The Influence on William S. Sadler and The Urantia Book of Ellen G. White and the Seventh-day Adventist Church($10.00Value)

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The Influence on William S. Sadler and The Urantia Book of Ellen G. White and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. With over fifty pages of photos. To readers of The Urantia Book , Dr. William S. Sadler and his wife Dr. Lena K. Sadler were leaders of the Contact Commission that received the revelation of the Urantia Papers, edited them, and began the Forum that met in their home weekly to discuss the papers, culminating in the publication of the book in 1955. However, for their first thirty-five years, they were also members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They were educated in Adventist schools, lived for years in Battle Creek, Michigan (then the headquarters of the church), worked and studied at Battle Creek Sanitarium, the biggest church medical institution (or at two satellite medical missions, in Chicago and San Francisco), and were mentored by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. William Sadler held a ministerial license from the church, served on church boards, and was an Adventist editor and writer. They were both also guests a number of times in the home of the author Ellen G. White and her son and manager W. C. White. William Sadler studied and indexed her books and considered her a prophetess. Ellen White claimed she was “God’s messenger,” not a prophetess, but both she and church members and leaders referred to her many books and articles as “The Spirit of Prophecy.” Members and leaders granted her enormous respect, influence, authority, and power over church decisions. She and her son did their best to guide the church and admonish leaders and members they saw as taking wrong turns. Most members believed everything published under her name was revealed to her by God. However, the Sadlers knew from their time with her that she worked with an editorial staff that helped her put her books together. They knew she borrowed heavily from other religious authors as she wrote her books. William Sadler wanted to know how this borrowing and editorial help fit in with being inspired by God and receiving visions. Were some parts inspired by God and some parts not inspired? Several teachings of The Urantia Book are in line with Seventh-day Adventist beliefs, but others seem to be reactions against other Adventist beliefs. In both cases, Sadler was influenced by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. More important, the literary borrowing in Ellen White’s works, hidden from most during her lifetime, is parallel to the extensive literary borrowing in The Urantia Book . Was Sadler influenced by her literary and editorial practices and her attempts to maintain authority? Should such borrowing affect our view of inspiration? Is it ethical to hide such borrowing? What are we to make of it all?