Chapter Ten - Ellen White Criticisms and D. M. Canright

Jud Lake

In the history of Seventh-day Adventism, no author has affirmed and condemned the prophetic ministry of Ellen White with greater intensity than Dudley Marvin Canright. Considered one of Mrs. White’s able defenders, he eventually left Adventism and became her most outspoken critic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Any serious discussion on Ellen White issues will not be complete without reference to his experience and writings. This chapter will therefore give a brief biographical sketch of Canright’s experience, show his significance to contemporary Ellen White criticisms, and then suggest several caveats in telling his story. ^{1See, e.g., D. M. Canright, “Reply,” Review and Herald Extra, April 14, 1874, 3, where Canright responded to Miles Grant’s charges against Ellen White (on Grant, see Jud Lake, Ellen White Under Fire: Identifying the Mistakes of Her Critics [Nampa, ID: Pacific Press®, 2010], 40, 41); the first two sections are based on chapters 3 and 4 in Lake with some added insights.} UEGW 133.1