Stephen Ferguson

Stephen Ferguson aims, with this book, to demonstrate that the doctrines and practices of Seventh-day Adventism (SDA, Adventism) are the product of the best interpretation of the Bible compared to all other Christian denominations. While Ferguson writes well, there are some problems with his approach.

Firstly, it must be remembered that the book is apologetic. Ferguson wants to demonstrate that the criticisms made of the SDA denomination by others are unfounded. To do that, he uses many strategies. For example, he finds one or two Christian denominations that agree with some of the Adventist interpretations or views, implying that Adventism is not as far away from orthodox Christianity as some think.

Secondly, Ferguson minimises the distinctiveness of some of Adventism’s doctrines. For example, one Adventist belief is that, in 1844, a divine judgment of all people on earth, starting with the dead and moving to the living, began where people’s commitment to God is evaluated. This belief is derived from proof texts found in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Ferguson avoids honestly describing this doctrine, its history, and the controversial nature of it within the denomination itself (there have been large numbers of sackings of those who disagreed with it). What does he do instead? He says that most other denominations believe in a pre-Advent judgment (i.e., the belief that, just before Jesus Christ returns, there is a judgment that results in some people being saved and taken to heaven and some not) and that this means that Adventism is very similar to other denominations! This is disingenuous. Anyone who has done any reading or study into Adventist doctrine knows for a fact that there is no similarity between Adventism’s doctrine of a pre-Advent judgment and what the majority of Christians believe.

Ferguson does a similar snow job on Seventh-day Adventism’s prophetess, Ellen G White. He makes it sound as though Adventists consider her in much the same way as charismatic and Pentecostal denominations think about prophecy and, therefore, Adventism is little different from other Christian denominations. However, Ellen White, whom Ferguson repeatedly calls an early pioneer of the SDA denominations to normalise her role, has had, and continues to have, a profound effect on Adventists, particularly those who are more conservative. While Adventists repeatedly state that the writings of Ellen White are not equivalent to the Bible, in practice, for many Adventists, she is authoritative and determinative of what they think. She is continuously quoted by many Adventists, including in sermons and denominational publications so that, for anyone listening to or reading these, it is difficult to believe that her words are considered any different to Scripture.

I don’t have the time to discuss every problem with this book. Hopefully the few above will give you an idea of the caution needed in reading Ferguson’s book. He writes in what seems, on the surface, to be a scholarly style with lost of citations of literature and quotations from well-known theologians. However, it isn’t a work of scholarship. Ferguson only quotes what suits him, and he is intellectually unfair because he doesn’t discuss alternative positions on the issues he writes about. For example, he doesn’t address the various perspectives on covenant theology when arguing for Saturday Sabbath-keeping or the relationship of the Mosaic Law to Christians.

To repeat what I said at the beginning, this book is written by an apologist who wants to put Adventism in the best possible light. While Ferguson admits there are problems with Adventism like any other denomination, there is the constant refrain throughout the book that Adventism has and is misunderstood and that the majority of criticisms made of the sect are not accurate. However, for anyone who has any history of membership in the denomination (as I have), it will be evident that this book is not an entirely objective account.

There are various “streams” in Adventism ranging from the more “fundamentalist” up to the more “liberal”. Ferguson’s version of Adventism appears to me to be quite conservative, but he tries very hard to make it sound rational, justifiable, and contemporary. This book will be of most interest, I think, to those who have some association with Adventism. I can’t imagine this being of general interest. Whoever does read it needs to keep in mind that it is written by someone who has a great deal invested in making Adventism look orthodox. There are many aspects of Adventism that are orthodox regarding Christian doctrine, and Ferguson does correctly point those out. However, the line between those and the elements of Adventism that are not orthodox is very blurred in this book to the extent that, ultimately, it is not always an accurate guide to what Adventism is really like.

And, by the way, there is an irritating misspelling of the word canon (the books of the Bible considered sacred by Christians) as cannon (a large, heavy piece of artillery). I wonder if that is a Freudian slip or just a book in need of a careful proofread. ;-)… (més)