-
painted "a graphic pic- as Hawthorne and Emerson ism a century earlier as
ture of the extensive a subject for romance,
disorder caused" by
as a subject for sensitive and literary modernists have
Miller and his follow- serious contemplation. been enraptured with
ers.5 2 it as an incredible topic
Clearly Eggleston, Wilkins, and Parker were for ridiculous fictions. Subverting the tradi-
intrigued by Millerism as a subject for histori- tional notion of a paradigmatic or time-or-
cal inquiry, and each limned the movement in dered fiction that arranges concords between
a realistic fiction. Each attempted, unlike ear- beginning, middle, and end, 54 these modern-
lier authors, to explain its appeal. The most ists manipulate time just as traditional writers
accurate depiction was rendered by Parker, manipulate character and setting in plots with
the least celebrated writer, though errors in linear continuity. For example, Djuna Barnes
the stories by Eggleston and Wilkins may be illustrated "spatial form" in her avant-garde,
attributed to the popular image of Millerism novel Nightwood(1936) with a vignette about
that they assimilated rather than to the per- a woman unrestrained by time, "the only
sonal biases or literary shortcomings. As self- woman of the last century who could go up a
styled historians, Eggleston and Wilkins re- hill with the Seventh Day Adventists and
peated as fact the popular legend that the confound the seventh day-with a muscle in
believers had donned robes for the ascension; her heart so passionate that she made the
thus their stories, though purporting to record seventh day immediate."55 Modifying the mi-
metic function of realistic fiction, moreover, carnival tents. Suddenly, a violent storm breaks
these modernists invent absurd worlds-with- and frenzied Brunists leap into "the air as
out-end which resemble no real world so though trying to fly," strip, and roll in the
much as that netherworld to which Miller and mud. 57 Random violence erupts in the confu-
his followers had expected to be translated. sion: a child is trampled, one woman dies in
For example, an ageless Millerite in William an epileptic fit, another suffers a miscarriage,
Gaddis' TbeRecognitions(1955) reads Miller's an old man is crushed when the bingo tent
"Dream of the Last Day" with the dedicated collapses, and Miller is virtually crucified.
fervor of a new convert. 56 Recovering from their Disappointment that
These chief features of literary modernism, Christ temporarily had postponed his appear-
the manipulation of time and the realization of ance, the Brunists are institutionalized: their
the ludicrous, are combined in Tbe Origin of hymns climb the top 40 charts; their leaders
the Brnnists (1966), an exhaustive new-novel write popular inspirational books; Sister Clara
adaptation of Millerite history. In this novel, Collins, a time-warped Ellen White, becomes
Robert Coover cracked the seventh vial as their "Evangelical Leader and Organizer"; and
though it were a fortune cookie and invented Giovanni Bruno, their crazy prophet, is sent to
a technologically modern world into which a mental hospital.
the Millerites, the obvious analogue to the
macabre Brunists, have been transported. n light of some recondite parallels between
Giovanni Bruno, the miraculous sole survivor
of a coal mine cave-in, suffers brain damage
Ithatthe Millerites and the Brunists, it is apparent
Coover researched Millerite history for
from carbon monoxide poisoning. A spiritual- this novel. For example, both founders are
ist, a holy roller widow, and an amateur poor poets before they become prophets, and
numerologist independently discover some both movements collaborate prophecy with
esoteric meaning in his mumblings and dumb multiple computations and astronomical evi-
gestures and elevate him to prophetic office. dence and prosper under the direction of
Slowly increasing their number, the group subordinates. Nevertheless, Coover deliber-
infers from Bruno's grunts that the End of the ately distorted the record by referring to
World will occur on April 19, the last day ascension robes, hysterical suicides, and crazed
under the sign of Aries. They fashion white behavior on the Mount of Redemption be-
tunics for their ascension. The editor of the cause, as he observed, "It is easier for me to
local newspaper, a protagonist playfully named express the ironies of our condition by the
Justin Miller, infiltrates the cult, publishes his manipulation of Platonic forms than by imita-
own "midnight cry," a special pictorial expose tion of the Aristotelian. "58 Instead of writing a
headlined BRUNISTS PROPHESY END OF historical novel or even a parody of a historical
WORLD!, and plans a Millennium's Eve TV novel about Millerism, he assaulted the very
documentary. notion of historical veracity. More simply, he
Meanwhile, the Brunists attract international voided the teleological bowels of history by
attention. Miracles, suicides, and astrological creating a novel world in which "facts" are
verifications of the prophecy are reported irrelevant, if not incredible. His selection of
around the world. On the Last Day, the robed oft-distorted "facts" about Millerism as ana-
Brunists lead a crowd of spectators and media logues to those irrelevant if not incredible
crews to a slag hill, their bizarre Mount of "facts" recorded in his meta history of Brunism
Redemption. There they sing and pray while is ironically propitious.
vendors hawk popcorn and soft drinks amid This survey of redactions of Millerism in
OCTOBER 1994 39
SPECJmUM---------------------------------------------------------------------
American literature suggests that during the the writers of romance mingled fact and
nineteenth century the enthusiasm was not fantasy in their invention, the realists pur-
dismissed merely as wholesale madness but ported to record social history, which in each
was recognized by such authors as Hawthorne case climaxed with the scheduled fulfillment
and Emerson as a subject for sensitive and of prophecy on the Last Day. Like Poe in "The
serious contemplation. Occasionally, it even Conversation of Eiros and Charmion," the
was credited with reviving orthodox, though modernists wrote about Millerism from a point
extreme, millennia! expectations within Ameri- of view transcending logical progression, as if
can Protestantism. Although progressive re- a pointless apocalypse already had consumed
formers like Garrison and Whittier justifiably the common-sense world and left an ironic
inveighed against the movement because it one in its place. Indeed, the new dispensation
bid fair to deplete the ranks of the Party of the expected by Miller corresponds to the nouveau
Future, the allegation that the Millerites pre- roman just as the End of the World corre-
pared robes for their ascension seems to have sponds to the predicted Death of the Novel.
been an idle rumor spread largely by their This literature demonstrates that the specter of
partisan and patrician critics until it obtained apocalyptic death haunts each generation,
the force of truth. This study also silhouettes including our own. In apocalyptic times we all
differences and similarities among the literary become characters dreading the conclusion of
strategies of romance, realism, and modern- an insufferable drama. No other prophecy of
ism in the treatment of a single subject. Whereas our universal plight is quite so surefire.
18. Paul F. Boller, American Transcendentalism, 37. Letters and journals of Cooper, Vol. 6, p. 173.
1830-1860(New York: Putnam's, 1974), p. 133. 38. Kavanagh: A Tale, Jean Downey, ed. (New
19. Moncure Conway, Emerson at Home and Abroad Haven: College and University Press, 1965), p. 8.
(Boston: Osgood, 1882), p. 232. Subsequent references are indicated parenthetically.
20. journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph 39. Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes (Boston:
Waldo Emerson, ed. by William H. Gilman and ]. E. Houghton Mifflin, 1892), Vol. 1, pp. 24, 25.
Parson (Cambridge: Belknap, 1970), Vol. 8, pp. 390, 40. Cross, p. 320.
417. See also LettersofRalph WaldoEmerson, Ralph L. 41. Fields, Authors and Friends, p. 303.
Rusk, ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1939), 42. Letters and journals of Tbomas Wentworth
Vol. 3, p. 221, 246. Higginson 1846-1906, Mary Thacher Higginson, ed.
21. journals and Notebooks of Emerson, Ralph H. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1921), p. 51.
Orth and Alfred R. Ferguson, eds. (Cambridge: Belknap, 43. Witching Times, Alfred Appel, Jr., ed. (New
1971), Vol. 9, p. 30. Haven: College and University Press, 1967), p. 210;
22. SelectedWritingsofRalph WaldoEmerson, Brooks Irene the Missionary (Boston: Robert Bros., 1879), pp.
Atkinson, ed. (New York: Modem Library, 1950), pp. 313-321.
326-327. 44. Tbe End of the World: A Love Story (New York:
23. Ibid., p. 447. Orange Judd, 1872), p. 230. Subsequent references are
24. "The SecondAdvent. No. 1," Liberator(Feb. 10, indicated parenthetically.
1843), p. 23, col. 3-4; "The Second Advent. No. 2," 45. Edward Eggleston (New York: King's Crown
Liberator(Feb. 17, 1843), p. 27, Col. 3-4. Press, 1946), p. 133.
25. George Fitzhugh, an apologist for slavery, ob- 46. AtlanticMonthly30 (1872), pp. 746,747. Howells,
served in Cannibals All! (1857) that some Garrisonians whose grandfather was attracted to the movement,
had defected and "quietly put on their ascension robes reminisced more fully about Millerism in his memoir A
to accompany Parson Miller in his upward flight" Boy's Town (1890). See Selected Writings of William
(Cambridge: Belknap, 1960), p. 96. Dean Howells, Henry Steele Commager, ed. (New York:
26. "Anti-Slavery and the Second Advent," Liberator Random House, 1950), pp. 850, 851.
(May 5, 1843), p. 70, col. 4; "The Second Advent," 47. Edward Foster, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (New
Liberator(May 5, 1843), p. 71, col. 4. See also Letters of York: Hendricks House, 1956), p. 151.
William Uoyd Garrison, Walter M. Merrill, ed. (Cam- 48. Harper's Magazine 89 (1894), p. 6o3. A subse-
bridge: Belknap, 1973), Vol. 3, pp. 135, 150, 248, 523. quent reference is indicated parenthetically.
27. Writings of john Greenleaf Whittier (Boston: 49. "Did the Millerites Have Ascension Robes?"
Houghton Miffiin, 1889), Vol. 5, p. 419-427. Entitled OUtlook (Oct. 13, 1894), p. 582.
"Father Miller," this essay appeared in England in 50. See Parker's essays "A Little Millerite," Century33
Howitt'sjournal, 2 (1848), pp. 230-232. (1886), pp. 310-317; and "A Spiritual Cyclone: The
28. See, e.g., Garrison's "Further Effects of Millerism," Millerite Delusion," Magazine of Christian Literature 4
Liberator(March 24, 1843), p. 47, col. 4. (1891), pp. 321-325.
29. Writings of Whittier, Vol. 7, pp. 391-395. 51. Tbe Midnight Cry (New York: Dodd, Mead,
30. "Second Advent-Mr. Himes's Statement," Lib- 1886), p. 96. Subsequent references are indicated
erator (Nov. 15, 1844), p. 184, col. 2-3. See also parenthetically.
"Calumnies Refuted," Liberator(Nov. 8, 1844), p. 175, 52. Tbe Nation (June 24, 1886), p. 533.
col. 3. 53. Tbe Profits of Religion (New York: Vanguard,
31. Fields, Authors and Friends (Boston: Houghton 1927), p. 15.
Mifflin, 1897), p. 303. See also Letters ofjohn Greenleaf 54. Frank Kermode, Tbe Sense of an Ending (New
Whittier, John B. Pickard, ed. (Cambridge: Belknap, York: Oxford University Press, 1970), p. 178.
1975), Vol. 3, pp. 128, 420. 55. Nightwood (New York: New Directions, 1961),
32. Complete Poetical Works of Whittier (Boston: pp. 52, 53.
Houghton Mifflin, 1894), pp. 398, 404. 56. Tbe Recognitions (New York: Avon, 1974), pp.
33. Ibid., pp. 443, 444. 42, 63.
34. Cross, p. 304. 57. Tbe Origin ofthe Brnnists (New York: Putnam's,
35. Letters and journals ofjames Fenimore Cooper, 1966), p. 407.
James Franklin Beard, ed. (Cambridge: Belknap, 1964), 58. First Person: Conversations on Writers and Writ-
Vol. 4, p. 381. ing, Frank Gada, ed. (Schenectady: Union College
36. Wyandotte(NewYork: Appleton, 1892), p. 117. Press, 1973), pp. 143, 144.
0croBER 1994 41
The Sanctuary-
God in Our Midst
God gave us a sanctuary so that he might dwell in our midst.
The sanctuary opens a way between heaven and earth.
by Glen Greenwalt
I
STILL VIVIDLY REMEMBER GOING TO CHURCH IN
my freshman year of college and listening as being real. All of their stories were just so
to a sermon in which a pastor, by adding many examples written for our day. Time had
the 120 years of Noah's preaching and the always been short in my Adventist view. It
three and one-half years of Elijah's message to began in 1844. Time really had lasted only a
the year 1844, predicted that jesus would little more than a hundred years. I actually
return in 1968. 1 I was profoundly impressed knew people who had listened to Ellen White
by the preacher's sermon, as were many of my and many of the other early pioneers preach.
classmates. The sermon was consistent with I knew, that is to say, people who spoke to
everything I had ever heard in my Adventist people who lived at the beginning of time!
instruction. The preacher's argument simply Today my generation is in its mid-forties
followed the wonderful logic of numbers and and these sorts of arguments no longer work
symbols that was indelibly imprinted upon my for us, let alone for our children. Last fall, in
youthful mind. anticipation of this year's 150-year anniversary
Then, in my junior year in college, I took of 1844, I took a few informal surveys to see
courses in Daniel, Revelation, and Biblical if this generation of Adventists shared the
Eschatology where, for the first time, I caught same vision as held by their grandparents' or
a picture of how long God's people have been even parents' generation. I discovered that 78
waiting for the fulfillment of their salvation. percent of a Sabbath school class comprised of
But I never really saw the suffering and mostly retirees, many of whom had been
denominational employees, believed that the
Glen Greenwalt, professor oftheology at Walla Walla College, date of 1844 was extremely important or very
his alma mater, received his M.Div. from the SDA Theological important to their faith, but only 9 percent of
Seminary, Andrews University, and his Ph .D. in theologyfrom
Vanderbilt University. His dissertation title was, "Dialogue a class of college sophomore voted likewise.
and Praxis: The Questfor an Historically Sensitive Theology. " Whereas 65 percent of the retirees' class
believed that the church was spending about one's past is to lose sight of the very reference
the right amount of time on time prophesies, points that give direction to a journey. In the
or the church should spend even more time on middle are the vast majority of Adventists-
these prophesies, 95 percent of their grand- laypersons, administrators, and academics
children marked on their survey the response alike-whose overriding concern is simply
that the church should "stop trying to prove one of holding the fraying lines of the commu-
time prophesies altogether and move on to nity together. Unfortunately, a directional com-
bigger, more important issues." pass set only on holding the community
The question, of course, is Where do we go together is a compass that has no bearing. Not
from here? How does a community direct its only is the middle road often the wrong road,
course when it has outlived its own best but as any tour leader knows, a style of
understandings of itself? As Adventists we leadership based on "keeping the troops to-
never expected the world to last this long. One gether" works only so long as everyone is
hundred fifty years of delay is not something heading in basically the same direction.
to celebrate for Adventists who look for the In my own answer to the question of Where
soon return of Christ. By far, the most impor- do we go from here? I propose that we as
tant question facing Adventists must recover
Adventists today is, a more profound sense
How does a commu- of our status as pilgrim
nity plot a future course
Adventists never expected people. To begin with,
when it has journeyed the world to last this long. we need to recognize
beyond the borders of Tbe most important ques- that we always begin a
its own charts and journey from where we
maps? tion facing Adventists to- now stand. Then, we
Little imagination is day is, How does a commu- need to realize that
required to see that, as none of us is the source
a community, we who nity plot a future course of our own beginnings.
are Adventists are be- when it has journeyed be- Everything is a preface,
ginning to divide along a middle, and an end-
the natural lines of a yond the borders of its own ing of something else.
group of travelers who charts and maps? On the pilgrimage that
are no longer certain of is Adventism, land-
their direction. Some of us are wanting to go marks should be recognized as changing
back to landmarks and wait there for Jesus to points of reference, rather than established
return; but to follow that course is certainly to goals. We do not honor our tradition by simply
forsake the Adventist call to present truth. At trying to mimic the experience of our ances-
the opposite end of the line are a growing tors. To forsake the past or to idolize it is
number of Adventists, particularly the young, equally dangerous. To idolize the past is to
who insist that we need to push ahead in the give up the journey along the way. On the
spirit of the pioneers in our discovery of new other hand, to forget one's starting point is to
truths and landmarks, even if that means become hopelessly lost on the journey. We
giving up many of their doctrines. But cer- honor our tradition best, and are most secure
tainly this is no better proposal for setting our in determining our future, when we engage all
course direction. People suffering from amnesia Adventists, even those long past, in a lively
make poor travelers. To become forgetful of conversation regarding the challenges and
OCTOBER 1994 43
SPECffiUM----------------------------------------------------------------
tasks that now stand in our path. "rockets flew like hailstones," but that he had
My own starting point for appreciating 1844 not flinched. "I am satisfied that I can fight. I
and the beginnings of Adventism, as well as know that I am no coward. "2
envisioning the future journey of the church, After the war, Miller was a popular Fourth of
is Mervyn Maxwell's high school textbook, July speaker. But the war had changed Miller
Moving Out! Breaking Tbrough With God's in ways beyond making a captain out of a New
Church. Maxwell, by both the title of his book England landowner. As happens with many
and his gift as a storyteller, reminds us of the who survive the horrors of war, Miller under-
power of our pioneers' stories and what they went a religious awakening in his life. I found
can still mean in our pilgrimage today. in the Bible, Miller wrote later, "such a Savior
as I needed. "3 While the church and the world
remember Miller as a man obsessed with dates
William Miller: A Personal, and time charts, Miller himself recognized his
Historical Vision greatest discovery in life to be the discovery of
a personal Savior alive in the world. "In Jesus,"
ny story of 1844 must begin with William
A Miller and his prediction that Jesus would
return to earth "about the year William
1843."
Miller wrote, "I found a friend."4
The importance of Miller's discovery is not
fully appreciated without knowing that before
Miller was not a trained biblical scholar, but he the war Miller had been a Deist. Deists are
was by all accounts a remarkable man, pos- often dismissed as near-atheists who view
sessing gifts of both intellectual rigor and great God as a master clock maker, a Being who
charisma. In 1814, William Miller became made the world and then abandoned it to its
Captain William Miller when 47 fellow Yan- own devices.
kees volunteered to join the battle against the While the clock-maker metaphor illustrates
British at Lake Champlain under his com- the mechanical notion of the universe held by
mand. After the battle Miller boasted that the Deists, it fails to evoke the optimistic religious
sentiment that the clock-maker illustration
expresses. If the world is, in fact, the accom-
plishment of God's perfect, all-knowing will,
then the world cannot really be different than
it is, since divine foreknowledge accounts for
all future events--even our prayers, which we
were part of the world from the beginning!
As a consequence, this world, with what-
ever evil it contains, is in fact the best of all
possible worlds, since it is the world God
intended. While God does not determine
human choices, God did give reality to the
particular set of choices that now comprises
human history. Of all the possible starting
points God might have chosen in creating the
world, he chose the beginning that led to this
particular world.
My friend and colleague, John Brunt, has
recently argued with great insight that Deism
never really left Miller's bones when he viewed It is to acknowledge that time does not move
the second coming of Christ.5 For Miller, the forward inextricably toward its final end, but
spatial order of Deism was replaced by the that our choices are real and in some sense
temporal order of prophecy. The giant gears determinative even for God. Human actions
of prophetic inevitability had been set in make a difference in history. History, Miller
motion, and they would move inextricably reminds us, moves to the heartbeat of a Friend.
forward to the final countdown. That Miller
never moved fully beyond Deism does not
negate the importance for Adventists of Miller's Charles Fitch: A Dark,
discovery of the personal Savior he needed. Nightly Vision
The idea of a personal God of history is
central to Adventist thinking, although we ne of the individuals who joined Miller in
have not always recognized the implications
of our belief. A personal God is at the heart of
0 declaring a soon-coming Savior to the
world was Charles Fitch, a circuit-riding, Con-
Adventist Great Controversy theology. Love gregational pastor. Fitch stands out in the early
and grace limited the power and rights that Adventist story not for what he taught, but for
belong properly to God, so that God, in what happened to him. In the summer of 1844,
creating the world, shared with it what was the Millerite movement was galvanized when
rightfully his own. This is a dumbfounding Samuel Snow made his famous prediction that
idea of immeasurable consequence. Only by just as Jesus died on Passover as the lamb of
withdrawing into the divine self, and thereby sacrifice, so Jesus would return as the Lamb of
creating space and time for creatures, could Atonement on the Jewish Day of Atonement,
God have created independent beings fash- which happened to fall on October 22-a date
ioned in the divine likeness. This means that less than three months away. As a result of
the predictions of prophecy, like the history Snow's announcement, thousands of new
they predict, are open to change. converts poured into the Millerite movement.
As Adventists, we have long taught that In many towns, saloons were closed. In oth-
God's sacrifice on the cross was full and ers, church bells tolled every hour, calling
complete, but the work of saving human sinners to repentance.
beings from their hurt and pain is not yet Not long before October 22, Fitch had three
complete. This world is not yet totally under groups of people who came to him for bap-
Christ's dominion. The salvation of the world tism. The water was freezing cold up in New
is still in progress. The final outcome of our England, and riding home, Fitch took ill and
individual histories is not yet fully determined. died on October 14, just eight days before he
While the denominational leaders rightfully expected Jesus to return. In Mervyn Maxwell's
clarified in the 1960s the church's acceptance telling of the story, he imagines what it was
of the full and complete nature of Jesus' like for the Fitch family during the wait. Since
atoning work on the cross for our sins, Charles had been a circuit-riding preacher, he
Adventists should rightfully lead the way in was often away for more than eight days at a
reminding the world that the plan of salvation time. The wait would be hard, but in eight
is not yet complete. The effects of sin are still days this father and husband would be back in
all about us. Even on good days, children still the arms of his family! Mrs. Fitch and the
die. children could wait that long. Finally the day
Now, to acknowledge this ongoing struggle arrived, the day Dad was coming home.
means that God is not the dock-maker God. Some years ago Jan Daffern published what
OCTOBER 1994 45
SPECJmUM------------------------------------------------------------------
I have long felt is one of the most insightful I was to be associated with the name of
articles that has ever been written on the Adventists when I read in public news bulle-
meaning of the 1844 experience.6 In her ar- tins that Adventists were almost singlehandedly
ticle, Daffern suggested that perhaps we as distributing care parcels in Sarajevo during last
Adventists, whose formative experience was year's siege, because they were the only
shaped in the crucible of disappointment, are humanitarian group that was trusted by all
a people uniquely qualified to minister to sides in conflict to be fair. And again, in recent
hurting and disappointed people. This sug- months, I have been proud to be an Adventist
gestion has profoundly affected my under- when I have read of the work ADRA is doing
standing of what it means to be an Adventist. in Rwanda. As Adventists, caring for the dis-
As Adventists, our identity is often shaped by possessed and the sorrowing is not a sideline.
what we know, rather than by our hopes or It is central to the mission of our story.
faith.
From the story of Charles Fitch and his
family's disappointment, I am reminded of my Hiram Edson: A Prophetic,
own great need and the need of the world Heavenly Vision
around me for beacons of hope and courage
that somehow yet shine, even when the lights fter a night so dark it has forever been
of our answers have gone out. I am reminded
that at some points in life, the only helpful
A remembered as the night of the Great
Disappointment, Hiram Edson was crossing a
friend is the one who doesn't try to explain cornfield, returning home from the barn where
pain, but who provides a hand and an arm to he and others had spent the night in prayer.
carry a friend beyond the severest reaches of There, according to his own words, he "saw
pain. distinctly, and clearly, that instead of our High
In a suffering world, Adventist hospitals and Priest coming out of the Most Holy of the
churches, and most recently ADRA, have been heavenly sanctuary to come to this earth ... ,
beacons of such hope. I can't say how happy that he for the first time entered on that day the
second apartment of that sanctuary."
Adventists have long speculated not only
over the nature of Edson's experience, but
also over its theological importance. In the
painting I remember from childhood, Edson is
standing in the middle of a cornfield, looking
into heaven, where he sees Jesus in his priestly
robes entering the heavenly courts on our
behalf. While I have no way of knowing what
Edson actually saw on that day, I believe that
Edson's experience was truly visionary. For
Edson saw what many prophets have seen in
their hour of darkest trial-namely, a vision
that Jesus had not abandoned them, but was
even then working on their behalf in the
courts of heaven.
I will not take time to remind the reader of
the history of the Adventist speculation re-
garding the meaning of Edson's vision. Signifi- doned, but that God, even in their hour of
cantly, early Advent believers themselves of- distress, is working on their behalf.
fered a number of explanations of what Edson This is the central truth of the Christian faith.
saw. It was only some 13 years after the Great It is the central truth of Adventist faith. At
Disappointment that the view was established times, we Adventists, like believers in every
that Jesus had gone into the most holy place, age, get so caught up in trifles that we over-
there to begin a work of investigating the look the truth staring us straight in the face. In
books to see who would be saved and who our case we have gotten so caught up in our
would be lost. Today this view, like other timetables and the pots and pans of the
explanations before it, is losing its persuasive sanctuary that we have lost sight of the central
appeal. As time continues, the explanatory truth: God gave us a sanctuary so that he might
power of our interpretation wanes. dwell in our midst. The sanctuary opens a way
Nevertheless, while some are ready to reject between heaven and earth. The sanctuary
the whole experience of Adventism as little brings us to the very heart of God.
more than a strategy to save face in light of our This is the story that still wins human beings
mistaken predictions, I personally am in- over to the side of God. This is the story that
trigued by Edson's early vision. It seems to me Adventists have been called to give to the
to lie not only at the heart of the Adventist world.
faith, but also the faith of all Christians longing
for Jesus' coming in an hour of great darkness.
What strikes me about Edson's vision is that Ellen White: A Practical,
it stands in continuity with the visions many of Down-to-Earth Vision
the biblical writers received in their hour of
orne may wonder why I identify Hiram
trial and disappointment. Edson's vision is
almost identical, for example, with that of S Edson with the prophetic, heavenly vision,
and Ellen White with the practical, down-to-
Daniel 7, where Daniel sees one like a Son of
Man standing before the Most High. The earth vision. After all, Adventists recognize
verdict is clear. Judgment is given for the saints Ellen White, and not Hiram Edson, as the
and against the beast. Likewise, Edson sees
what Stephen saw in his last hour as he was
about to be stoned-again a vision of one like
the Son of Man standing before the throne of
God (Acts 7). The list goes on. Paul recounts
in the book of Ephesians seeing heaven open
and the saints sitting with Jesus on heavenly
thrones. The book of Hebrews testifies that the
way into the heavenly sanctuary is made open
for every saint. And in the grand vision of the
Apocalypse of the Revelator, John in his
banishment on the Isle of Patmos sees Jesus
ministering for the saints in the heavenly
sanctuary.
In each case we find a similar pattern. In a
time of great distress, God opens heaven to
remind his people that they are not aban-
OCTOBER 1994 47
SPECffiUM----------------------------------------------------------------
Of course, the sanctuary is not yet com- from all eyes, for john saw in that land no
pletely restored. The covenant God first made temple, because the Lord Almighty and the
to Israel will not be complete until God, really, Lamb are its temple (Revelation 21:22).
truly, honestly dwells in the midst of his This is the fullest Adventist vision-the
people. On that day all tears will be wiped vision that must not die.
OCTOBER 1994 49
NEWS UPDATES
Tutsis he had left behind and whom Goma, Zaire, a 30-person team ber of bodies in Lake Victoria to
he thought were now dead. While headed by Barry Chapman, work- have been 25,000-40,000.
a recording of Rutter's choral Re- ing with three other humanitarian As for its efforts in Goma, Zaire,
quiem played "Out of the depths I agencies from mid-May to early the largest and most publicized
cry to Thee," (Psalm 103), all the June, pulled body parts and 1,000 refugee center, ADRA reports that
candles were put out, except for corpses from Lake Victoria, and in August its multinational medical
the Christ candle. Then biblical buried them along a six-mile stretch team of more than 200 medical
passages on the resurrection were of beach assigned to them by the personnel were treating 1,500 pa-
read by the missionaries, as they Ugandan government. The bodies tients daily. ADRA, responsible for
relit their candles from the Christ had been dumped into the Kagera the health needs of 400,00 people,
candle. The service ended with all River in Rwanda and carried by the operated at two sites: a field hospi-
lights coming on, and the playing current into Lake Victoria. Together, tal, opened by August 1 and treat-
of the "Hallelujah Chorus." The mis- ADRA and three other agencies ing 1,200 people a day; and a clinic,
sionaries requested that the candles recovered approximately 11,000 about 20 miles away, treating 300-
not be extinguished as they infor- bodies in Uganda. 350 people too weak from disease
mally continued to share their ex- Zaire and Tanzania had shore- to make it to the hospital. By Au-
periences with one another. lines similarly clogged with de- gust 12, ADRA had shipped 82 tons
The memorial service was composing bodies. Early United of materials from the U.S., Uganda,
planned by Dick Stenbakken, Nations estimates project the num- and Kenya.
director of Adventist Chaplaincy
Ministries. Formerly the National
Service Office, the Chaplaincy Min-
istries is now a liaison office among
AHS/West, Lorna Linda Create
Adventist chaplains in all areas;
Stenbakken, and his associate, Marty Second-Largest California System
Feldbush, are working on proto-
cols for the Mission Institute at wo Adventist health systems- health-care, and will try to cut costs
Andrews to use for pre-crisis train-
ing of outgoing missionaries.
T Lorna Linda University Medical
Center and Adventist Health Sys-
by standardizing billing and ad-
ministrative procedures.
tems/West have entered into a joint California Health Network in-
venture with three other non-Ad- cludes Lorna Linda University Medi-
Relief for Refugees; ventist systems to form California cal Center and Adventist Health
Development for Health Network, perhaps the sec-
ond-largest health-care system in
Systems/West (the two Adventist
systems bring to the joint venture
Rwanda California. As reported in California's 3,6o9beds, 4,409medicalstaff, and
major newspapers, the existing sys- $1.6 billion in assets); California
Healthcare System of San Fran-
T he President of the Africa-In-
dian Ocean Division,].]. Nortey,
reports that by the end of Septem-
tems are not merging, but patients
who belong to one of the four
health-care groups are able to use
cisco (2,580 beds, 3,600 medical
staff, and $932 million in assets);
ber ADRA had five teams respond- medical facilities of the others. Sutter Health, based in Sacramento
ing to the Rwanda crisis. Two were California Health Network has a (2,559 beds, 3,000 physicians, and
providing medical services in refu- combined total of 1.2 million man- $1 billion in assets); and Sharp
gee camps in Goma and Bukavu, aged-care patients, 14,500 partici- Healthcare of San Diego (1,949
Zaire. Two other medical teams pating doctors, and $4 billion in beds, 3,500 affiliated physicians,
operating near the former Univer- assets. It is competing for second and $630 million in assets).
sity of Eastern Africa, and in the place with three other health-care This is by far the largest and
southwestern part of Rwanda, systems, including Catholic Health closest affiliation ofAdventist health
where French forces had briefly Care West. Kaiser Permanente re- systems with other health-care pro-
established a protectorate. A fifth mains by far the largest health-care viders. Leaders of the Adventist
team was working on rehabilita- provider in California, with well systems involved emphasize that
tion, beginning with trash collec- over 4 million patients. the arrangement is not a merger,
tion, in Kigali, the capital. The new network will negotiate but a joint venture, allowing Ad-
ADRA reports that even before contracts between insurance carri- ventist hospitals to continue present
the mass exodus of Rwandans to ers and companies to provide distinctive policies.
0croBER 1994 51
SPEGrnUM--------------------------------------------------------------~-------
of Southern California in 1951. In Gerhard Hasel 1beology, and at the time of his
1955 Heppenstall began his 10years death was working on two vol-
of influential teaching at the Sev- umes, Amos and Hosea, for the New
enth-day Adventist Theological erhard Franz Hasel died in an International Commentary on the
Seminary, where his ideas about G auto accident in Colorado on
August 11, 1994, at the age of 59.
Old Testament, being published by
Eerdman's Press.
the biblical covenants and the rela-
tion of law and gospel quickly Hasel was the the first john Nevins Inside the Adventist commu-
stimulated study among students Andrews Professor of Old Testa- nity, Hasel was, as Maxwell said in
and criticism among church offi- ment and Biblical Theology and his life sketch, "at times controver-
cials. In retirement in California, the director of the Ph.D and Th.D sial," and known as "one who
Heppenstall published four books programs at the Seventh-day Ad- commited robust energies and
in six years, all revolving around ventist Theological Seminary at impressive intellect to the quest
the saving work of Christ, includ- Andrews University. Earlier, for for truth." Hasel was the most
ing Salvation Unltmited: Perspec- seven years (1981-1988), he served academically accomplished of
tives in Righteousness by Faith as dean of the seminary, where he those voices within Adventism
(1974). had taught for 27 years. focused on the dangerous inroads
Guy, who was planning to ma- At a several-hour memorial ser- of the "historical-critical" analysis
jor in science before encountering vice at the Berrien Springs Village of the Bible. Even after his years as
Heppenstall in college, attempted SDA church, August 17, Mervyn dean, when he installed a financ-
at his memorial service to describe Maxwell, a former colleague on the ing mechanism that increased en-
his teacher's contribution to the life seminary faculty, recounted that rollment, Hasel's chairmanship of
of Adventism. "Without much fan- Hasel had been born in Vienna, the doctoral committee of the SDA
fare or any great crisis, Edward Austria, into an Adventist minister's Theological Seminary, and his de-
Heppenstall decisely and perma- family. Throughout World War II, velopment of scholarship funds
nently transformed Adventist theo- the father remained a non-combat- for doctoral candidates, placed him
logical scholarship. Before him, ant, and Gerhard, in defiance of the in a key position to influence Ad-
Adventists studied and taught Bible Nazi authorities, was kept out of ventist theological teaching world-
doctrines. After him, and because school on Saturdays. Hasel received wide.
of him, we studied and taught his B.A. from Atlantic Union Col- Maxwell also referred to Hasel's
theology. We learned to look at lege, his M.A. and B.D. from the crucial role in forming the Advent-
Adventist belief as a whole and in SDA Theological Seminary at ist Theological Society, committed
depth, and we became aware of Andrews University and his Ph.D. to promoting "sound, conserva-
the thelogical world around us. in Biblical studies from Vanderbilt tive, biblical scholarship and inter-
"'Of course it is dangerous to University. After pastoring for a pretation." He served as its second
think,' he said over and over in his year, he taught at Southern College president(1990-1992). The society's
classes, 'but it is more dangerous for four years 0963-1967). members are required to reaffirm
not to think.' ... He was neverthe- Hasel's son, Michael, a doctoral each year their commitment to not
less willing to endure criticism from student in archeology at the Univer- only the 27 fundamental beliefs of
church officials who failed to see sity ofArizona, has compiled a list of the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
the evidence that was so clear to 14 books and 319 articles and book but other affirmations, including
him. One of the minor ironies in reviews written by his father. Hasel's belief in the verbal inspiration of
the recent history of Adventist academic writings were noticed the Bible.
thought is the fact that many of outside of the Adventist commu- At the memorial service, some
those who claim to represent 'his- nity. Warren Johns, of the Andrews ofHasel's former students publicly
toric Adventism' are in fact reflect- University Library, has identified 39 stressed his importance as a leader
ing the once-denounced but now- reviews in scholarly journals of four of the theological thinking within
accepted views of Edward of Hasel's books, perhaps the best Adventism represented by the Ad-
Heppenstall." known of which is 1be Old Testa- ventist Theological Society, and
Guy ended his eulogy by saying ment: Basic Issues in the Current servednoticethathisministrywithin
that the best way to sum up Edward Debate. Hasel wrote the article on Adventism would not die, but live
Heppenstall's ministry was to say the Sabbath for the Anchor Bible on in them. Hasel is survived by his
that "he showed us what it means to Dictionary, was recently appointed wife, Hilde, and three children:
love and serve God with all our associate editor of 1be New Interna- Michael, Marlena, and Melissa, all
hearlS and with all our minds." tional Dictionary of Old Testament married.
0croBER 1994 53
SPECTRUAf--------------------------------------------------------------------------
thology and Human Anatomy at
Adventist Names in the News the school of medicine.
After graduating from the Lorna
he NBC television network in For 30 years, Adventist medical Linda University School of Medicine
T September named Donna
Willis their medical correspondent,
education has been shaped by the
forceful vision and will of David B.
in 1961, Bullstudiedforsevenyears
at Yale University School of Medi-
reporting primarily on the morning Hinshaw, Sr., certainly the most cine, the National Institutes ofHealth,
Today program. From May through important figure in Adventist medi- and the Royal Postgraduate Medical
September, Willis reported on the cine since John Harvey Kellogg (see School in London, England. During
network eight times. Spectrnm, Vol. 22, No. 3). In the these years and since, Bull devised
Willis attended Oakwood Col- 1960s, Hinshaw presided over the new techniques and procedures now
lege for more than three years, then moving of the denomination's medi- used internationally in the field of
received her B.A. and in 1977, her cal school from Los Angeles to Lorna hematology. He has served on the
M.D. from Lorna Linda University. Linda and the building of a medical editorial boards of several journals,
Harris took an internal medicine center complex that originally and since 1985 has been the editor-
residency at the Mayo Clinic. While housed more than 300 patients. in-chief of Blood Cells, the leading
working at the Kettering Medical Now, the various entities of the scholarly journal in his field
Center, she appeared regularly on a Lorna Linda University Medical Cen-
program it produced on a Dayton, ter include more than 1,500 beds. une 28, the Nigbtltne news pro-
Ohio, cable television station.
Willis moved to Baltimore as a
Hinshaw, as president of the
Lorna Linda University Medical
J gram, on the ABC television net-
work, focused on the subject of
reporter on medical news for Center (and of the virtually identi- confidentiality within self-help pro-
WMAR, channel 2, and soon was cal Adventist Health Systems/Lorna grams. The program asked, Should
invited to join the staff of the Johns Linda), was a major figure in the prosecutors be able to bring into
Hopkins School of Public Health, a creation, in May, ofCalifornia Health court confessions to criminal be-
post she retains. Network, a joint venture of the havior made in Alcoholics Anony-
During a typical segment on the Medical Center, Adventist Health mous sessions? No, said Adele
Today program at the end of Sep- Systems/West, and three other sys- Waller, an attorney in a Chicago
tember, Harris discussed with Katie tems, that may be the second larg- law firm specializing in health care,
Curie the subject of paramenopause. est system in California (seep. 51). a graduate of Andrews University,
Among other points, Willis empha- In August, the Medical Center and a lifelong Adventist.
sized that the condition was wors- board selected Hinshaw's succes- Waller argued that the present
ened by smoking. sor. J. David Morehead will be- law should be changed. Self-help
Each week, Willis also hosts "The come president of the Lorna Linda groups should be afforded the same
Operation," on the cable Learning University Medical Center, begin- privilege of confidentiality that peni-
Channel, and remains active in a ning January 1, 1995. Morehead tent-priest and physician-patient re-
program she developed, "Heart, received his M.D. degree from Lorna lationships now receive. After all,
Body, and Spirit," which has brought Linda University in 1973. Morehead, the ultimate goal is is to prevent
together Hopkins and the General an associate professor in the sec- crime. Respecting the confidential-
Conference in a health-education tion of urology (department of sur- ity of what is said in self-help
program carried out in black gery) and in the department of sessions will make it more likely
churches. pediatrics, has been senior vice that individuals will attend self-
president for children's services for help meetings and receive genuine
vents on August 22 and 23 the Medical Center since 1992. help in getting off drugs and avoid-
E established that Lorna Linda
University Medical Center and Lorna
Morehead led in the planning,
organization, and implementation
ing further criminal behaviour.
Waller also noted that people
Linda University School of Medi- of the children's hospital, and com- pay psychotherapists for drug
cine will undergo a changing of the pleted the project several million therapy often based on an Alco-
guard. Whatever innovations they dollars under budget. holicAnonymous model. The com-
bring, the backgrounds of the new Also in August, Brian S. Bull munications in "AA for pay" are
leaders suggest that Lorna Linda was elected dean of the school of protected. People who have no
University will continue to com- medicine and vice-president of its money go to AA and their commu-
pete for prominence in academic, clinical faculty. For 21 years, Bull nications are uprotected. Wealth
high-technology medicine. has chaired the Department of Pa- and privilege go together.
OcToBER 1994 55
SPECTRUM---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Or Moses will say oflsrael, "As an woman (or, for that matter, to the sexual partners was similar.
eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth ways of a bird), we must tread Traditions in African cultures do
over her young, spreadeth abroad carefully when invoking the deity: not automatically change with
her wings, taketh them, beareth the divine names are not human church membership, in spite of
them on her wings; so the LORD inventions; they are sacred revela- what we teach. In fact, customs
alone did lead him" (Deuteronomy tions and should be treated as such as the Levirate marriage still
32:11-12). Both Isaiah and Moses such. God is likea woman in much are followed in the Christian, in-
drew attention to divine nurturance, that he does-or, rather, she is like cludingAdventist, community. The
but neither would have considered him, having been as much fash- church, according to this recent
addressing God as "Mother" any- ioned in the divine image as a man. study, was not viewed as a source
more than he would have addressed But God ts our Father. There is a of AIDS information. Dr. Burnham
him as "Eagle." difference. made some very concrete and use-
Thus, even though we mortals ful suggestions regarding the po-
may feel ourselves quite justified in The Reverend Jeffrey Smith tential of youth organizations, Ad-
comparing a divine activity to ei- All Saints Anglican Church ventist schools, and service
ther the ways of man or the ways of Aiken, South Carolina organizations in educating Adven-
tists and non-Adventists alike in
Africa. His comments about teach-
Burnham's "AIDS Hits Africa" ers' reluctance to teach about sexu-
ality and HIVI AIDS are equally
applicable to Africa and schools in
Earns Praise, Condemnation the United States. The North Ameri-
can Division Office of Education is
currently publishing a series of
caring for persons with AIDS or elementary science-health text-
in education of its members has books that include sex education
been limited. and HIVI AIDS education. Good
The high ratio of Seventh-day textbooks, however, do not ensure
Adventist members in the coun- that the subjects will be taught.
tries of sub-Saharan Africa virtually Information alone is rarely enough
guarantees that many Adventists to produce behavior change. Fami-
will be among those who contract lies must reinforce the teaching by
AIDS. Our continued success in role-modeling and discussing ap-
evangelism undoubtedly will re- propriate behaviors.
sult in many baptisms of HIV- Abstinence until marriage, then
infected individuals. Dr. Burnham faithfulness on the part of both
correctly points out that "sexual partners, is the goal of sex educa-
wish to applaud Gilbert Burnham practices among unmarried Ad- tion and HIV-prevention educa-
Ipublishing-the
for writing-and Spectrum for
article on the Sev-
ventist youth differ little from their
non-Adventist and non-Christian
tion. But studies done among Ad-
ventist young people, both in the
enth-day Adventist Church's re- peers." His observations are con- U.S. and in Africa, indicate that
sponse to the AIDS epidemic in firmed in a study recently com- approximately 20 percent of our
Africa (Spectrum, Vol. 23, No.4). pleted by one of our doctoral stu- youth do not follow that ideal.
He has clearly identified the prob- dents at Lorna Linda University Which brings us to the "C" word:
lems: (1) the AIDS epidemic is School of Public Health. This study, What do we teach about condoms?
devastating sub-Saharan Africa; conducted in the East African Dr. Burnham again correctly points
(2) HIV is spread almost exclu- Union, has been submitted for out that while they do not offer
sively by heterosexual contact; publication; therefore, I can only absolute protection, they do re-
(3) sexual practices-such as early refer generally to its findings. Ad- duce risks. Apparently the Advent-
onset of sexual activity, extensive ventists did not differ from other ist participants in our African study
premarital sexual intercourse, Christians in their premarital and agreed, for they were among the
multiplicity of partners-result in extramarital sexual behavior, but highest users of condoms in the
high HIV infection rates; and ( 4) the rate was half that of traditional groups studied.
the response of the church in African believers. The number of Seventh-day Adventists must
respond to the HIVI AIDS epidemic, sand and pretend "it doesn't hap- "solutions" which are foreign to us.
not only for self-protection but in pen to good people." The promotion of condoms,
caring for others· as Christ would which he advocated when he was
care. Not only in Africa and the Joyce W. Hopp, Dean here and is still advocating, is not
United States, but in every country School of Allied Health Professions an"African traditional" way of deal-
this epidemic is sweeping. It is not Professor, School of Health ing with such problems. He has
the time to bury our heads in the Lorna Linda University imposed his views of African sexu-
ality on the community he lived in
and now he is trying to impose his
views and approaches to solve the
Are Adventist Beliefs problems, neither of which are
African.
Culturally Determined? I speak from experience. I was
in a youth congress in Malawi that
world much easier, both overseas hundreds of young people attended
T hanks for Mr. Burnham's ar-
ticle on AIDS in Africa and the
importance of a truly Christian re-
and in this country. The rigidity of
our health message has been a
when a skit on AIDS prevention
was presented by a group from
sponse to this plague. It seems major disincentive to many other- Malamulo, where Burnham was
shocking that sexual practices among wise committed people, who may the medical director. The director
unmarried Seventh-day Adventist even be turned off from Christianity of the AIDS skit worked directly
young people were about the same by our stance. Another example is under Burnham.
as those in the general population, our emphasis on tithing in societies
Christian and non-Christian. One
wonders about the U.S. Could this
where materialism is as strong as it
is in the Western world. And the T he presentation was culturally
offensive and unacceptable to
the attendees because it was de-
be true in our country as well? Have absolutism with which we have
we been hiding our light under a presented the seventh command- void of the Christian principles of
bushel on this issue, or is it simply ment is simply unrealistic in modem morality and was no different than
an unrealistic, culturally determined America. Once we have articulated a the "party line" that would be given
vestige of our roots in another age? reasonable and caring "fall-back by any non-Christian organization.
It was heartening to read Mr. stance" on each of our peculiar be- Condoms do have a place in some
Burnham's suggestion of "fall-back liefs, the end will really come quickly. situations, but a limited role in
stances" on issues where cultural AIDS prevention in Africa; but pro-
pressures are strong. 1his realism Earl M. ]. Aagard moting the use of condoms is a
will make the job of evangelizing the Angwin, California diversion from the central issue of
sexual behavior.
Promoting the use of condoms
Burnham Should Apologize in Africa by donor countries and
other groups may have some eco-
was surprised that a professor of does show the typical mentality of nomic advantages to them, but it is
Iarticle
Johns Hopkins would write an
such as the one that ap-
the "missionary" who had prob-
lems fitting in today's Africa under
of limited use because, apart from
the moral issue, there are problems
peared in your journal. The article indigenous leadership with the at- of acceptance, distribution, trans-
was "AIDS Hits Africa: Where Are titude of "I know best," which has port, availability, and, in many ar-
SDAs?" by Dr. Gilbert Burnham. been abundantly evidenced in his eas, cost. (Early in the condom
This requires an apology from him article. distribution program, condoms
to the two Seventh-day Adventist "Traditional African" culture, for were given free of charge and
.church divisions in Africa and from his information and the informa- distributed in schools to children in
your journal for publishing an ar- tion of your readers, prohibits pro- the sixth and seventh grades. Now
ticle full of racial overtones, and miscuity; it is punishable by death. there is a charge for the condoms.
shows a colonial mentality of "we What Burnham does not know or While the charge may appear mini-
know what is good for you." fails to admit is that the Western mal for Burnham, it is significant
For an African reader, it appears culture, which was brought to Af- when mounting a church-wide or
that Burnham does not intelligently rica by him and others like him, nationwide effort.) These concerns
understand "African culture." He brought the permissiveness and are, of course, apart from the moral
0croBER 1994 57
SPECTRUM--------------------------------------------------------------------------
and spiritual implications. Perhaps Hopkins! sprinkling of behavioral change.
Burnham, who seems to have so Johns Hopkins and Gilbert While in Malawi, he promoted
much concern and has the answer Burnham should apologize for this his program, including the promo-
to AIDS in Africa, should leave his article. tion of condoms, at will. He, how-
ivory tower at Johns Hopkins and ever, cited an unpublished study
head up the AIDS prevention pro- Baraka G. Muganda that concludes that there is little
gram in the World Health Organi- Youth Ministries Director difference found between Advent-
zation. It is a shame that a man with Eastern Africa Division ist churchgoers and non-Adventist
such insights is buried at Johns Zimbabwe, Africa girls who do not attend church.
How could one expect different
results while advocating and pro-
moting the same program as the
Africa: We Know What to Do general populace? Would this be
the natural consequences of such a
y attention was drawn to the around Malamulo as compared to program?
M article "AIDS Hits Africa:
Where Are SDAs?" by Dr. Gilbert
other parts of Malawi. The citing of
unpublished research leaves a lot to
For those of us who know what
we should be doing in our Adventist
Burnham. My interest in the article be desired. schools and among our member-
was thwarted by the prejudices The author shows little under- ship, we are confused by this kind
with which the author, a Johns standing of what Adventists are of muddled thinking. This is exactly
Hopkins University professor, dis- doing in our educational as well as what he terms as "a bland inter-
cusses the issue of AIDS in Africa, health programs in Eastern Africa. denominational restatement" was
which led me to wonder what his Instead he portrays prejudices and emphasizing-traditional Christian
motives were. Having worked in generalizations. His citing of a state- morality, which we as a church see
Africa and also being a Seventh- ment that "many African societies as the only answer to the problem of
day Adventist, I am sure he has not do not proscribe sexual behavior AIDS the world over.
just discovered that AIDS hit Af- before marriage" leaves a lot to be
rica. As a concerned Adventist and desired, especially as man in the hat Burnham did while here
the medical director of Malamulo
Hospital in Malawi for more than a
"Western world" has termed mea-
sures against such behavior in Af-
W in Africa, and other coun-
tries do as far as the AIDS problem
decade, who helped to build the rica as being too harsh. Burnham's is concerned, is a disservice to our
physical plant, it would be inter- suggestions are elementary and a efforts against AIDS. One would
esting to find out whether he was "rehash" of what he stands for- like to evaluate his accomplishments,
able to reduce the spread of AIDS condoms--as the answer, with a outside of those alluded to above.
Some of the questions one would
pose in relation to the AIDS prob-
etters to the editor are always lem in his country are:
1). What has the $4 billion the
welcome, and will be consid- U.S. government spent on promot-
ing "safe sex" done to curb the
~-" ered for publication unless disease in the U.S.?
otherwise specified. Direct all cor- 2). Do Adventist schools have a
lower incidence of HIVI AIDS than
respondence to the editors, Spec- non-Adventist schools? If the an-
swer is yes, is that due to condoms?
trum, P. 0. Box 5330, Takoma 3). Why is homosexuality preva-
lent among Adventist schools in
Park, Maryland 20913-5330 the U.S., and what does Dr.
Burnham propose to do about that?
(U.S.A.). The editors reserve
the right to condense letters Hudson E. Kibuuka
Education Director
prior to publication. Eastern Africa Division
Zimbabwe, Africa
0CFOBER 1994 59
SPEGrnUM-----------------------------------------------------------------------
and following this up with support
1400 in the home. In any country, teach-
ers can, unfortunately, also have
1200 _ _ 1,172 negative influences, as illustrated
1,080 by a recent article in a national
1000 Uganda newspaper under the head-
line "LIRA HEADMASTER SUS-
800 PENDED OVER ALLEGED AF-
FAIRS" (Tbe New Vtston, Kampala,
Uganda (June 25, 1994], p. 4).
600
The Headmaster of the Amuca
400 Seventh-day Adventist School,
Lira, Mr. _ , has been sus-
200 pended indefinitely for allegedly
having love affairs with his school
girls .... __ reportedly threat-
0 ened to dismiss any girl who
1992 Baptisms Needed refused to have sex with him.
This graph shows the numbers of baptisms required to compen- . . . Several girls have allegedly
sate for the effects of HIV/AIDS on members who are infected at given in to him because of fear
the time of baptism. that they would be suspended
from school. . . .
easier to attack condoms as a proxy. than judging and fear-mongering,
Unfortunately, energy may be and if we believe that Christ can Citing this recent example is not
wasted in attacking condoms that bring about long-term (and often meant to indicate this problem is
could be used to address the risky delayed) behavior change, then confmed to Africa, for it can occur in
behavior that increases the spread perhaps we should be less strident North America as well as elsewhere,
of JllV/AIDS. The promotion of over condoms. but it is to emphasize the potential
condoms for irresponsible sexual Joyce Hopp stresses the impor- of this behavior for HIV spread
behavior is not consistent with tance of not only developing an among adolescents in school.
Christian values. At the other end HIVI AIDS school curriculum but An important impact of HIVI
of the scale, few would prohibit the also effectively implementing it, AIDS on the church in Africa, that
use of condoms in a marriage where
one spouse is infected and the Members Remining Alive
other not. Many would also accept 1,00~~~~------------------------------.
the use of condoms to protect one
0 percent HIV
spouse where the other spouse is
800
engaged in risky sexual behavior. ~----; ____ · 10 percent HIV
The difficult thinking begins
when the focus shifts to the person 600
!IE~
who is engaged in risky behavior. ~~-
- ~-- ~· 30 percent HIV
Should persons likely to become 400 ~-------------------------------1
infected with HIVI AIDS as a conse-
quence of willing choices be of-
200
fered protection? From a public-
health standpoint the answer is
clear. The health, economic, and 0
'92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02
social consequences of AIDS are so
gigantic that any reasonably effec- This graph shows the affect of HIV over 10 years on a hypothetical group of
1,000 persons baptized in 1992. The top line assumes no HIV infection
tive measure should be actively present. The middle line shows what would happen if 10 percent were
promoted. But, from a moral stand- infected, a common figure for rural Africa. The bottom line shows the effect
point, would this be condoning of a 30 percent infection rate, a figure common now in most of the cities of
east, central, and southern Africa, and coming to cities of West Africa. Both
irresponsible sexual behavior? If graphs assume a 0 percent apostasy, and no HIV infection after baptism.
Christianity is about caring rather
of membership loss, needs addi- operating subsidies from the world sounds like that of a thoroughly
tional emphasis. If one considers church, under the title of "load- white, middle-class, and contented
the deaths of members who are sharing" (read load-shedding), this centrist who became angry-and I
already infected with HIV at the can have serious consequences for mean really, really angry. But not,
time of baptism, the impact is sub- the Adventist Church in Mrica. of course, from centuries of sla-
stantial, as illustrated by the two very, continuing discrimination, un-
graphs. This continuing loss of Gilbert Burnham, Assoc. Professor employment, disrespect for your
members will greatly increase the School of Medicine language, police beatings, intense
marginal costs of each new bap- School of Public Health envy and extreme want, a lack of
tism. In an era of sharply reduced Johns Hopkins University opportunities because your coun-
try would rather jail you than edu-
cate you, and the disrespect and
Further Chastening of apathy upon the part of your rep-
resentatives. 1bose angry people
Christenson tells to turn the other
A White Liberal cheek, pray, and go sit in front of
the television.
say does not represent mainstream
liberalism. If it does, then I can no rof. Christenson, have you ever
longer be a part of it.
I have so many questions about
P said a bad word after acciden-
tally mashing your thumb with a
this article I am sorry that I can only hammer? I think you need to re-
touch on a few. It is, though, the evaluate your usage of that phrase,
sort of article one could literally and maybe try to place yourself in
pick apart sentence by sentence. another's shoes sometimes. It is
My criticisms are directed at Prof. possible to have "sympathy and
Christenson and do generally fol- understanding" for the rioters with-
low the order of the essay: out condoning what they did. I
have just finished reading Reo 1. Throughout the entire essay don't condone what they did, but
IChastening
Christenson's article entitled "The
of a White Liberal"(Spec-
you seem to limit yourself as to the
color of poverty. Mter reading the
I have no problem saying that if
my life experience was similar to
trnm, Vol. 23, No. 5), and my emo- essay the only conclusion to be that of some of the residents, I
tions are thoroughly confused. I am made is that poverty is black and an might have been down there my-
simultaneously angry, humored, urban phenomenon. Did you know self that day.
frustrated, disappointed, and sad- that the latest census figures show 3. I couldn't believe this: "the
dened. I am angry that space within that the poverty rate is higher in deepest roots of poverty ... were
this journal should be provided for non-urban areas than urban areas? fiXed in family (italics my own)
such pseudo-intellectualism. I am And we all know, don't we, that as environments. . . ." I and many
humored because the ignorance and for absolute numbers there are more others would argue that what is
blindness is so great that maybe, just poor whites than blacks? Poverty is really at bottom cannot be reduced
maybe, the entire essay is a joke- neither a black nor an urban prob- to a simple generality like "family
albeit a cruel one. I am frustrated lem. It is very much our problem. environment." Consider some al-
because once again we must read If you had been more sensitive to ternative forces combating the
the words of a supposedly enlight- the realities of poverty, this re- progress of minorities: (a) An
ened individual who is truly any- sponse letter could have been even economy that is quickly metamor-
thing but. I am disappointed that the more interesting. Because you have phosing from one based upon
.spectrum editors weren't more criti- limited your criticisms to minori- manufacturing to one based upon
cal of the piece and didn't demand ties, I will primarily limit my criti- service-and changing quicker than
more revisions before publication. cism as a means to counteract your we can react; (b) an industrial policy
And I am saddened because of the complete dismissal of the experi- that encourages American corpo-
harm this piece will do by allowing ence of minority groups. rations to lower their manufactur-
all those people who feel similarly 2. In the third paragraph I won- ing costs by moving their opera-
to Prof. Christenson to now call der just whose "common sense" tions offshore; (c) an economic
themselves liberals. I hope this es- you are talking about. To me it policy that holds that unemploy-
OcToBER 1994 61
SPEGrnUM-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ment can get too low. The ideal than you have provided. action (and quotas--"white males
unemployment rate is about 5.5 4. The ideology behind busing only" ) for whites, it is only when
percent We are pretty close to that was exactly as Professor Christ- minorities are given the benefit of
rate now (that is, the nationwide enson suggests: busing provided affirmative action policies that we
rate), but the unemployment rate African-Americans an opportunity whites start complaining. I think
among African Americans is twice to become white via osmosis. By maybe, just maybe, the smoke and
that, and many times that for teens. merely being near whites they could mirrors of arguments against such
The conclusion being, unemploy- via osmosis embrace white values, polides are really covering up a
ment ye shall always have with you. attitudes, and behaviors. And, of desire to sustain the status quo.
It's called structural unemployment course, what a money-saving idea I assume that since you believe
and we better get used to it We busing turned out to be. We, the "equal treatment without regard to
have yet to figure out how we as a people, didn't have to sink any gender or ethnicity" is the only
nation are going to psychologically new money into educational facili- means to creating opportunity, then
and physically deal with the fact that ties for black communities. The you must be against granting spe-
there will always be tens of millions conclusion Christenson leads me cial treatment to new mothers who
of individuals out of work. to make about the failure of inte- decide to take an extended leave to
(d) What about the educational gration via busing is that segrega- be with a newborn by giving them
disadvantage African-Americans tion is preferable. The equation he back their jobs upon return?
suffer from due to centuries of sets up is as follows: integration, 6. I am interested in your char-
slavery, discrimination, and lack of disciplinary problems, racial hos- acterization of middle-class values
educational opportunities? We edu- tility, and white flight (as if racial that you say Headstart tries to in-
cated whites seem to think the hostility or disciplinary problems culcate in its students. "It's the only
desire for education is somehow a never existed prior to integration). way to expose these children to an
genetic urge. People, it is learned Maybe Christenson did not mean educational environment similar to
desire. The public school system is to posit solely this equation, but that of most middle-class families-
the best thing this country ever from his brief discussion of busing, one in which parents use proper
created. It provided an opportunity that is the only equation I found English and pronunciation, patiently
for all children to learn how critical sensible. answer questions, read to children,
education is. Education is not merely 5. I, along with many others, fmd give them educational games, and
learning the three R's. Education is it extremely suspicious that after so on." Could you please supply
also learning how important edu- centuries of de facto affirmative me with the survey that presented
cation is. Why don't we let all kids these findings. I would be inter-
learn that lesson? ested in reading it. I am especially
(e) When it comes time to leave We educated whites anxious to read the author's defini-
college and get a job, boy is it nice tion of "proper English and pro-
to be able to rely on the school seem to think the nunciation."
alumni network, or maybe call upon
Dad to help find you something;
desirefor education I assume from the paragraph that
you would prefer non-native En-
nothing like that old-boy network. is a genetic urge. glish speakers be disallowed from
With so few African-Americans in teaching at a Headstart school? Of-
positions of power making hiring People, it is learned ten times non-native speakers still
decisions, if you are an African-
American looking for work in white
desire. Tbe public speak with a bit of an accent long
after they have moved here. Your
corporate America, you better hope school system is the racist policy will surely disappoint
you have an outstanding resume, all those Spanish-speaking children
or fmd a sympathetic and egalitar- best thing this coun- here in southern California who will
ian employer. (Thirty-one percent
of Americans hold negative atti-
try ever created. It have fewer teachers who look simi-
lar to them to look up to because of
tudes towards blacks.) Professor provided an oppor- your stringent English law.
Christenson, certainly this nation 7. I was totally stunned that you
needs to re-evaluate its attitude tunity for all chil- should ignore discussion of all the
toward family, but I think the plight
of the poor deserves a more com-
dren to learn how structural constraints over which
minorities have little or no control
plex and nuanced consideration critical education is. and that impact their lives in such
a disproportionate manner (see advice to each of them be to "be- What a disappointing essay this
number 3 above), but make way have responsibly. . . . and daily turned out to be. This essay could
for this most inane criticism: the manifest the characteristics of hard have been an opportunity for Spec-
underclass need to buy "fewer soft work"? Disavow me, please, of my trum to really engage readers on
drinks and junk foods" and eat impression that you think civil- some truly basic ideas such as
more "cooked rather than pack- disobedience is not a middle-class equality, racism, difference, and
aged cereals [and] more vegetables value, but rather something radi- oppression. Instead, you have
and less meat." Unbelievable! cals do, or African-Americans do, played right into the misconcep-
8. I really appreciate the para- or gays do, or communists do, or tions that many decent people have
graph on apprenticeships vs. job- anti-semitics do. without revealing the ignorance
training. The problem being, of 11. So we shall teach children and interested assumptions that
course, you make it sound as if that that "sex outside of marriage is an underlie those beliefs. In addition,
is the only option that should be evil just as great as theft and per- Spectrnmand Christenson have also
given to members of the underclass. jury and wanton violence"? Could sullied the good name ofliberalism
Are you so pessimistic, Prof. you supply your estimate of the jail by claiming to speak from that
Christenson, about the dreams, as- time adulterers should be sentenced position, yet all the while discount-
pirations, and goals of both inner- to? If you are going to equate it ing the experiences of racial and
city kids and good-hearted U.S. with wanton violence then, what ethnic, sexual, and economic
citizens that you have given up on do you think, five to 10 with the minorities. Suffering as many mi-
the possibility of a college educa- possibility of parole after three? nority social groups do from con-
tion being extended to all? 12. One thing I was really disap- temporary marginalization, power-
9. I am glad I read further into pointed you didn't cover was per- lessness, violence, exploitation, and
the essay because I found one sonal responsibility. Throughout cultural imperialism, coupled with
thing we could agree upon. I the essay you criticized govern- a legacy of discrimination that is
commend you for warning about ment programs for doing less than much worse, I guess I would have
"the erosion of moral values" in expected or planned. I was hoping hoped for a much more insightful
this nation. The decline really that, at last, maybe, someone was social and cultural critique that
bothers me, too. I am truly fright- going to make a call for personal might have gone a long way to-
ened about where this nation is and individual involvement in fight- ward disabusing readers of some
headed. It really bothers me that: ing social problems. It just seemed of the reasons they support and
the respect citizens give to our a logical move. I actually was wait- sustain the status quo.
Constitution has waned to the ing for it at the very end of the
point that we refuse to protect the essay, but it never came. Dean A. Harris
civil rights of gays and lesbians;
our sensitivity as fellow human
beings to individual desires, am-
bitions, and dreams has waned so
Christenson Responds
much that this nation is having to hile a fully adequate re- with a feasible solution for bring-
weather a backlash that is strug-
gling to return women back to the
W sponse would take up more
space than I think Spectrnm wants
ing those jobs back. Exhortations
won't work, since entrepreneurs
home ('where they belong'); gov- to print, here are a few counter- find the inner-city environment an
ernment programs, PAC's, and not- comments. unattractive location compared to
for-profit groups are doing the I concentrated on inner-city pov- green and spacious suburbs, with
charity work to aid the needy that erty because my article was written lower taxes, lower insurance rates,
we as individuals should be do- shortly after the Los Angeles riots, less crime and a more-reliable la-
ing-what happened to our sense and those riots involved minorities, bor supply. Business men and
of service? espedally African-Americans (who, women aren't in business for social
10. By the end of the essay I am alas, often vandalized the shops of uplift purposes.
still not sure what your response Koreans, another minority. That Spend more money on predomi-
would be to such civil (if you will) should be viewed with tolerance nantly black schools? A hundred
disobedients as Martin Luther King, and understanding?). studies have found almost no cor-
Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and maybe Inner cities have indeed been relation between the amount of per
even Jefferson, Madison, and Wash- depleted of manufacturing and pupil spending and educational
ington. Would your pre-revolution other jobs but no one had come up achievement. And because of af-
OcToBER 1994 63
SPECTRUM--------------------------------------------------------------------------
fluent suburban school districts can vinced we send too many kids to children who get involved in crime,
spend as much as they wish on college now. Almost 60 percent of drugs, poor educational performance,
education, no practicable method American youth get some college and often lifelong poverty. Think of
exists for equalizing school spend- training, and I doubt if more than the parental distress all this brings,
ing even if that were more helpful 15 percent are capable of doing too. Add these up and the reader can
than it is. On inner-city kids' nega- college work that is rigorous and see why I think fornication is an evil
tive attitudes toward education, I demanding. Europeans agree. What far greater than modem society likes
suggest the reader consult Time we do need, for blacks and whites to acknowledge. It is sad that even
magazine, March 16, 1992. (A score alike, are more good apprentice- churches are unwilling to give this
of other writers have made the ship and vocational-training pro- sin the attention it so richly deserves.
same point.) grams. I didn't emphasize personal re-
If Mr. Harris wants to believe in Among blacks who currently sponsibility enough in meeting
affirmative action, he has a lot of get a college degree, it's worth poverty problems? I plead guilty.
company among people whose noting that black women earn more That should have been stressed
judgment I often respect. But in than comparable white women In more.
this area we'll just have to agree to general, there is probably as much In sum, it would have been ever
disagree. Equal rights for all used reverse discrimination where black so easy (and politically correct) to
to be considered a liberal stance; college grads are concerned as write a piece about the L.A riots
now it is often seen as reactionary. there is negative discrimination. and inner-city distress by blaming
Call it what you will, I'm for it. Many corporations are eager to it all on white racism. But despite
Am I opposed to special em- demonstrate how non-racist they its historical contribution to black
ployee treatment for new mothers? are. Some blacks know this and troubles, white America cannot
Oh, come on, now. almost all whites are aware of it. solve inner-city problems today.
Has Mr. Harris noted that it is If Mr. Harris wants to champion Especially the plight of the lower-
blacks today who increasingly re- special legislation to protect gays class black family. Looking back
ject integration? Even where schools and lesbians, that is his privilege. I will get us nowhere; what can be
are numerically integrated, blacks shall not join in, for reasons too done today is our real concern and
tend to associate with one another lengthy to develop here. that was the thrust of my article.
and even ostracize blacks who as- As not a few African-American
sociate with white students. ow would I view courageous leaders recognize, the primary bur-
Yes, Headstart should teach good
pronunciation and good grammar,
H blacks who fought for equal
rights in decades past? It's not an
den for dealing with these problems
must fall on blacks themselves. White
because African-American children academic question; I strongly cham- America can and should help (as I
and others who obtain this asset pioned them when they were fight- specifically pointed out in my ar-
clearly have an economic and so- ing the good fight. But they fought ticle) but blacks must do most of the
cial edge over those who don't. for equality, not affirmative action. job. The "victim mentality" so preva-
Why doom minority children to a As for civil disobedience being lent in America today is not a pre-
lifelong handicap? Ideological blind- unseemly for middle-class people, scription for progress. It's not what
ers shouldn't obscure reality. during the Vietnam War I declined produced the growing black middle
Low-income people often to pay a portion of my income tax class which, happily, respects tradi-
struggle with the grocery bill. The as a protest against the war. The tional American values and takes
proposals I made were sensible IRS seized the unpaid portion from advantage of its opportunities.
ones-and ones that my wife and I my bank account, which it had a I didn't pretend to write as a
practice. Saving $25 to $30 a week right to do. spokesman for liberals; I expressod
on grocery bills isn't peanuts, if Yes, fornication causes more suf- the opinion one liberal arrived at
your paycheck is slim. Especially if fering in America than theft and after three decades of studying the
it improves your health. No apolo- perjury and random violence com- subject of poverty. For those who
gies for making the point. bined. Fornication takes a terrible still think I must have written a
We should strive for a college toll among African-Americans, es- truly dreadful piece, I invite a re-
education for all? Most institutions pecially, because they have such reading of that piece. I'll take my
of higher learning bend over back- high rates of illegitimacy, single- chances on your verdict.
ward to attract black students and parent families, school dropouts fol-
keep them on campus. But after 38 lowing pregnancies, subsequent Reo M. Christenson
years of college teaching, I'm con- entry onto welfare rolls plus their West Carrollton, Ohio
The Spectrum Advisory Council is a group of committed Spectrum supporters who provide financial stability as well as
business and editorial advice to ensure the continuation of the journal's open discussion of significant issues.
For more information, contact
Nal}cy Bailey
,c/o Association of Adventist Forums
Box 5330
Takoma Park, MD 20912
(301) 270-0423