EGW & Her Visions

[Gregory Matthews]

Ronald D. Graybill,  "The Dream Life of Ellen G. White."  Adventist Today, Winter 2017, pages 30 - 33.

Ronald Graybill is an interesting person.  He was awarded a PhD,  by Johns Hopkins University for his thesis  on American Religious History.  He served for several years as Assistant Secretary of the Ellen G. White Estate.  In the 70s, 80s and 90s Ministry often published articles that he wrote, often about Ellen  White.

Further, while a member of the EGW Estate, he assisted in the production of the 6 book history of the life of EGW.

NOTE:  One short listing of Ministry articles may be found at:   https://www.ministrymagazine.org/authors/graybill-ron

He has taught in the History department of a SDA University and he has been employed by Loma Linda University Medical center.

At the same time it should be stated that regardless of the fact that he served on the White Estate Board, his views on Ellen White were not always viewed positively by denominational administrators.  My point is to simply point out that regardless of what one might think of his views, he has a background of knowledge about her that probably few, if any other, have had. 

The cited article at the top of this post takes an interesting approach to the ministry of EGW that has not likely been developed in the past by others.

*  He points out that James White, the husband of EGW, estimated that during her lifetime EGW had between 100 and 200 visions.

*  He also points out that Arthur White, the grandson, estimated that EGW received some 2,000 revelatory experiences.

 *  From this he suggests that some 90 % of her revelatory experiences were not visions, but were dreams.

*  In this article, Graybill posits four (4) different types of revelatory experiences.

I am not going to further attempt to summarize what Dr. Graybill suggests in his article as I do not believe that such a summation would do it justice.  Rather, I am simply suggesting that students of SDA history and the relation of EGW to the SDA denomination may very well find this article to be of interest.