Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T17:52:16.290Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Adventism, Apocalyptic, and the Cause of Liberty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Douglas Morgan
Affiliation:
a part-time instructor of history in Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia

Extract

“I have felt like working three times as hard as ever since I came to understand that my Lord was coming back again,” reported revivalist Dwight L. Moody, the most prominent of nineteenth-century premillennialists. Moody's testimony to the motivating power of premillennialism points to the crucial role of that eschatology in conservative Protestantism since the late nineteenth century—a role delineated by several studies within the past twenty-five years. As a comprehensive interpretation of history which gives meaning and pattern to past, present, and future, and a role for the believer in the outworking of the divine program, premillennialism has been a driving force in the fundamentalistand evangelical movements.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Moody's remark is cited by Marty, Marty E. in the course of a discussion of premillennialism as a “competitive philosophy of history” in Modern American Religion: The Irony of It All, 1893–1919 (Chicago, 1986), 1:218232.Google ScholarLeading interpretations of premillennialism in the fundamentalist movement include Marsden, George M., Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism (New York, 1980);Google ScholarSandeen, Ernest R., The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism, 1800–1930 (Chicago, 1970);Google Scholarand Weber, Timothy P., Living in the Shadow of the Second Coming: American Premillennialism 1875–1982 (Grand Rapids, 1983).Google Scholar

2. On the development of Seventh-day Adventism's political stance in the nineteenth century, see Butler, Johathan M., Adventism and the American Experience,” in Gaustad, Edwin Scott, ed., The Rise of Adventism (New York, 1974), pp. 173206.Google ScholarBull, Malcolm and Lockhart, Keith provide an analysis of the relationship between Adventism and American society primarily concerned with the social dynamics shaping the Adventist community in Seeking a Sanctuary: Seventh-day Adventism and the American Dream (San Francisco, 1989);Google Scholarsee also Bull, Malcolm, “The Seventh-day Adventists: Heretics of American Civil Religion,” Sociological Analysis 50 (1989): 177187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. Froom, Le Roy Edwin, in an effort to link Adventism with a long heritage of Christian apocalyptic thought, provided an exhaustive history of “historicism” in The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, 4 vols. (Washington, D.C., 19461954).Google ScholarOn Edwards's, “historicism” see The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Vol. 5, Apocalyptic Writings, edited by Stein, Stephen J. (New York, 1977).Google ScholarSandeen, Ernest treats the historicist school of millenarian thought in the United States and England and its decline in popularity during the second half of the nineteenth century in The Roots of Fundamentalism, pp. 3–60.Google Scholar

4. On the three angels' messages and the early development of Seventh-day Adventist theology, see Damsteegt, P. Gerart, Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message and Mission (Grand Rapids, 1977).Google Scholar

5. Andrews, J. N., “Thoughts on Revelation XIII and XIV,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald (hereafter cited as Review) 1 (05 1851): 8186;Google ScholarLoughborough, J. N., “The Two-Horned Beast of Rev. xiii a Symbol of the United States.” Review 10 (25 June 1857): 5760; (2 July 1857): 65–68; (9 July 1857): 73–76; (16 July 1859): 81.Google Scholar

6. Andrews, , “Thoughts on Revelation XIII and XIV,” pp. 83–84;Google ScholarAndrews, , “The Three Angels of Rev. XIV, 6–12,” Review 6 (3 April 1855): 203 and (20 February and 6 March 1855): 178, 186–187.Google Scholar

7. Smith, Timothy L., Revivalism and Social Reform (Baltimore, 1980), pp. 219224.Google Scholar

8. Loughborough, J. N., “The Two-Horned Beast,” Review 5 (21 March 1854): 66;Google ScholarLoughborough, , “The Two-Horned Beast a Symbol,” Review 10 (16 July 1857): 81.Google Scholar

9. Hatch, Nathan O., The Sacred Cause of Liberty (New Haven, 1977), pp. 1617, 21–25, 145–170.Google Scholar

10. See Smith, Uriah, “Politics,” Review 8 (11 September 1856): 152.Google Scholar

11. Butler, George I., “Exit Senator Blair,” Review 68 (24 February 1891): 121.Google Scholar

12. White, Ellen G., Testimonies for the Church, 9 vols. (Oakland, Calif, 1875[?]–1909), 5:711718.Google Scholar

13. Butler, , “Adventism and the American Experience,” p. 194.Google Scholar

14. White, Ellen G., “Our Duty in the Present and the Coming Crisis,” Review 64 (11 01 1887): 1718.Google Scholar

15. Handy, Robert T., Undermined Establishment: Church-State Relations in America, 1880–1920 (Princeton, 1991), pp. 7, 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16. Cited in Handy, Robert T., A Christian America: Protestant Hopes and Historical Realities (New York, 1991), p. 100.Google Scholar

17. Cited in Pettibone, Dennis, “The Christian Voice—Part II,” Liberty 76 (03-04 1981): 1921.Google Scholar

18. Handy, , Undermined Establishment, pp. 25–27.Google Scholar

19. Smith, Uriah, The United States in the Light of Prophesy (Battle Creek, Mich., 1872).Google Scholar

20. Frankiel, Sandra Sizer comments that Adventist opposition to Sunday laws in California contributed to the creation of “a more open and diverse society”;Google Scholarsee California's Spiritual Frontiers (Berkeley, 1988), pp. 4758.Google ScholarRegarding the prosecution and imprisonment of scores of Adventists in the South during the late nineteenth century, see Blakely, William Addison, ed., American State Papers Bearing on Sunday Legislation (New York, 1911), pp. 733734.Google Scholar

21. American Sentinel 4 (01 1889): 8;Google ScholarButler, George I, “The Circulation of the ‘American Sentinel’ and ‘Marvel of the Nations’ Among the Influential Class,” Review and Herald 64 (15 February 1887): 105.Google Scholar

22. General Conference Bulletin 3 (25 October 1889): 7576.Google ScholarSyme, Eric provides an overview of Adventist involvement in the cause of religious liberty in A History of SDA Church-State Relations in the United States (Mountain View, Calif., 1973)Google Scholar

23. Bowen, A. S., “Petitions Presented to Congress,” Review 66 (23 April 1889): 262.Google Scholar

24. Knight, George R., From 1888 to Apostasy: The Case of A. T. Jones (Washington, D.C., 1987), pp. 7677.Google Scholar

25. Jones, A. T., “Religion and the Public Schools,” Sentinel Library 17 (1 Sept. 1889): 1517.Google Scholar

26. On the implications of Sunday laws and constitutional amendments acknowledging Christians for the rights of Jews and other non-Christians and the Adventist response, see: Smith, Uriah, The Marvel of the Nations. Our Country: Its Past, Present, and Future, and What the Scriptures Say of It (Battle Creek, Mich., 1886), pp. 225228;Google ScholarWaggoner, J. H., From Eden to Eden (Oakland, Calif., 1890), pp. 174175;Google ScholarWaggoner, J. H., “Christian Statesmen and the Jews,” Review 48 (14 Sept. 1876): 92;Google ScholarWaggoner, , “The Republic of Israel,” Sentinel Library 12 (15 June 1889): 56;Google ScholarJones, A. T., “The National Reformed Constitution and the American Hierarchy,” Sentinel Library 1 (1 January 1889): 9. Handy discusses Jewish efforts against Sunday laws paralleling those of Adventists during this period in Undermined Establishment, pp. 70–74, 154–157.Google Scholar

27. On Adventism and health reform, particularly the role of Ellen White, see Numbers, Ronald L., Prophetess of Health: Ellen G. White and the Origins of Seventh-day Adventist Health Reform (Knoxville, Tenn., 1992).Google Scholar

28. White, Ellen G., “Temperance and the License Law,” Review 58 (8 November 1881): 289290.Google Scholar

29. Magan, Percy T., The Peril of the Republic (Chicago, 1899);Google ScholarJones, A. T., “National Apostasy,” Review 75 (23 May 1898): 328;Google ScholarLexington, 1775, and Manila, 1899,” American Sentinel 14 (13 February 1900): 114115.Google Scholar

30. Jones, A. T., “Another Review of Passing Events,” Review 78 (19 March 1901): 184185.Google Scholar

31. Marty, Martin E., Modern American Religion: The None of Conflict, 1919–1941 (Chicago, 1991), 2:2;Google ScholarHandy, , A Christian America, p. 195.Google Scholar

32. Ahlstrom, Sydney E., A Religious History of the American People (New Haven, 1972), pp. 899, 915.Google Scholar

33. What Shall We Do With Sunday?Christian Century 39 (6 January 1921): 1013.Google Scholar

34. See Weber, , Living in the Shadow, pp. 3–42, 121–124.Google Scholar

35. Marsden, , Fundamentalism, pp. 152–170; 207–211.Google Scholar

36. Weber, , Living in the Shadow, pp. 204–244;Google ScholarClouse, Robert G., “The New Christian Right, America, and the Kingdom of God,” Christian Scholar's Review 12 (1983): 316;Google ScholarSpear, James A., “The New Christian Right and Its Parent Company: A Study in Political Contrasts,” in Bromley, David G. and Shupe, Anson, eds., New Christian Politics (Macon, Ga., 1984), pp. 3637;Google ScholarWuthnow, Robert, The Restructuring of American Religion: Society and Faith Since World War II (Princeton, 1988), pp. 241250.Google Scholar

37. Land, Gary, ed., Adventism in America: A History (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1986), pp. 167169;Google ScholarNumbers, Ronald L., The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism (New York, 1992), pp. 73101.Google Scholar

38. Longacre, C. S., “High Time to Awake,” Review 104 (1 September 1927): 35Google Scholar, and “Approaching the World Crisis,” Review 104 (10 November 1927): 810;Google Scholarsee also Wilcox, F. M., “A Personal Letter to the Readers of the ‘Review’,” Review 103 (6 May 1926): 2.Google Scholar

39. Longacre, C. S., “The Religious Liberty Association,” Review 107 (9 June 1930): 151152;Google ScholarThe Sunday Blue Law Situation Before Congress,” Review 105 (16 February 1928): 13;Google ScholarWhat the Religious Liberty Association Has Done,” Liberty 23: 3 (1928): 82.Google Scholar

40. Much Agitated Question Submitted for National Recovery,” Liberty 27:4 (1933): 99.Google Scholar

41. On religion and the anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant attitudes of the 1920s, see Marty, , Modern American Religion, 2:79–102.Google Scholar

42. Wayne, Joseph T., “A Danger Signal,” America 29 (25 Dec. 1920): 226228;Google ScholarSee also Beck, A. J., “A Crusade for Christian Democracy,” America 29 (11 Dec. 1920): 376379.Google Scholar

43. On Adventist efforts against anti-parochial school measures in Oregon, Washington, Michigan, and Indiana, see Longacre, C. S., “Report of the Religious Liberty Department,” Review 103 (9 June 1926): 17;Google Scholarand Lukens, H. A., “Religious Liberty Lives in Indiana,” Review 102 (19 March 1925): 24.Google Scholar

44. Longacre, C. S., “The Menace of Bogus Americanism,” Liberty 17:4 (1922): 117118;Google ScholarLongacre, C. S., “Reasons Why the Proposed Anti-Parochial School Amendment is Wrong,” Liberty 17:4 (1922): 119121.Google Scholar

45. Loewen, M. E., “The Meaning of Current Attempts to Add a Religious Amendment to the Constitution,” Review 140 (31 October 1963): 5.Google Scholar

46. Clouse, , “The New Christian Right,” p. 15.Google Scholar

47. Wilcox, F. M., “Dr. Crafts' ‘Horned Hog,’Review 98 (15 September 1921): 78;Google Scholarsee also Nichol, F. D., “Setting the Stage for Revelation 12, Part VII,” Review 137 (4 April 1940): 10;Google ScholarShuler, J. L., Evangelistic Lectures, vol. 2 (mimeographed, 1941), pp. 21–22.Google Scholar

48. Graybill, Ron, “America the Magic Dragon,” Insight 2 (11 1971): 612.Google Scholar