For PDF click here: A Watershed for Seventh-day Adventism Ronald Lawson Over 2,500 delegates from 184 countries participated in the­ quinquennial General Conference Session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church ­in Indianapolis, July 5-14, 1990. The session was marked by impassioned debates and dramatic, unexpected election results. By its close it was­ clear that Adventism had…… Continue reading A Watershed for Seventh-day Adventism

For PDF click here: 2000 GC Session Ronald Lawson, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus Queens College The City University of New York This paper was written at the request of Christian Century Seventh-day Adventists met for their quinquennial General Conference Session in Toronto from June 29-July 8, 2000. Two thousand delegates representing Adventists in 205 countries in…… Continue reading Seventh-Day Adventist Pluralism: Celebration and Challenge at The General Conference Session in 2000

For PDF Click here: At the Eye of the Storm: Conflict Concerning the Ordination of Women Within the International Seventh-day Adventist Church Introduction Early Seventh-day Adventism was highly sectarian, with high tension­ marking its relations with its surrounding sociocultural environment (Stark ­and Bainbridge 1985:23). This tension meant that it was less constrained by ­some prevailing…… Continue reading At the Eye of the Storm: Conflict Concerning the Ordination of Women Within the International Seventh-day Adventist Church

Ronald Lawson Department of Urban Studies Queens College, CUNY A paper read at the meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, Pittsburgh, August 1992 For PDF Click here: AIDS and International Seventh-day Adventism. The Problem Summers were a time of fear during the polio crisis of the ­1950s–but Seventh-day Adventists were at the forefront of…… Continue reading “IS THIS OUR CONCERN?” HIV/AIDS and International Seventh-day Adventism.

Ronald Lawson, Ph.D.  Queens College, CUNY This paper was presented at the meeting of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco on August 22, 1998. Updated, October 14, 2007 For PDF Click Here: The Troubled Career of an Ex-Gay Healer Abstract This paper examines the goals, dynamics, and effectiveness of “ex-gay ministries” and their supporters through…… Continue reading The Troubled Career of an “Ex-Gay” Healer: Colin Cook, Seventh-day Adventists, and the Christian Right.

Ronald Lawson For PDF Click Here: The Caring, Welcoming Church? Introduction In 1983, Charles Bradford, the president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, invented a new slogan, which was disseminated widely: Adventism styled itself “The Caring Church.”1 Some twenty years later, the newly reelected president of the world church, Jan Paulsen, preaching on…… Continue reading The Caring, Welcoming Church? The Seventh-day Adventist Church and its Homosexual Members

Ronald Lawson For PDF click here: The Seventh-day Adventist Church and Polygamous Converts A paper presented at the meeting of The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Albuquerque, N.M., November 1994 Polygamy has been the most complex, perplexing and persistent marriage-related problem encountered by churches in their missionary enterprise. The most intense and resistant…… Continue reading CHURCH-SPONSORED INJUSTICE: The Seventh-day Adventist Church and Polygamous Converts