Adventism's Earliest Generation of Adventist Historians

The recent play at Pacific Union College, "Red Books" helps to illustrate the struggle and tension between Adventist historians who try to describe the past accurately and the tension not to gloss over anything. Historians are by their very training critical of sources, and so it is only natural that this can at times create tension. This is illustrated very clearly in "Red Books" although after viewing it I do wonder if the creators of the play aren't coming down unnecessarily hard on church leaders and that what I would consider a more balanced approach to Ellen White (a.k.a. someone like George R. Knight) is not represented more strongly. The purpose of this particular post is to highlight an even earlier generation of historians who predate the catastrophe of the 1970s. They illustrate the awakening of historical consciousness that even predates Everett Dick's dissertation on Millerism that he completed in 1930.

So who were these historians and when did this historical consciousness within Adventism occurred? Surprisingly, in the course of my dissertation research, I discovered that they occurred during the late 1910s. Two individuals in particular, E. F. Albertsworth and C. L. Benson gave presentations on teaching history and historical method at the 1919 Bible Conference.

Clement L. Benson (1882-1934) graduated from Union College in 1905. By 1906 he was serving as the secretary of the "young people's work" in the Central Union. He was the featured speaker at the 1910 denominational educational convention, which marked him as a rising star in educational circles. During the 1917-1918 school year he became acting president of Emmanuel Missionary College when O. J. Graf, his best friend, former college classmate, and brother-in-law became ill. Some time during that school year he was also appointed assistant secretary of the General Conference Education Department. By 1920 Benson had returned to Union College where he continued to teach history. It was while he was here that he earned an M.A. (1921) in history from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His thesis was titled “The French Revolution and the Church Property: The First Phase.” At the 1923 educational conference he organized the section on teaching history. In his later years he appears to have separated from denominational employment. He may be the same Benson who was teaching history in later years at the University of Arkansas.

The second individual, Edwin Franklin Albertsworth (1892-1980), was at the time of the 1919 Bible Conference a history teacher at Washington Missionary College. He received an M.A. (1916) and Ph.D. (1918) from George Washington University. Soon after the 1919 Bible Conference he was attacked by a group of students for being too liberal. His employment was terminated. He spent the remainder of his career teaching first in Colorado and later at the University of Santa Clara in California. Albertsworth published a number of articles and books on constitutional law and labor relations. He is particularly significant as the first Seventh-day Adventist to earn a doctoral degree in history. He is also the third Seventh-day Adventist to earn a Ph.D. after Mahlon Ellsworth Olsen (who earned a PhD from the University of Michigan in 1909) and Benjamin G. Wilkinson (who earned a PhD from George Washington one year earlier [1908]).

I salute these two early Adventist historians who personify to me in a very tangible way the awakening of historical consciousness that moved beyond apologetics in our church.

Comments

[dissertation buy]

Thanks a lot for a bunch of good tips. I look forward to reading more on the topic in the future. Keep up the good work! This blog is going to be great resource. Love reading it

[Dissertation Writing]

I love your blog so much, and there are just some differences with others'. Hope there will be more wonderful things in your blog. Happy every day!

[Karl Wagner]

Just read this blog, a mere four and half years later, but I found it very intersting. I can understand what happened to Albertsworth considering what would later happen to Ron Numbers (right or wrong). My interest in Adventist history is to open up the core of Adventism. The sources are taken at face value without making anybody the "bad guy", but I will say I read Knight a whole differently than the work done by Loughborugh. Still trying to find some good Adventist work on history between Loughborough (1892) and Olsen (1926). Good stuff.