Spectrum Blog

Happy Birthday and Thank You, Ellen!

25 November 2008 | Fritz Guy

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We’re really glad you were born, because if it hadn’t been for you—if you hadn’t been what you were—we wouldn’t be what we are.

You had a special role in our community of faith, but in many ways you were a lot like us. You belonged to your time and place. You had a birth family, and after you were married you had your own family—for better and for worse (I suspect that being the wife of James Springer White wasn’t a bowl of cherries).

You knew what some of your recent admirers seem to have forgotten—that you weren’t omniscient or infallible, and didn’t have the last word on every subject.

But you taught us a lot—about the purpose of prayer (“Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him”);[1] about the nature of God (“God is love” begins and ends your five-volume description of the “Conflict of the Ages”);[2] about faith and evidence (“God never asks us to believe without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith”);[3] about personal integrity (“The greatest want of the world” is for people “who will stand for the right though the heavens fall”);[4] and about the continuing need to learn (“There is no excuse for anyone in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of scripture are without an error”)[5].

So, on this 181st anniversary of your arrival in our world on November 26, 1827, we want to say, “Happy Birthday, Ellen — and thank you for being you.

[1] Steps to Christ (1892), p. 93.
[2] Patriarchs and Prophets (1890), p. 33; The Great Controversy (1911), p. 678.
[3] Steps to Christ, p. 105.
[4] Education (1903), p. 57.
[5] “Christ Our Hope,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Dec. 20, 1892, p. 785.

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Slide Lecture: Ellen White - Wife, Mother

25 November 2008 | Alexander Carpenter

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Here is another excellent slide lecture by Jeff Crocombe, Professor of History, Helderberg College, South Africa.

| View | Upload your own

Jeff blogs at Hobbes' Place.

Sojo's Humorous Economic H'rumphs

24 November 2008 | Alexander Carpenter

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Ed Spivey Jr. reads his December H'rumphs on the financial crises and Adam Smith from Sojourners Magazine.

p.s. At this last weekend's Adventist Society for Religious Studies meetings in Boston I heard that La Sierra University is hosting Jim Wallis for a campus talk. I see on their website that Jim Wallis will be delivering the Landa Lecture during Alumni weekend, on Sabbath, February 28.

Adventist Women and the Earth: Undergrad and Grad Student Call for Papers

24 November 2008 | Trisha Famisaran

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"Adventist Women and the Earth: A Response to the Ecofeminism"

Conference Date: April 24-26, 2009
Location: La Sierra University, Riverside, California
Submissions Due: Friday, February 13, 2009

Undergraduate and Graduate Student Call for Papers: "Adventist Women and the Earth: A Response to the Ecofeminism" is the theme of the 2nd Annual Young Women & the Word Conference, hosted by the Women's Resource Center and co-sponsored by La Sierra University.

This conference aims to address our responsibility to the earth/environment and to explore connections with gender justice. Ecofeminism brings together ecology, deep ecology, and feminism. Feminism seeks equality of women with men, a transformation of social relations of the ownership of the means of production and reproduction, and changing cultural patterns of violence and male domination.

Ecofeminist theologians, such as Rosemary Radford Ruether, specifically seek to assess cultural and social roots that promote destructive relations between men and women, between ruling and subjugated human communities, and the destruction of the rest of the biotic community, of which humans are an interdependent part. Ecofeminist theologians affirm that we can draw critically from the legacy of the Christian and Western cultural heritage to find usable ideas that might nourish a healed relation to each other and to the earth. The conference planners hope to lead out and show how young Adventist women care about the abuse of the earth and women; and challenge others not only to recognize this problem but to actively create and practice solutions that respect the dignity and value of God's creations.

The main topic will be addressed utilizing discussions on leadership, practical solutions, dialogue on the parallels between our ethic toward the environment and women, and so forth. Visit www.adventistwomenearth.wordpress.com for more information.

Featuring Rosemary Radford Ruether, John B. Cobb, Jr., Jared Wright, Maritza Duran, Ginger Hanks-Harwood, Somer Penington, and others.

Undergraduate and graduate student submissions should be presentable in 15 minutes and aim to connect religion, ecology, and gender issues. Please submit a paper proposal of no more than 250 words to be considered for participation. All paper proposals should be sent to the organizer of the conference, Trisha Famisaran, no later than February 13, 2009. Submissions should be sent electronically in Word format to adventistwomenearth@gmail.com and include the following:

1. Paper proposal of 250 words.
2. A separate page indicating your full name, paper title, institutional affiliation, degree program and major, class standing, telephone number, e-mail address and mailing address.

The Spectrum Blog Gets Analyzed

23 November 2008 | Alexander Carpenter

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I saw this over at Megan McArdle's blog at the Atlantic. She says that it didn't get her right and I'm dubious about these things, but I ran the Spectrum site and blog through the online Meyers-Briggs blog Typealizer. They both came out the same.

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

Independent of mind and problem-solving, adventure-loving and highly skilled - that probably does describe most of the folks who write (and read) Spectrum. Although I'm pretty dubious about the efficacy (since the conditions change results) of these sorts of tests (and let's make that completely dubious about the Typealyzer), thinking about folks as multifaceted types (which is true) rather than just Left or Right provides a lot more room for conversation and understanding.

I can't really remember what my type is, but it would be interesting to see if all the contributors (and readers) have these types in common.

Do you know your Meyers-Briggs type?

Blonde Redhead - Equus

23 November 2008 | DJ ؟pekdrum

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Thanksgiving at the GC - Cartoon

22 November 2008 | Adventist Caricaturist

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The Adventist News Network reports the church is tightening its belt:

Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders announced financial restraints and cutbacks to deal with the current economic situation, ranging from delaying pay increases and budgeted increases in appropriations to reducing travel budgets and relocating executive meetings. Also, a hiring freeze is in effect for the church's General Conference, one of several entities at the church's headquarters building near Washington, D.C.

[Pictured above from left to right: GC vice presidents Ella Simmons, Armando Miranda, Mark Finley, GC president Jan Paulsen, and vice presidents Pardon Mwansa and Eugene Hsu]

A Worship Service to Remember

20 November 2008 | Bonnie Dwyer

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St. Paul’s Chapel, one of the first buildings to be designated an official landmark by the city of New York, stands on the Columbia University campus at the top of a hill. Walking through Harlem for the first time to get there on a November Sabbath, I was enchanted by the time we reached the 1904 structure of stone and brick built in the Renaissance Revival style, it is as impressive on the inside as the out. (But it is not to be confused with the St. Paul’s Chapel vintage 1766 that stands near the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan.)

It was at the Columbia University Chapel that Adventist graduate students gathered to worship in 1968, and where the Adventist Forum chapter they formed came into being. So it was only fitting for them to return to this site for a worship service on the 40th anniversary of the chapter’s founding. As Judy Rittenhouse, one of the original members, noted in her remembrances of times past, location, location, location made the services special.

A songfest started the service. Then there was a liturgy with Scriptural readings from Judges, 1 Thessalonians, and Matthew. In his homily Dr. Les Wright drew on these Scriptures to talk about God and His Plan for the future.

Soaring musical numbers made the anniversary event a worship service to remember. Baritone Ralph Candelaria’s gentle rendition of “Give Me Jesus” brought tears to my eyes. Soprano Faith Esham, who planned the service, sang “Bist de bei mir” by JS Bach, her glorious operatic voice soaring through the vaulted space. Glazunov’s violin “Meditation” played by Lynelle Smith and Liszt’s piano “Paysage” played by Russell Chin were punctuated by original poetry by Gina Rae Foster and a reading by Jan Anderson. Don Shortslef on the piano accompanied himself singing an original composition “It Could Have Been Me.” Then it was time for chapter history. After Ron Lawson shared stories from earlier days, one member reminded him of the time limitations in the chapel, and the music awaiting. Tenor Ronoldo Appleton performed a heart-rending version of “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.” To close the service all of the soloists plus more musicians from the audience formed a chorus to sing Brahms “How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place.”

Lovely indeed was the place and the time together. Conversations, usually the centerpiece of Forum meetings, this time were reserved for the steps outside the chapel as people from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York greeted each other.
This Forum chapter has made worship a centerpiece of their time together. Visiting with them on this special occasion demonstrated the beauty and power of the worship experience.

Bonnie Dwyer is editor of Spectrum Magazine

For more on the history of the NY Adventist Forum click http://www.mnyaforum.org/ and select the 'History' link on the left-hand-side of the page.