Recent EGW Conference

[Gregory Matthews]

Recently, a Conference was held at Newbold in England, that focused on Ellen White and her place in Adventist life.  The following link takes you to a comprehensive report on that Conference.  In style, it meanders a bit, taking one from personal reflections to individual reports that differed in content from other reports.  Participants came from Europe, the U.S., and included several from the General Conference.  It is apparent to me that the Conference was not united in a cohesive approach to EGW.  In short, this Conference illustrates the diversity that exists within Adventism and suggests that further examination of the role of EGW in Adventist life is warranted.

https://spectrummagazine.org/news/questions-remain-after-ellen-white-conference-at-newbold/

The following is one interesting example from the Conference:

White’s words should not be normative Bible commentary, Barna said, and this strategy is “practically unworkable and simply dangerous.” He said that understanding any written text will involve the reader’s input. Barna asserted the “White as Bible commentary” approach that originated with A. T. Jones does injustice to White and to responsible hermeneutics and leads readers to hear echoes of their own thoughts.

From the third talk of the cluster, “Issues in Ellen White,” I quickly understood that Radiša Antić vigorously advocates sola scriptura, an assertion that led to a spirited back and forth during the question period when he suggested pastors should only preach from the Bible and Santač fervently advocated for more use of White’s writings by pastors in an Adventist context.