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Adventist Forum Chapters Host Zoom Events This Sabbath

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On Saturday, September 25 at 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), the Asheville Adventist Forum hosts church historian Michael W. Campbell, PhD, for a presentation and discussion of the topic: “The 1919 Bible Conference and the Rise of Adventist Fundamentalism."

The presentation will briefly introduce listeners to the importance of the 1919 Bible Conference. This pivotal meeting was a key turning point in our Adventist past in the struggle for how to interpret, and determine the authority of, Ellen White's writings. It contributed to increased theological polarization between so-called "progressives" versus "traditionalists." The rise of this pivotal meeting occurred against the backdrop of the Fundamentalist/Modernist controversy, with Adventists becoming increasingly infatuated with their own variety of Adventist Fundamentalism. This presentation will conclude by highlighting some of the ways that Fundamentalism impacted Adventism from 1919 up through the 1920s, along with implications for the Adventist Church today.

Please note that this is a Zoom meeting. If you would like to join the Ashville Forum chapter for this meeting, please contact Connie Hayward (conniehayward@gmail.com), who will send you what you need to enter the meeting. You are also invited to ask to be a regular attender, and she will then also place you on the mailing list.

Michael W. Campbell, PhD, is professor of systematic theology and religious history at Southwestern Adventist University where he has taught the past three years. He is an ordained Seventh-day Adventist minister and served for five and a half years as a missionary, training pastors at the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies in the Philippines. He has published numerous popular and peer-reviewed journal articles about theology and religious history. He served as assistant editor of The Ellen G. White Encyclopedia (Review and Herald, 2014) and editor of The Journal of Asia Adventist Seminary (2015-2018). He is co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Seventh-day Adventism. His most recent book is the Pocket Dictionary for Understanding Adventism (Pacific Press, 2020). Some of his other recent books include 1919: The Untold Story of Adventism’s Struggle with Fundamentalism (2019), The Ellen White Pocket Dictionary (2018), and he is currently under contract to write a textbook on Adventist history with Eerdmans. He co-hosts the Sabbath School Rescue and Adventist Pilgrimage podcasts. He is married to Heidi, who is a PhD student in early modern history at Baylor University. They have two children, Emma and David. Together they enjoy camping, gardening, bird watching, and Pathfinders.


On Saturday, September 25 at 3:00 p.m. (Pacific Time), the Los Angeles Adventist Forum hosts historical theologian Denis Fortin, PhD, for a presentation on “Church Organization in Times of Conflict.”

Dr. Fortin will present the major models of church governance and the fact that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is predominantly episcopal (centralized) and does not really need lay participation. In part, this explains the conflict we had a few years ago with compliance committees and why/how this conflict could have arisen.

Please note that this is a Zoom meeting. If you would like to join the Los Angeles Forum chapter for this meeting, please contact Alexander Carpenter (alexander@spectrummagazine.org).

Fortin is professor of historical theology at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary of Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Since joining the Seminary faculty in 1994, Fortin has served also as director of the Master of Divinity program (1999-2001), associate dean (2000-2004), chair of the Department of Theology and Christian Philosophy (2006), and dean (2006-2013).

Born in Quebec City, Canada, Fortin received a bachelor of arts degree in pastoral ministry from Canadian Union College (now Burman University), Alberta, in 1982. He earned a master of divinity from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary of Andrews University in 1986 and a doctor of theology (PhD) from the Université Laval, Quebec, in 1995. His dissertation studied the developments of three Adventist denominations in Canada in the nineteenth century. Prior to coming to Andrews University, he served as a pastor in the Quebec Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He currently also serves as teaching pastor of the One Place Fellowship on the campus of Andrews University.

Fortin has authored many publications on Adventist history and theology. His latest publications include a Bible study guide, Oneness in Christ, on unity in the Church (2018) and a companion volume One in Christ: Biblical Concepts for a Doctrine of Church Unity (Pacific Press, 2018). His annotated 125th anniversary edition of the Ellen G. White classic, Steps to Christ (Andrews University Press, 2017), received widespread support and praise.  He is also co-editor of The Ellen G. White Encyclopedia (Review and Herald, 2014) and in 2004 published Adventism in Quebec: The Dynamics of Rural Church Growth, 1830-1910 (Andrews University Press). Forthcoming publications include a biography of Adventist church leader George I. Butler (Pacific Press).

Fortin is married to Kristine Knutson (MA in Educational Psychology). They have three children: Kimberly in Port Byron, New York; Mark in Buchanan, Michigan; and Erika, who floats around the world on a cruise ship.  In the spring 2019, Denis and Kris walked the French pilgrimage road, the Way of St. James (800 km/500 miles), to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

 


Alexander Carpenter is executive editor elect of Spectrum. 

Image credit: Andrews University / Michael W. Campbell / Spectrum

 

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