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What are the key experiences that have defined the traditional Seventh-day Adventist approach to hermeneutics?
Veteran Seventh-day Adventist theologian and philosopher Edward W. H. Vick provides a brief answer to this question in this short book, with only 64 pages of text. Tracing the way interpretation was done starting with the Millerite movement in the 1840s, and working through the influence of Ellen G. White and others, Vick suggests that the hermeneutic used was self-confirming. Each apparent problem solved resulted in further faith in the method.
As a result, among traditional Adventists, hermeneutics has taken a particular shape which locks in this set of doctrines, and the doctrines, in turn, uphold the hermeneutic.
This book will be especially helpful to Seventh-day Adventists who want to communicate with biblical scholars and theologians outside of their community. It will be of help to those who are not Adventists in understanding the nature and tenacity of SDA hermeneutics.
About the author
Edward W. H. Vick was born in Sussex and grew up in Berkshire. He is a graduate of London (BD), Nottingham (BA Philosophy), Oxford (B.Litt.), and Vanderbilt (Ph.D.) Universities. He is a teacher of wide experience, having taught for many years at Canadian Union College, Alberta (Canada) and at Andrews University, Michigan (USA). Later he was Head of Religious Studies Department, Forest Fields College, Nottingham. He taught philosophy courses for adults for many years for the Continuing Education Department of the local university. He is married with a son and two daughters, and four grandchildren.
