Author Archives: wolferk

Michigan Adventist History Tour – April 20, 2013

Posted on by

This tour will be an all day tour that visits many Adventist history sites in central and western Michigan.

Register: Sign-up sheet is at the Dean’s office of the Seminary.

Title: Michigan Adventist History Tour

When: Sabbath, April 20, one day tour

Departs: 8 am from the Howard Performing Arts Center parking lot

Returns: 6:45 pm

Where: Tour goes to Grand Ledge, Greenville, Monterey, and Allegan (in that order)

Food: Participants needs to plan to bring their own lunch. We will eat lunch on the bus. There will be no facilities for heating food.

Attire: Dress code is casual. We will be having a short worship service on the bus, but there will be no formal church service.

Who: Tour is for Seminary students only. Children are not allowed on the tour.

Cost: Tour fee of $5 is due at the time of signing up for the tour. See Steve Nash for scholarship information.

Participants are welcome to use cameras and sound recording equipment.

Michigan Adventist History Tour, sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Michigan Adventist History Tour, sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

2013 Ellen White Issues Symposium

Posted on by

We extend a general invitation to pastors in the Lake Union, religion and theology professors at Adventist colleges, scholars of Ellen White and Adventist studies, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary students, and other interested persons to attend our ninth annual Ellen G. White Issues Symposium. It will be held on Monday, March 25, 2013, from 9:00 a.m. until 4:45 p.m., in the chapel of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary on the campus of Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Our speakers and topics this year are Jiri Moskala, James R. Nix, Theodore Levterov and Alberto Timm. A devotional talk will be given by Benjamin Schoun. For information on attending the Ellen White Issues Symposium please call the Center for Adventist Research at (269) 471-3209. We look forward to seeing you on the last Monday in March. Though this will be an academic symposium it is our intention that it also provide spiritual encouragement and inspiration for those who attend.

9:00 AM Benjamin Schoun DevotionalFacilitator: Merlin D. Burt
9:30 AM James R. Nix “Sickly, Slobbering, Idiots” and the Story of Albert E. HorsleyResponse: Merlin D. BurtFacilitator: Nicholas Miller
10:30 AM Break
10:45 AM Theodore Levterov The Development of the Seventh-day Adventist Understanding of Ellen G. White’s Prophetic Gift, 1844-1889Response: David WilliamsFacilitator: Jonathan Burt
12:00 PM Lunch
1:30 PM Alberto Timm Development of Contemporary Issues Related to Ellen G. WhiteResponse: Samuel PagánFacilitator: Denis Kaiser
2:30 PM Break
2:45 PM Jiří Moskala Can A Prophet Err?Response: Michael YounkerFacilitator: Denis Fortin
3:45 PM Current Issues DiscussionFacilitator: Merlin D. Burt

Download
Symposium program

Symposium Purpose

The purpose of this symposium is to break new ground in understanding Ellen White and issues relating to her life, ministry, and prophetic gift that have current importance.  The structure of the symposium will have some elements of academic formality.  Papers will be presented with a prepared response followed by brief responses from the presenters.  The papers presented will later be published in a journal that will be available at a reasonable cost.  At the symposium we will also make available the published presentations from the 2005 through the 2012 symposiums.  At the meeting there will be an opportunity to submit questions relating to Ellen White issues.  We will attempt to discuss as many of these question as time will allow in the afternoon.

Symposium Presenters

Ben Schoun, D.Min, is general vice president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Prior to this appointment, Schoun served as the president of Adventist World Radio for nine years. In addition, he previously held the position of president of the Atlantic Union Conference and the Northern New England Conference. Schoun spent 13 years at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews University, as a professor, program director, and associate dean. His specialty is in church leadership, administration, and conflict management.
James R. Nix, M.Div., MLS, is director of the Ellen G. White Estate at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He is author ofnumerous articles and several books, including The Spirit of Sacrifice and Commitment and Early Advent Singing.
Theodore Levterov, Ph.D., is director of the Ellen G. White Estate Branch Office at Loma Linda University and Assistant Professor of Religion and Theological Studies. He has previously worked as a pastor in his native country of Bulgaria and for the Texas Conference.
Alberto Timm, Ph.D., is a specialist in the development of SDA doctrines and theology. Born in a German-Pomeranian colony in the south of Brazil, Timm worked as a district pastor (1982-1985); director of the Brazilian Ellen G. White-SDA Research Center (1986-2007); Dean of the Graduate School of Theology, Sao Paulo Adventist University College (2006-2007); and Rector of the multi-campus Latin-American Adventist Theological Seminary, and Spirit of Prophecy Coordinator for the South American Division (2007-2011). He is currently an Associate Director of the Ellen G. White Estate, Inc., Silver Spring, Maryland.
Jiří Moskala, Th.D., Ph.D, is professor of Old Testament exegesis and theology at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He joined the faculty in 1999. Prior to coming to Andrews, Moskala served in various capacities (ordained pastor, administrator, teacher, and principal) in the Czech Republic. He is a member of several theological societies and has authored or edited a number of articles and books in the Czech and English languages. In addition, he has participated in several archaeological expeditions at Tell Jalul, Jordan.


Getting to Andrews

We are located in rural southwestern Michigan and if you are within 300 miles of Andrews, the cheapest way to get here is by car.  If you are coming from further away or would just prefer taking the bus,  Greyhound serves the nearby town of Benton Harbor, just 12 miles from the campus. You can also take the train, the closest station with an Amtrak service is Niles, 15 minutes from campus.

If you are thinking about flying to Andrews, the closest airport is South Bend Regional Airport. Many students, friends and visitors of Andrews also fly into the Chicago O’Hare or Midway airport and then take the Coach USA bus service to nearby South Bend, Indiana.

 

 

Driving Directions

From the North and West From the East From the South
Take I-94 to exit 28.Take US 31 south approximately 11 miles to Berrien Springs.Turn left at J.N. Andrews Blvd. Take the Indiana Toll Road (I80/90) to the South Bend west exit.Take US 31 north approximately 15 miles to Berrien Springs.Take exit 15A; turn right at the stop sign.Go about half a mile, then turn left at J.N. Andrews Blvd. Take US 31 north to Berrien Springs, located about 15 miles north of the Indiana border.Take exit 15A; turn right at the stop sign.Go about half a mile, then turn left at J.N. Andrews Blvd.

 

16 mm motion picture film reel projector.

Emmanuel Missionary College 16 mm film transferred to Digital Format

Video

During July 2012, the Center for Adventist Research had the opportunity to transfer one of the 16 mm films from our collection to a digital format. This was a 16 mm film from when Andrews University was still known as Emmanuel Missionary College

You can view clips from the film below.

[jwplayer config=”center-for-adventist-research-video” playlistid=”256″]

Martin Doblemeier, producer/director of the film The Adventists, has begun a project on Adventist education. As part of this project he contacted our office looking for film footage of early Adventist education, and during our search we found a 16 mm film reel with clips of Emmanuel Missionary College, the earliest of which we estimate to be from the 1920s.

The film was transferred from film to computer hard disk by ColorLabs in the Washington, DC, area. The process is called Telecine. The film reels were hand delivered to the ColorLabs office by our colleagues at the White Estate main office in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The film appears to be a collection of smaller clips brought together and transferred from smaller reels. It is silent. The film is very fragile and has been spliced in several places.

The first part of the film footage contains film clips in color. There are scenes of the 1941 Graduation, 1940 Founder’s Day, the construction of Nethery Hall, activities in the Campus Bindery, the farm, nursing and science classes, and women reading to small children.

The next part contains footage that is in black and white, estimated to be from the 1920s. These are the clips featured on the website reference above. These clips start with a view of an orchard, the farm, chickens, tractors, cows, plowing activities, and walking through the fields. At this point the film broke.

After the point where the film broke there are scenes featuring the College Press, and shows people sorting papers, cutting and trimming books, and operating printing presses. Next are shown several women ironing. Next are a group of people around the sundial that is still found on campus near Buller and Harrigan Halls.

Other scenes show individuals displaying wooden folding beach-type chairs outside a building, and an ironing board, which we assumed were examples of products made by College Wood Products.
At the end of the film clips were scenes of the College Dairy van delivering milk and various views of campus buildings.

Dan Woolf speaks his appreciation for the work done on the Ellen White Periodical Resource Collection.

Ellen White Periodical Resource Collection Dedication

Posted on by

On Friday, November 9, 2012, 10 – 11 a.m. the Center for Adventist Research celebrated the publication of the remainder of the Ellen G. White periodicals. This event was an opportunity to express our thanks to Daniel Woolf for his donation of a book scanner and funding for scanning the remaining English language periodicals articles by Ellen G. White. His generous donation allowed us to complete this ambitious task, which will lead to the publication of Volumes 3 & 4 of the “Ellen G. White Periodical Resource Collection”.

This publication has fulfilled a long wished for dream held by Tim Poirier, Vice-Director of the White Estate. When he last worked on this project 23 years ago, he put his work on the shelf with the hope that he would once again we able to pull the materials out and send them off for publication. Though unable to attend the celebration event in person he sent a letter that expressed his appreciation. He writes in his letter:  “I was asked to compile these volumes toward the end of the 1980s, but with the release of the Ellen White CD-ROM in 1990, which included nearly all these articles, the publishing house decided to abandon the plan of issuing the rest of the articles in printed volumes.  Since 1990 I’ve had the daily reminder of this unfinished project sitting on the bookshelf in my office, with the table of contents for volumes three and four archived in my overhead cabinet—hoping for a day when there would be sufficient interest and resources to complete the series.”

Juliette Johnson, Digitization Manager at the Center for Adventist Research, spent many hours working on the final computer file to submit for publication. Speaking of her work, Julie says when digitizing these materials and making corrections,  and cleaning up the text, she can’t help but read the material. She has grown in her appreciation for the material and the work we are doing here at the Center to increase access for researchers around the world. Also putting in many hours towards completing this project student workers employed by the Center. Samuel Pagán did most of the scanning, and  Joseph Abandon-Sam helped with some of the cleanup and with typing up the index and table of contents.  Lubasi Ngonda was involved as well in a variety of tasks.

Dr. Niels-Erik Andreasen, President of Andrews University, speaks a few words of appreciation to Dan Woolf for his donation that made the completion of the Ellen White Periodical Resource Collection possible.

Dr. Niels-Erik Andreasen, President of Andrews University, speaks a few words of appreciation to Dan Woolf for his donation that made the completion of the Ellen White Periodical Resource Collection possible.

The Center is grateful to all of our friends for what they have done over the years.  It has made a real difference in acquiring and making available important Adventist resources.  This has helped the Seventh-day Adventist Church strengthen our sense of identity and mission. To our friends, we say thank you for your continued interest in and support of the work of the Center for Adventist Research.

Each year the Center for Adventist Research continues to promote and preserve our Adventist heritage. Through digitization projects, Adventist history tours, assistance to researchers, and symposiums many lives are changed for the better.

In particular the paper digitization project has enjoyed great success in the past year. All the foreign language Ellen White titles held in our collection have been scanned. We have made good progress on converting our White Document File to digital form. Through the General Conference we purchased new equipment, an Indus BookScanner 9000, that increased the quality and productivity of paper digitization. These materials have been processed and the digital file has been made accessible to the world via the Internet.

The goal of the Center for Adventist Research is to continue to provide historical resources for the Seventh-day Adventist church and world. With the help of donations from supporters such as you we will continue to see improvements in understanding of Adventist identity and purpose.

Thanks again to our friends for your generous support of our efforts to serve our library patron’s research requests originating from all over the world.