by Christopher C. Thompson  |  13 August 2022  |   I spent the first part of this week at a conference with Adventist pastors who are committed to community engagement and social justice work. It was an invigorating time to be surrounded by like-minded leaders who are not satisfied with broken models and a semblance of […]

by David Geelan  |  11 August 2022  | My last essay on the Adventist Today website was about ‘cancel culture’, free speech and whether all views deserve a platform everywhere. I argued that some views, while they shouldn’t be suppressed by government action, also should not be given a megaphone. This time, let’s go beyond […]

by Amy Nordhues  |  9 August 2022  |   Abuse of power describes the way a therapist or religious leader wields authority to manipulate and control those under their care or supervision. In particular: what happens when a vulnerable woman is drawn into a relationship with her pastor or therapist? Power imbalance An affair happens when […]

by Richard W. Coffen  |  6 August 2022  |   One day during the 1980s I visited my friend Robert W. Olson in the White Estate office at the General Conference Headquarters. During our conversation, he confided that because of the evidence in the vault, he’d had to adjust his understanding of Ellen White’s authority. He […]

by Richard W. Coffen  |  4 August 2022  | During my approximately nine decades of membership in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, I’ve heard Ellen White referred to as an “inspired commentator” who wrote “inspired commentaries.”  After a careful search I haven’t been able to find one instance in which she described herself in such terms. […]

by Rich Hannon  |  2 August 2022  | Adventism has, in its basic DNA, a deep fascination with having The Truth. That is, a correct understanding of what God is revealing to mankind. Historically the church has evangelized from this posture, comparing other denominations’ theology to our doctrinal distillations and finding the competition wanting. This […]

by Sarah Kay Jones  |  29 July 2022  | In the last few months, I’ve seen and heard countless comments about abortion rights, from both sides. But almost no one is talking about religious liberty in relation to this issue.  I was raised in the Adventist school system which was then strongly opposed to government […]

by Lawrence Downing  |  28 July 2022  |   Would you be surprised to learn that Adventist evangelists no longer have a lock on the “We’re in the end times” mantra?   A variation on that theme is heard in the community of those who are fascinated by the prospects of venturing beyond Earth’s atmosphere, there to […]

by Nerida Bates  |  26 July 2022  |   20 students accepted the call to be baptized. The president told me that I would do the baptism—but I would have to tell the church board so they would not be surprised when Sabbath came that I was baptizing. When I told the board members I would […]

by Rebecca Brothers  |  22 July 2022  | I love throwing parties. Pumpkin-carving parties in the fall, holiday brunches in December, birthday parties, dinner parties. All the parties. That was one of the hardest parts of lockdown: I had no reason to map out elaborate menus and try fun new recipes. My dad once said […]

by S.M. Chen  |  21 July 2022  | I count it a privilege when I am asked to tend my 11 year-old namesake grandson. His is an inquiring mind, and I await what percolates just below the surface with an admixture of anticipation and delight. When I was last asked to spend time with him, […]

by Loren Seibold  |  19 July 2022  | The James Webb Space Telescope is one of the big scientific miracles of our time, one that I’m glad I’ve gotten to see while I’m still alive. This is a pinnacle of human scientific achievement: it can see galaxies (according to NASA’s description) 46 billion light years […]