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Understanding Ellen White - Contents
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    1933-1970

    E. S. Ballenger’s Gathering Call marked the next major public debate re-garding Ellen White’s alleged plagiarism. He included exhibits from Stewart’s letter, additional examples of copying, allegations of “stolen illustrations,” and unfavorable reports from various unnamed individuals on how Ellen White did her writing. 16E. S. Ballenger, The Gathering Call, September 1932 and March/April 1933. Among other incidents, Ballenger related that “just recently we received the best of evidence that Fannie Bolton wrote ‘Steps to Christ’ without any dictation or assistance from Mrs. White whatever. It was her product in toto [sic], but was published as Mrs. White’s production.” Miss Bolton had died six years earlier, making personal verification of such an allegation impossible.UEGW 148.5

    Ballenger, as Canright before him, presented a barrage of allegations against Ellen White and the denomination in general, of which plagiarism was but one. Responses from the “Elmshaven” office relating to the plagiarism charges included: “The Evolution of ‘Great Controversy’” (1932), “Brief Statements Regarding the Writings of Ellen G. White” (1933), “Was Mrs. E. G. White a Plagiarist?” (1936), and “Integrity of Mrs. White as an Author” (1936).UEGW 149.1

    The cumulative lines of defense coming from these 1930s responses included these points: 17All the summarizations and quotations that follow are taken from the four documents named above. (1) Ellen White received revelations that formed the core of her writings. (2) God does not always give direct revelation as a substitute for common knowledge that may be gained by normal means. (3) Her usage of sources was “incidental” to the unique themes found in her writings. (4) Ellen White read and used “good and reliable historians” to provide convincing evidence for nonbelievers of the portrayal of events she had seen in vision or that were in harmony with views she wished to present. (5) Ellen White received divine instruction regarding the selection of “gems of truth” from her reading. (6) Seventh-day Adventist pioneers regarded truth as common property. (7) It is unfair to apply current standards of literary borrowing to writers in the 1880s. (8) Writers of the Bible used the language of other Bible writers without giving credit. (9) The quantity of quoted matter has been greatly exaggerated by critics, and the nature of it is descriptive, historical, or relating to prophetic and doctrinal exposition. (10) The charge of “stolen illustrations” (artwork) is refuted by correspondence negotiating their purchase. (11) The charge that Steps to Christ had been written by Fannie Bolton “in toto” is refuted by proving the existence of earlier (pre- Bolton) Ellen White sources for its material. (12) Regarding Sketches From the Life of Paul, there had never been a lawsuit or threat of lawsuit or an effort to recall the book.UEGW 149.2

    Plagiarism, of course, was but one of a series of accusations against Ellen White’s integrity. The church’s newly formed “Defense Literature Committee” recognized the need for answers to the full range of criticisms. F. D. Nichol, in 1951, published Ellen G. White and Her Critics. His stated object was to answer “all the charges against Mrs. White which are currently prominent, representative, and impressive sounding.” 18Nichol, Ellen G. White and Her Critics, 20. It included sixty-five pages on the plagiarism charge, roughly 10 percent of the book. 19Ibid., 403-467. UEGW 149.3

    Nichol’s response essentially reiterated the points brought out in the 1930s documents, but he rigorously supported them with extensive documentation. He examined “what really constitutes plagiarism” from legal and practical viewpoints; the history of Sketches From the Life of Paul and The Great Controversy; whether Ellen White intended to deceive her readers; the extent of her borrowing; the threatened lawsuit allegation; and the question of how literary borrowing relates to inspiration.UEGW 150.1

    Two examples of Nichol’s fuller presentation relate to charges surrounding Sketches From the Life of Paul. Nichol cited an advertisement for Conybeare and Howson’s book appearing in Signs of the Times four months before Ellen White’s book was published. Ellen White was quoted as highly recommending the book: “‘The Life of St. Paul’ by Conybeare and Howson, I regard as a book of great merit, and one of rare usefulness to the earnest student of the New Testament history.” 20Signs of the Times, February 22, 1883, quoted in Nichol, Ellen G. White and Her Critics, 423. Nichol summarized that to draw any other conclusion but that Ellen White knew her readers would note parallels between the books “would be equivalent to saying that in publishing her work on Paul Mrs. White deliberately set out to expose herself as a literary thief and a prophetic fraud!”UEGW 150.2

    Nichol devoted the largest percentage of his defense to a refutation of the persistent allegation that a lawsuit had been threatened against Ellen White for her alleged plagiarisms in Sketches From the Life of Paul. After tracking down and reviewing sources for the rumor, he photographically reproduced a 1924 letter from the Thomas Y. Crowell Company, publishers of Conybeare and Howson’s work, stating that they did not believe they had ever “raised any objection or made any claim” against Ellen White’s Sketches From the Life of Paul—nor could they have had legal grounds to do so, as the book was not copyrighted. 21Nichol, Ellen G. White and Her Critics, 455-457. Unbeknown to Nichol, and only recently coming to light, is the fact that F. E. Belden, a prominent critic of Ellen White and denominational leader since the Kellogg-Battle Creek controversy, had written the Crowell Company eleven years earlier, ostensibly seeking further ammunition on the plagiarism charge. Crowell’s reply: “We know nothing about the complaint to which you refer.” Thomas Y. Crowell Company to F. E. Belden, September 9, 1913 (Document File 389, EGWE). Wrote Nichol, “We believe the reader will conclude that the threatened lawsuit has been quashed.”UEGW 150.3

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