heard and remembered, and yet, at the same time, also dismissed by many Adventists. Bowen wrote that despite knowing White’s beliefs about the Apocrypha, “I must confess I have paid no attention particularly to anything in the Apocrypha…” Of course, he was not alone in this regard. Many Adventists
regard only select books from the collection, such as 2 Esdras, as inspired.10
Whereas White identified the entire Apocrypha
as the “Word of God” in her September 1849 vision, nearly a decade later, James White and the editors of the Review and Herald declared that due to “the question of the inspiration of these books—the reasons that might be adduced in favor of such an opinion, and the objections that might lie against it, we have never made a subject of particular study, and are not therefore prepared to discuss.”11
In fact, to date scholars have not found
any other Adventist who appears to have embraced White’s early message about binding the entirety of the Apocrypha to the heart. Tat’s what makes Bowen’s memory of her statement so valuable: it shows that a dedicated church worker still remembered it, even at the time of White’s death in 1915. It was an accepted part of her early ministry. Perhaps it’s time that Adventists began to pay closer attention to this fact?
1 Ellen G. White, “Remarks in Vision,” Manuscript 5 (1849). 2 White, “A Copy of E. G. White’s Vision, Which She Had at Oswego, N. Y., January 26, 1850,” Manuscript 4 (1850). 3 Matthew J. Korpman, “Forgotten Scriptures: Allusions to and Quotations of the Apocrypha by Ellen White,” Spes Christiana, Vol. 31, No. 2 (2020), pp. 109-146. 4 Letter from W. C. White to Guy Dail (May 21, 1911). For full discussion of this newly discovered letter by William White, see Matthew Korpman, “Is the Apocrypha Inspired? An Enlightening Letter from Ellen White’s Son,”
AdventistToday.org (July 24, 2024). 5 Letter from T. E. Bowen to W. C. White (June 3, 1915). 6 Letter from W. C. White to T. E. Bowen (June 8, 1915). 7 For explanations about the bracketed corrections provided to the text of the transcript, look for my full textual study of the document, “Satan’s Captives Are Burning the Bible: Did Ellen White Endorse the Apocrypha in 1849?” to be published in 2025 in the journal Spes Christiana. 8 Te Ellen G. White Estate agreed with this assessment. See Roland Karlman’s annotation 15 in Te Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts With Annotations, Vol. 1 (2014), p. 183: “Does it constitute a positive evaluation of the Apocrypha—that it has value but has been ‘despitefully’ treated?” 9 For further evaluation of the importance of the Apocrypha for White’s faith, see Matthew J. Korpman, “William Foy and the Apocrypha: Demonstrating Ellen White’s Early Belief in the Authority of 2 Esdras,” Spectrum, Vol. 51, No. 2
(2023), pp. 12-17. 10
Apocrypha,” Spectrum, Vol. 46, No. 1 (2018), pp. 56-65. 11
Vol. 12, No. 12 (Aug. 5, 1858), p. 96.
See Matthew J. Korpman, “Adventism’s Hidden Book: A Brief History of the Editors, “To Correspondents: Old Style and New,” Review and Herald,
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