Celebrating Forum's 20th Anniversary . ..~ . Journal of the Association of Adventist Forums Volume 18, Number 3 RECAPTURING THE ADVENTIST VISION Friendly Fire in Sacred Groves Waiting for Messiah Trumpet Blasts and Hosannas When the Jailhouse Rocks Spectrum Editorial Board Consulting Editors Roy Benton Earl W.Amundson Donald R. McAdams Editor Assistant Professor, Church Administration Senior Vice PresIdent Mathematical ScIences Dept. American Productivity Center Roy Branson Karen Bottomley Columbia Union College HIstoty Margaret Mcfarland RoyB....... n Calgal)', AJqerta Asst. Attorney General EthIcs, Kennedy InstItute Annapolis, Mal)'land Senior Editor Bonnie L Casey Georgetown University Tom Dybdahl Wrlter/Editor Ronald Numbers Mollearas Coupe.... Washington, D.C. Histol)' of Medicine , Physldan University of Wisconsin Raymond Cottrdl Angwin, CalIfornia News Editor Theology Edward E. Robinson Gene Daffem Loma LInda, California Attorney Physldan Chicago, Illinois Bonnie Dwyer GerlFuller Frederlc:k, Mal)'land Public RelatIons Gethard Svttek-Seller Bonnie Dwyer Washington, D.C. Psychiatrist Manuscript Editor Journalism Vienna, Austria Loma LInda, CalIfornia Lawrence Geraty Gene Daffem President Carolyn Stevel1Jl Shultz TomDybdahl Atlantic Union College English Editor Walla Walla College Allentown, Penl1Jlylvania Fritz Guy Book Review Editors Theology Helen Ward Thompson Alvin L Kw1ram Loma LInda University Vice-President Peggy Corbett Chairman, Chemisti)' Dept. i.oma Linda University F. E. J. Harder University of Washington Rennie Schoepflin Educational Administration L. E. Trader GRI)'Land College Place, Washington Education HIstoty Marlehoehe GymnaSium Jorgen Henriksen Andrews University West Germany Production Arttst Rennie Schoepf1ln Walla Walla, Washington LouisVenden Barry L. Casey HIstoty Senior Pastor Edward Lugenbea1 Loma LInda University Lema Linda University Church FastForW ord Health Care Administration Charles Scriven Kettering, Ohio Publication Services Senior Pastor Sligo Church Association of Adventist Forums Officers Directors Regional Representatives Northern Pacific Terrie Aamodt President Of Chapter Development Atlantic English Glenn E. Coe Walter Dcnq;1aa GRI)' Gilbert '" Walla Walla College Attorney Church HIstoty Physician Hartford, Connecticut Andrews University ,Melrose, Massachusetts Southern , Laura Gladson Vice President Of Harvest '90 Central Psychology Verla Kw1ram Arthur R. Torres Joseph Bozovich Atlanta, Georgia Business Senior Pastor Business Seattle, Washington Glendale CIty Church Denver, Colorado Southern Pacific Jim Kaatz Executive Secretaty Of Promction Central Pacific Education Virginia MarrayMendoza Richard B. Lewis, Jr. Larry Mitchd Lakeside, California Administration Advertising Hospital Administration SIlver SprIn~ MRl)'iand Boston, M""",,chusetts Roseville, California ' Staff Treasurer Of Spedal Projects Columbia Legal Col1Jlultant Richard C Osborn Lyndrey A. Nfles SIWUl Sickler Bradley Litchfield Superintendent of Education Communications Kettering, Ohio Attorney PotGmacConference Rowan! Univeralty Eastern Canada Washington, D.C. Editor Of Campus Relatlol1Jl Beverley ConnOl'll Administrative SecretaI)' RoyB .......n ,blsYob Oshawa, Canada Scott Sanchez EthIcs, Kennedy Institute Education Lake Takoma Park, MRI)'land Georgetown University Harvan! University Wesley Amundson Miaslol1Jl Andrews University SPECTRUM is a journal established to encourage Seventh-day Editorial Correspondence: SPECTRUM is published by the Adventist participation in the discussion of contemporary issues Association of Adventist Forums. 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Litho USA In This Issue Vol. 18, No.3, February 1988 Remembering the Past to Create the Future he future of Adventism-whether gests where the mission of the denomination and T its mission and identity should be the Adventist Forums intersects. the same as its past-is the preoccupation of the G. K. Chesterton, in Orthodoxy, gives a de­ essays in the special section of this issue. They fense of tradition that rousingly proclaims the are drawn from presentations made at the most value of the past for the future. "Tradition may be recent October, 1987 AAF conference, whose defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition theme was "Rediscovering the Adventist Vision: means giving votes to the most obscure of all Its Value to Contemporary Society." classes, our ancestors. Tradition refuses to Malcolm Bull's look at Adventism's past submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of and future identity perhaps most expresses a par­ those who merely happen to be walking about. ticular point of view. James Londis sensitively .. Tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's discloses the fears, disappointments, and hopes opinion, even if he is our father." many Adventists presently feel at the core of their A vibrant community never abandons its peing. Charles Scriven and Roy Branson most past. A vibrant community remembers the past as ldirectly draw on a biblical past to make concrete a way to interpret its present and transform it into proposals for Adventism's future. Glenn Coe, a genuinely new future. celebrating 20 years of AAF's existence, sug- -The Editors Special Section: Recapturing the Adventist Vision Friendly Fire in Sacred Groves Glenn Coe 2 Waiting for Messiah: TheAbsence and Presence of God in Adventism James Londis 5 The Medicalization of Adventism Malcolm Bull 12 When the Jailhouse Rocks: In Defense of Evangelism for the Charles Scriven 22 Church of Today Trumpet Blasts and Hosannas: A Once and Future Adventism Roy Branson 29 Articles A New Look at the Old Days: Adventist History Comes of Age Benjamin McArthur 36 All the News That Fits From Adventist College Campuses Harvey Brenneise 43 Revolutionary Missionaries in Peru: Fernando and Ana Stahl Charles Teel 50 News Update College Enrollments Increase Tom Smith 53 Reviews A Strong Showing Peggy Corbett 55 Rice's Reign of God: An SDA Theology for the Masses? Clark Pinnock 57 The Reign of God: Innovative, Helpful, Discreet Charles Scriven 59 Early SDA Education: Conflict & Conviction David Pendleton 60 Responses 62 Special Section: Recapturing the Adventist Vision Friendly Fire in Sacred Groves by Glenn E. Coe n the western slopes of the Sierra to protect the trees from further damage by fIre. O Nevada Mountains is a stand of se­ For more than 100 years these pillars of the forest quoias-the largest living things in our world. were protected by humans from further fire dam­ These giants of the forest are estimated to have age. lived more than 3,000 years. Although not as tall It wasn't until the early 1960s that the well­ as the coastal redwoods, they reach heights of31O intentioned guardians of the forest began to real­ feet with basal diameters of up to 40 feet. Early ize that their interference with the natural proc­ woodsmen cut an opening in the base of one of the esses of nature was in fact more harmful than trees to allow stagecoaches and, later, cars to drive benefIcial. The absence of fIre had resulted in a through. The majesty of the sequoias and their proliferation of shade-tolerant trees below the millenia of existence reduces one to awe and an sequoias, reducing sunlight within the grove. The awareness of one's own mortality. shade trees competed for moisture and blanketed The Mariposa Sequoia Grove located near the the soil with their needles and debris, making it southern entrance to Yosemite National Park was impossible for sequoia seedlings to get started. discovered by western Europeans in the early Unable to compete with the faster-growing under­ 1850s. In time it became part of the national park brush, the grove began to lose the vitality that system. As you travel through the grove, as our comes from regeneration. It was in danger of family did in the summer of 1965, you can't help dying out. The caretakers of the grove fInally but notice that most