Much has been written already about the crisis the Adventist Church has been experiencing since the North American Division voted overwhelmingly in early November 2018 to reject the controversial decision that was voted by the Annual Council of the General Conference in the previous month. This article explores demographic, regional, and cultural factors that have…… Continue reading Sources of the Current Crisis in the World Church
Category: Culture
Adventists and Governments: A Preference for Dictators?
During November I will be sharing a series of video presentations, rather than papers. (Please note: the video link does not show up in the preview image on the main page.) This one was presented on 26 October 2019 at the Roy Branson Legacy Sabbath School class in Loma Linda, California.
Adventism in Animist Societies
During November I will be sharing a series of video presentations, rather than papers. (Please note: the video does not show up in the preview image on the main page. Click the title above to see the video.) This one was presented on 19 October 2019 at the Roy Branson Legacy Sabbath School class in…… Continue reading Adventism in Animist Societies
The Sabbath in a Round World
In Biblical times the Hebrews saw the world as flat. Indeed, this view persisted through New Testament times also, and far beyond chronologically. Thus, the Sabbath commandment was given in this context. There was no difficulty in the areas which provided the context of the Scriptures in knowing which day of the week was the…… Continue reading The Sabbath in a Round World
Man Created God in his Image
My topic has been stimulated by the fact that just as the TOSC Commission brought Adventist biblical scholars and Church administrators from all over the world to study women’s ordination in advance of the 2015 GC Session (only to see their recommendations ignored in the debate and decision-making process because Elder Ted Wilson, the GC…… Continue reading Man Created God in his Image
Toward A Sociological Understanding of the Evolution of Adventism: What Had Shaped the Adventism We Knew in the 1960s? How Has It Changed Since? Where Is It Going?
In 1962, my final “honours” year at the University of Queensland, we Adventist students there formed QUSDAS, the Queensland University Seventh-day Adventist Society. We became extremely close as a group, meeting two Friday evenings per month, debating questions concerning our faith and our studies eagerly and persistently, and attending—and in 1964 hosting—an annual national convention…… Continue reading Toward A Sociological Understanding of the Evolution of Adventism: What Had Shaped the Adventism We Knew in the 1960s? How Has It Changed Since? Where Is It Going?
Dilemmas in Religious Research: When a Stigmatized Researcher Researches a Conservative Church
When I was introduced to church-sect theory while studying undergraduate sociology of religion in Australia, I immediately realized that it gave me a new understanding of Seventh-day Adventism, the faith in which I had been raised. I wrote a paper exploring the evolution of Adventism in these terms, and determined that this would be the…… Continue reading Dilemmas in Religious Research: When a Stigmatized Researcher Researches a Conservative Church
