Ellen G. White (1827–1915) may well be the most translated female writer in history. She wrote some five-thousand articles and forty books translated into more than 140 languages. Her thoughts and writings shaped an entire Christian denomination: the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
Born into a Methodist family of eight, she suffered a severe head injury as a child when a rock was thrown at her. Her family became Millerites, believing that the Second Coming would be soon at hand.
She began having visions of the City of God and travelled to the scattered Adventist groups to preach. Some Adventists came to believe that she was an instrument for God’s teaching.
He husband, James, a preacher, began publishing a semi-monthly paper that gave an outlet for her writings. Her first book, A Sketch of the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White, came out in 1851.
The Adventist community spread her teachings which were remarkably forward-looking and modern. She advocated for the importance of healthy eating and a balanced diet in a time in which meat and potatoes was considered the best meal. She spoke out against living a frenetic life and using stimulants whereas “sleep and repose” were “nature's great restorers.”[i] She eschewed the use of tobacco.
White believed that in schools, children should be educated to control their passions by being engaged as thoughtful beings rather than being trained by rote. They shouldn’t be taught in an oppressive way because this prevented them from developing inner-directed self-discipline.
Click below for the following:
1) A talk on Baha’u’llah’s “Tablet of Medicine”
The life of Ellen White from an Adventist perspective
A talk from the U. of California on Spirituality and Health from a secular point of view