Seventh-day Adventist Historiography: Development and Progress

This article charts the growth and development of Adventist historical consciousness and thus reflects on how Adventist historians describe the past. It describes three major trends within the development of Seventh-day Adventist historiography. First, the writing of history began as an extension of an interest in Bible prophecy and a conviction about God s providential leading in the rise of Adventism. Second, Adventist history remained important in order to do successful apologetics. Third, more critical methods were gradually incorporated that challenged traditional narratives of Adventist history. This study recommends that more work needs to be done on the connection between individual memory versus collective memory in the shaping of Adventist identity.