"From Controversy to Crisis: An Updated Assessment of Seventh-day Adventism"

Aftermath of the Conference

The decision to reclassify SDA as a heterodox denomination, rather than a non-Christian cult, was very controversial. Barnhouse and Martin received considerable criticism within evangelical circles. In fact, after they revealed their findings in several editions of Eternity magazine, 25 percent of the magazine's subscribers withdrew their subscriptions!

This climate of opinion began to change, however, with the release of the Adventist publication Questions on Doctrine (hereafter QOD).[9] This volume was produced directly from the question and answer sessions with the evangelicals, with both sides contributing to the precise wording of the questions. The expressed purpose of this book was to clarify Adventist doctrine by showing the areas of common belief and distinct differences with evangelicalism. The Adventist scholars who put QOD together emphasized the fact that this book was not a new statement of faith, but rather an explanation of the major aspects of SDA belief.

To insure that this volume was truly representative of SDA theology, and not the opinion of a select few, the unpublished manuscript was sent out to 250 Adventist leaders for review. Upon receiving only minor criticisms, the 720-page manuscript was accepted by a General Conference committee and published by Review and Herald Publishing Association in 1957. While this volume in recent years has become a source of controversy in Adventism, it is interesting to note that R.R. Figuhr later stated that he considered QOD to be the most meaningful accomplishment of his presidency.[10]

Several years later, in 1960, Martin's book The Truth about Seventh-day Adventism was also published and received wide acceptance. Many who had initially criticized the Barnhouse/Martin evaluation began to take a new look at SDA because of the extensive documentation revealed in Martin's book. (Though this book has long been out of print, Martin's evaluation of SDA has remained available through his later book The Kingdom of the Cults.) Adventist leaders also stated publicly that Martin's book accurately represented Adventist theology. One present-day Adventist scholar made this statement: "Martin's book is the work of an honest investigator and a competent theologian. He understood and reported accurately what Adventists told him they believed, and he cited their proofs exhaustively." [11] Thus, according to the leadership of SDA, both QOD and The Truth about Seventh-day Adventism accurately represented their theology in the late 1950s, though, as we shall see, acceptance of that theology in SDA was far from universal.

Much has changed, however, since QOD, and so we now turn our attention to those events which have shaped Adventism's present-day crisis.