On August 8 2013, the Pew Research Center hosted a round-table on “Religion Trends in the US,” featuring sociologists Claude Fischer of the University of California at Berkeley and Michael Hout of New York University; Gallup’s Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport; and the Pew Research Center’s Greg Smith, the Director of US Religion Surveys for the Religion & Public Life…… Continue reading Examining Trends (Especially Decline) in Religious Groups
Category: Trajectory of Adventism
Reassessing the Size of Mormons, Adventists and Witnesses: Using Census Data to Test the Reliability of Membership Data and Accounting for the Disparate Patterns Found
This article compares the growth of three religious groups, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Seventh-day Adventists, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. All originated in America during the nineteenth century and have since globalized. It begins by using their official membership data to contrast their aggregate growth over time. It then questions the reliability of…… Continue reading Reassessing the Size of Mormons, Adventists and Witnesses: Using Census Data to Test the Reliability of Membership Data and Accounting for the Disparate Patterns Found
The Seventh-Day Adventist Church as a Global Organization
The Scope of Seventh-day Adventism Unlike most Protestant denominations, which focused their missions in certain countries and later spun off independent national churches there, Seventh-day Adventists felt impelled to take their particular message to the whole world and to build a unified global church. A paper read at the meeting of the Religious Research Association,…… Continue reading The Seventh-Day Adventist Church as a Global Organization
The Two Faces of Adventism: Roots, Unresolved Tensions, Growing Conflict
Roots 1. Although early Adventism, seeing itself as God’s “Remnant”, rejected Protestantism, EGW plagiarized their books. From this emerged two faces within her writings: e.g., Early Writings and The Great Controversy represent the sectarian EGW and Desire of Ages and Steps To Christ represent the mainstream. While she seems to have felt no great pressure…… Continue reading The Two Faces of Adventism: Roots, Unresolved Tensions, Growing Conflict
Sources of the Current Crisis in the World Church
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
Ronald L. Lawson Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Queens College, CUNY 