Best Adventist Historical Resources Over the Past Four Years

If you are playing "catch up" here are some of the best resources that have come out over the past four years that you should be aware of:

1. David L. Rowe, God's Strange Work: William Miller and the End of the World. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008. I've already published reviews of this book, including one on Amazon.com, that since the Millerite revival (1849) and a later pseuo-biography (1895) no one has really written a comprehensive biography of William Miller. This one is done by Dr. Rowe from Middle Tennessee State University where he teaches history. He is not an adherent of any of the surviving Advent traditions, but he presents a compelling while at the same time sympathetic scholarly treatment of the founder of Adventism.
2. Woodrow W. Whidden, E. J. Waggoner: From the Physician of Good News to Agent of Division. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2008. This is the first comprehensive treatment of E. J. Waggoner's theology in addition to examining his life. As such it makes huge strides over David P. McMahon's 1979 biography. Whidden, who taught for many years at Andrews University who recently retired after teaching at the Adventist International Institute for Advanced Studies in the Phillippines and who recently retired did a great service to the Adventist church by tracing not only Waggoner's unique contributions as the Lord's messenger but also the seeds of heretical thought that lead eventually to his departure from Adventism. What this book accomplishes is to apply some consistency about what makes the "1888 message" unique versus theological appendages that have been harmful to Adventism ever since. Interestingly, over the past four years, we have also seen the passing of Robert J. Wieland and Donald K. Short who popularized their own adapatation of Waggoner's teachings (with significant deviations) during the 1980s and the obscuring of the 1888 Message Study Committee.
3. Douglas Morgan, Lewis C. Sheafe: Apostle to Black America. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2010. Sheafe rose to prominence within the Seventh-day Adventist Church during the turn of the early 20th-century and like a comet was a bright luminary helping to give energy into the fledgling Adventist Black work. His rise to leadership highlights racial tensions and struggles within the Adventist Church that unfortunately were not resolved and ultimately led to his departure from the denomination. This meticulously researched and well-written biography deserves to be read by everyone interested in Adventist history. Interestingly, both this and Whidden's biography mark two new biographical works both on people who left the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As the "Adventist Biography Series" continues under the leadership of Dr. George R. Knight I am not sure what this says about Adventist historiography--perhaps that there is a real interest in exploring the boundaries of Adventism?
4. Jud Lake, Ellen White Under Fire: Identifying the Mistakes of Her Critics. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press, 2010. As a pastor one of the places where I have seen our church suffer is through huge hits from anti-Ellen White web sites that proliferate across the internet. I've personally had both church members and friends (especially ones I went to school with) who have simply written the Adventist church off from these negative web sites. Jud Lake does a service to the Seventh-day Adventist Church by distilling and summarizing the chief arguments against White and then provides one of the best defenes of her prophetic life and ministry I have seen yet to date. Two observations come readily to mind: first of all that the vast majority of criticisms are not new but originated with D. M. Canright in the 1890s up through 1919, and second, the lionshare of the problem with why we are suffering has to do with the fact that as a church we have not done a very good job at teaching what is inspiration and a healthy view of Ellen White. As a result many of these so called critics on the web are former Adventists who had a toxic view of Ellen White (i.e. inerrancy) and who flipped to the opposite extreme by rejected her altogether instead of recognizing that a "balanced" picture of Ellen White could have prevented much of the damage done through these negative web sites.
5. Gilbert M. Valentine, The Prophet and the Presidents: Ellen White's Influence on the Leadership of the Early Seventh-day Adventist Church. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press, 2011. First of all I want to note that this is the first of several books to become available from an Adventist publishing house on Amazon.com and through the e-reader, Kindle. This is a major step forward! Valentine is his usual controversial self in this new volume covering the late 1880s up through the end of Ellen White's life (1915). Valentine's book reads like an investigative reporter who spent a significant amount of time going through primary resources to mine a very tumultuous time in Adventist history that few have ventured to write about. In particular he highlights the careers of O. A. Olsen (1888-1897), G. A. Irwin (1897-1901), and A. G. Daniells (1901-1903, transition; 1903-1913 although his career continued to 1922). At its core is the question of Ellen White's inspiration, which he addresses in the final chapter (265-303), where he suggests a model of inspiration that includes "consideration of the personal experience--the emotions, health, concerns, and specific life circumstances--of the writer of the counsel at the same time she wrote" (306).
6. Merlin D. Burt, Adventist Pioneer Places: New York & New England. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2011. This is a much needed volume that updates Paul Gordon and James R. Nix's In the Footsteps of the Pioneers (White Estate, 1990) with GPS coordinates, color pictures, and detailed research. Burt is an Adventist archeologist who has discovered a treasure trove of information from various archives, documents in courthouses, and other newly discovered historical resources that give much needed detail and color into the stories of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This is both a fun read as well as a way to learn about the latest "archeological" evidence that has been discovered in recent years.