Search Results

This chapter looks at the origin and the early developmental experiences of the Seventh-day Adventists (SDA) Church. The Seventh-day Adventists initialized the ‘Shepherd's Rod’ movement or the ‘the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists’ that further brought about the Branch Davidians. In spite of some institutional distance, both the Davidians and the Branch Davidians viewed themselves as reformers of the SDA Church, and their missionary activity exclusively concentrated on the members of the SDA Church. This chapter and the next few chapters attempt to provide an account of the life and the teachings of five foremost leaders of the Branch Davidians. This chapter concentrates on Victor T. Houteff, his career, and how he advanced to the role of leader and prophet of the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists.

This chapter considers the relationship between evangelicalism and three of the most prominent American challenges to the traditional Christian canon: Shakerism, Mormonism, and Seventh-day Adventism. It reflects on how the idea of new revelations flourished in the interstices of a collision between vibrant spirituality and biblical doubt. It compares and contrasts these movements and their relation to the canon.

This book examines the participation of Seventh-day Adventists in the civil rights movement in the United States and the extent to which the denomination’s theology influenced its members’ response to sociopolitical activism. It analyzes why some Adventists became involved in sociopolitical issues, while others did not. It looks at the factors that motivated Adventist activists to participate in civil rights politics, from community awareness or community-oriented consciousness to liberationist interpretations of the Bible, the example of early Adventist pioneers, and intellectual and theological reasons. Part 1 of the book explores the development of nonparticipatory politics in Adventism and how Southern violence, at the turn of the twentieth century, affected Adventist views on sociopolitical activity. Part 2 discusses the emergence of Afro-Adventist activism and the contribution of black Adventists such as Irene Morgan and Matthew Strachan to sociopolitical reform in the 1940s. It also highlights the sociopolitical activism of black ministers from the South Central Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, including Earl Moore, Charles E. Dudley Sr., and Charles Joseph.

This chapter examines ideological and theological concepts that became more prominent among Seventh-day Adventists after its founders passed away. More specifically, it considers how these concepts were used by some white Adventist leaders, in the 1950s and 1960s, to prevent church members from becoming involved in politics. It looks at the roots of these ideas and how they were used by Adventist leaders to oppose the denomination’s participation in the civil rights movement. It also discusses the legendary “curse of Ham” (also known as Noah’s curse or the curse of Canaan), which was used by some white Adventists to justify discrimination in the church. Furthermore, it analyzes intellectual and theological justifications for social activism, as well as liberationist interpretations of the Bible, and concludes by illustrating how community-oriented consciousness or community awareness motivated black Adventists to engage in sociopolitical activism.

This chapter reviews population-based research on the association between religion and physical health among children, adolescents, and adults in the context of religious practice. Research on mortality rates for specific religious groups (Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists, Amish) compared with standard populations and survey-based studies of individuals are summarized graphically. Both types of studies show a strong pattern of lower mortality rates for members of strict religious groups compared with the general population and for religiously observant members of the population compared with the nonobservant. Mechanisms of social support, social control, and social capital are described as well as the role of selection. The life course approach, critical to the social determinants perspective, is particularly relevant in that the family’s religious practices may constitute some of the earliest influences on child health and, further, that religious practices are often timed to vulnerable turning points in the life course.

This chapter examines the transition of natural foods advocacy from a religiously inspired commitment to vegetarianism, asceticism, and a rejection of a commodified food system to a movement that made the acquisition of consumer goods central to its purpose and identity. It discusses early nineteenth century proponents of natural foods, including Sylvester Graham and prominent transcendentalists, and explains how efforts to adopt a natural foods way of life paved the way for commercial endeavors. Following small-scale activities by various entrepreneurs, truly systematic efforts to commercialize natural foods, now named health food, took place in the late nineteenth century at a Seventh-day Adventist sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan run by John Harvey Kellogg. The Battle Creek enterprises were important both for developing engineered health food products and for innovating marketing techniques. These efforts also shifted the center of the natural foods movement away from commercially disinterested groups and towards for-profit enterprises.

Despite societal prejudice against women, this chapter notes that Ellen White called for Seventh-day Adventist women to be involved in a variety of religious work, including ministry, teaching, and health care. Although she did not directly challenge the prevailing “cult of domesticity” and was ambiguous regarding ordination, she argued that women should be paid for their work. She did not recommend women’s suffrage but supported the temperance movement, including involvement in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Her most explicit rejection of gender roles came with her support of “dress reform,” which she connected with health and safety, but this cause was largely unsuccessful among Adventists. While she sometimes employed the language of domesticity, she envisioned a role for women beyond the home. The church she helped found is one of the largest indigenous American Christian denominations.