written matters: Paul’s letters likely were written before the Gospels, and John last of all. We’re still embarrassingly sloppy with Daniel and Revelation, and I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard verses from Matthew 24 quoted to say precisely what they don’t say. But we do teach Hebrew and Greek to pastors, and most should know by now that there are lots of alternate readings in the numerous copies. So, we have something to work with when it comes to the Bible. But what of White’s books, articles, and letters? Do we have
a consistent hermeneutic for reading them? Many of us are still prooſtexting Ellen White statements like crazy, using sentences and phrases without a hint of context. What would a hermeneutic for her writings look like?
in part from other writers. It is time we credited them. Denis Fortin has suggested that Marian Davies, White’s secretary, did so much of the work on Steps to Christ that she might be listed as a co-author—or at least an editorial assistant.7 And why not? Tis is all vitally important information. We should no longer let any quote from Ellen White stand without context.
The one matter in which we could do with more Ellen White is, ironically, the truth our denomination has most resisted.
It probably would look quite a lot like what scholars do with
the Bible. In Bible study, we instinctively know that a text from the Gospels is different from one from an epistle and has a very different setting than a passage from the Old Testament. But “Ellen White says that…” usually lacks context. We usually don’t specify if the quoted passage is from a testimony, a letter, or a composed book (such as the Conflict of the Ages series), if it was written early or late in her life, or to what situation she might have been responding. Yet, we know so much about this author! We know when
White wrote and what events were going on in the church at the time. Sometimes we even know to whom she was talking and who was influencing her. Several scholars, who have tracked the evolution of White’s theology as she advanced from youth to old age, have argued that she matured into a more gracious theology—which is in itself an important context. We know the books that she read. We have identified hundreds, even thousands, of pages that were liſted whole or
Ellen the Feminist Karl Barth once complained that Protestants had made the Bible into a “paper pope,”8 and that is even more true in the case of Adventists and Ellen White. Her writings have been used too oſten in our churches, schools, publications, and homes—sometimes badly and abusively employed. Despite all of our appreciation for her as an Adventist pioneer, White should no longer dictate who we are. We can quote her as Methodists quote John Wesley or as Lutherans quote Martin Luther. I agree with Eric Anderson when he said, “I think that her leadership is stronger, more believable and longer lasting if we tell the truth.” Te one matter in which we could do with more Ellen White
is, ironically, the truth our denomination has most resisted. For decades we had, right in our midst, a protofeminist, a woman who gained authority over 23 million of us by the force of her personality. Why are we still refusing to let women lead a church she founded? And “founded” is not too strong a word. If Reclaiming the Prophet is correct in judging that she made the church what it is today, we should be the most feminist church in Protestantism! Church leaders have a choice. Tey can ’fess up and show us
a more honest view of Ellen White, which would help us settle into a strong middle ground of appreciation balanced by caution. Or, they can let the church become divided into those who love her too much and those who reject her entirely—and sometimes reject the church, too.
1 Ronald D. Graybill, “Ellen White and Mirror of the Soul,” Adventist Today, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Winter 2025), p. 27. 2 Online at
https://whiteestate.org/about/issues1/ref-lib/statement-regarding- reclaiming-the-prophet-an-honest-defense-of-ellen-whites-giſt/. 3 Eric Anderson, Ed., Reclaiming the Prophet, (2025), p. 10. 4 William James, Te Varieties of Religious Experience (1902, 1987), p. 26. 5 Online at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJGmlOqI0mw. 6 Ibid. 7 Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, 125th anniversary edition, with historical introduction and notes by Denis Fortin (2017), pp. 17-18. 8 Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics Study Edition 5: Te Doctrine of the Word of God, Vol 1.2, Sections 19-21 (2010), pp. 71-73 [525-526].
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