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
Category: Culture
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
Beasts, Rules, Grace, and Relevance: What is the Message of Multicultural Adventism?
These days we hear a lot of talk and analysis of “message” , especially of the stances of politicians and the content of advertisements. Message is a word long-used by Adventists. But let us begin by asking ourselves: What was the core of the message of Jesus? Read Matthew 28: 19, 20. Teach what? What…… Continue reading Beasts, Rules, Grace, and Relevance: What is the Message of Multicultural Adventism?
The Impact of the Influx of Immigrants from the Developing World on Adventism in Canada
The center of Christianity moved slowly but surely during the twentieth century from the Developed World to the Developing World, so that the majority of Christians today are nonwhite. As the patterns of international migration have shifted in recent decades, bringing increasing numbers of Christian immigrants from the Developing World to parts of the Developed…… Continue reading The Impact of the Influx of Immigrants from the Developing World on Adventism in Canada
The Metro New York Adventist Forum: Celebrating its First 50 years, 1968-2018
Adventists, led by Ellen White, early turned their attention to education, and began to found primary schools, academies, and “colleges”. Their main purposes were to indoctrinate and evangelize the students, to protect the children of church members from threatening ideas and information, to provide spiritual and practical education as well as academic skills, and to…… Continue reading The Metro New York Adventist Forum: Celebrating its First 50 years, 1968-2018
