Adventist Voices by Spectrum: The Journal of the Adventist Forum

I talk with Academy Award nominated filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi about his new documentary on Pope Francis. It chronicles the first decade of the pontiff's travels in 53 countries as he represents his values on issues such as poverty, migration, environment, solidarity, and war. We discuss the definition of the contemporary prophetic voice and how the film explores how words and physicality convey spiritual power. 

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Concluding a 5-part series with Don Casebolt on his book Father Miller's Daughter, we discuss Ellen White's statements about the papacy and Casebolt presents evidence for White's dependence on discredited historians for her statements that the Pope changed the Christian day of worship to Sunday. Casebolt also critiques Samuel Bacchiocchi's contributions to this belief. We conclude by exploring White's idea that masturbation (solitary vice) caused tuberculosis among many ills and was directly responsible for "killing tens of thousands" a year. 

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Alex Aamodt shares insights from his week of watching the National Labor Relations Board hearing on the unionization efforts at Loma Linda University Health. He talks about the role played by representatives from the General Conference (David Trim and Bill Knott) who were sworn in to explain institutional structure and Adventist policy on unions rooted in Ellen White's writings. Drawing on the proceedings and his legal and historical research, Aamodt also details key definitions (students or employees), explains the difference between LLUH and LLUHEC, and provides perspectives from both sides: the physician residents/fellows and the arguments made by the lawyers representing LLUH. 

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Don McAdams, PhD, discusses his legendary embargoed paper documenting Ellen White’s literary and narrative dependence on Protestant historians. After 50 years it has been published as part of a book titled Ellen White and the Historians: A Neglected Problem and a Forgotten Answer (2022). McAdams discusses how he discovered this issue in the 1970s, how the Ellen White Estate reacted, and why it is finally time for the Adventist Church to openly confront its “founding myth—not the inspiration of Ellen White, but her authority in all matters.”

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Japanese American writer, poet, culture critique, David Mura discusses his new book The Stories Whiteness Tell Itself, published by University of Minnesota Press, 2023. Mura grounds his work in historical and fictional narratives that whiteness tells society in order to uphold systems of Black oppression. We discuss his own family history of internment during WWII, James Baldwin, spirituality, as well as how the stages of grief connect to anti-racist awareness.

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Former Spectrum journalist, Adventist pastor, and then defense attorney, Thomas L. Dybdahl talks about his life and his new book. Published by The New Press, When Innocence Is Not Enough: Hidden Evidence and the Failed Promise of the Brady Rule tells several gripping tales of crime and the wrongs done to the falsely accused when prosecutors don’t share evidence.

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We talk about Millerite O. R. L. Crosier who helped create the Sanctuary Doctrine. He later rejected it, Ellen White, and Adventism. This is part three of this Adventist Voices series with Donald Casebolt about his book, Father Miller’s Daughter (2022).

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Paul Mugane grew up in Kenya in a family that valued independent thought and Adventist faith. In Minnesota he received his MDiv from an ecumenical seminary and spent time teaching and pastoring in Adventism. Now he is an award-winning chaplain for Sharp Grossmont Hospital in Southern California. In this first of two conversations we explore his political and spiritual heritage and why he calls Adventism a mother.

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I talk with the editors of A House on Fire: How Adventist Faith Responds to Race and Racism. Signs Publishing book editor Nathan Brown and La Sierra University professor Maury D. Jackson share how this multi-scholar project was started and why this is a comprehensive Adventist approach to one of the most persistently intractable issues of our time.

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Filmmakers Trevor Frost and Melissa Lesh talk about their documentary Wildcat, streaming now on Amazon. We discuss their beautiful film, set in the rainforest of Peru and featuring a lot of very cute baby ocelot footage. The story focuses on two real young people and the mental and spiritual healing that re-creation provides. One is a troubled British veteran, suffering from PTSD acquired during his tour in Afghanistan. The other is an American female PhD student researching in the jungle and dealing with her history with complicated men.

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