I love the opportunity to fellowship with other Adventists who are engaged in the field of history. This year's meeting was particularly rich in presentations on Adventist history along with a variety of other topics. I was especially impressed with the quantity of papers engaged in race relations in our denominational history. Papers that I was especially impressed by included: Jeff Crocombe (Helderberg College), race relations in South Africa; Doug Morgan (Columbia Union College), the life of Lewis Sheafe; Seneca Vaught (Niagara University), Adventists and the Civil Rights Movement; and Cliff Jones (Andrews University), the life of J. K. Humphrey (reflecting research from his recent book).
About half of the sessions concerned topics related to Adventist history. ASDAH is more than just Adventist history (as much as like Adventist history myself) so I want to highlights some of the other papers that showcase other areas of interest. There was also a session exploring historians in administration that featured Eric Anderson, Malcolm Russell, and Donald McAdams. Another session on "Tolerance and Intolerance" featured papers by Lisa Clark Diller, Brian Strayer, and Rachel Byrd. I hope that during future ASDAH meetings that more historians who might be Adventist will develop sessions similar to these ones that highlight areas outside of denominational history.
On Friday evening there was a special session on Questions on Doctrine. Paul McGraw and Julius Nam, who have dissertations that overlap somewhat, both gave papers exploring the behind the scenes interactions (Nam) and the impact on evangelicals (McGraw). There was a stimulating discussion time together, and considerable interest was expressed in the upcoming QOD Conference that is being planned at Andrews University this coming October.
On Sabbath morning perhaps the most prolific Adventist historian, Carlos Schwantes (University of Missouri at St. Louis) gave a provocative paper on "The Notion of Time in Adventist History." A historian of culture, Schwantes probed how Adventist identity seems to be far more concerned with time than place. A good example is how time conscious Adventists are whether it is the beginning and ending of the Sabbath to the 2300-day prophecy. Afterward, Gary Land (Andrews University) posed whether a Newtonian sense of time versus the now-accepted theory of relativity had any implications for our understanding of the universe and any implications this might have for Adventist theology. Later that afternoon this was a stimulating time for discussion and fellowship followed by a tour of the historic campus of Oakwood College courtesy of their president, Delbert Baker.
Sunday morning ASDAH had its business meeting. Joan Francis (Columbia Union College) was elected president and Doug Morgan (Columbia Union College) as secretary. They will host the next ASDAH meeting at Columbia Union College in two or three years (at their discretion). Brian Strayer (Andrews University) had been asked to continue another term editor of the ASDAH Newsletter. For others who may be out there who might be interested in receiving the newsletter please contact the Andrews University history department to have your name added to the mailing list. There are no dues charged to be a member of this loose nit organization for Adventist professionals who are interested in history and related fields regardless of the level at which one may teach or do research. I'm already looking forward to the next opportunity for fellowship in 2009 or 2010.
Last but not least, three historian/bloggers were able to meet up together as a group for the first time (Progressiveadventism, Hobbes and myself). The ability to network and to fellowship with people who think similarly to myself made ASDAH very previous for me.
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