Ronald L. Numbers Memorial Service
Ronald L. Numbers’s life will be celebrated on September 2 at 4 p.m. (Pacific Time) at Loma Linda University Church. The service will also be livestreamed at https://www.lluc.org.
Numbers, a leading American scholar in the history of religion and science whose 1976 book Prophetess of Health challenged the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s belief in Ellen G. White’s work, died on July 24. He was 81. A great raconteur who uniquely contributed to the upper echelons of both religion and science historiography, he served as a president of both the American Society of Church History and the History of Science Society.
The memorial will take place in the fellowship hall of the church from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. with a seating capacity of 300 people. Randy Roberts, senior pastor of Loma Linda University Church, will introduce the program and participants. It will include a life sketch and presentations on Numbers’s historiographical contributions to the Adventist Church, Ellen White studies, as well as the history of science, medicine, and religion in general. The program will conclude with a slideshow of photos commemorating his life.
For those wishing to linger afterwards, visit among themselves, and offer informal remarks on their relation to Numbers, there will be a light supper at the church.
Spectrum’s full obituary for Numbers can be found here: https://spectrummagazine.org/news/2023/ronald-numbers-historian-science-and-ellen-white-dies-81.
Image credit: Jeff Miller / University of Wisconsin-Madison
