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 Cover of original, 1898 printing ofThe Desire of Ages | |
| Author | Ellen G. White |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Establishing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ |
| Genre | Religious |
| Publisher | Pacific Press Publishing Company |
Publication date | 1898 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 153 (hardback) |
The Desire of Ages (DA) is a book about the life and teachings ofJesus Christ, written by theSeventh-day Adventist pioneerEllen G. White. It was first published in 1898.
Written atSunnyside Historical Home inNew South Wales,Australia,[1]DA was first published in 1898. It is in the third volume in a five-part series of her writings called the"Conflict of the Ages," that cover biblical material fromGenesis toRevelation. They focus on "the battle raging in the universe between Christ and His angels and Satan and his fallen angels."[2] In the third volume,DA focuses on the life of Jesus Christ and the love of God as revealed through Christ.[3] While not set out chronologically,DA covers the entirety of Christ's ministry; from His pre-incarnation to His resurrection and ascension.
DA's compilation emerges from a gradual expansion of writing beginning in 1858.White, in vision, began receiving revelations concerning "the age-long conflict betweenChrist andSatan".[4] She wrote them down in what we know today as,Spiritual Gifts, Volume 1 (1858). In 1867 and 1877,White rewrote and expanded uponChrist's life further, forming what we know today as,Spirit of Prophecy, Volumes 2 and 3. In the 1890's, this work expanded still further into three books:Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings (1896) – on the Sermon on the Mount,[5]The Desire of Ages (1898),and Christ's Object Lessons (1900) – onJesus' parables.[6]
These works, in her own understanding, and in the understanding of many who acknowledge her prophetic gift, were compiled as a result of scenes she was directly shown by God in vision, and from things she was informed to write by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.[4]DA is considered by them to be aninspired book, meaning, a book written under the influence and inspiration of God through His Holy Spirit. While officially, Adventists do not consider White's writings to be on the same level as the Bible, many nonetheless consider them to be inspired by the same Holy Spirit which inspired the writers of the Bible.[7]
While considered inspired by many Adventists, White did not possess linguistic and grammatical perfection, and she herself acknowledged this.[4] She used editorial assistants to prepare her manuscripts for publication, proofing and critiquing them. These included her husbandJames, when compiling theSpiritual Gifts series, and Marian Davis, her primary editorial assistant in compilingDA. Some consider her use of assistants as a mark against her prophetic gift.
More controversial was her practice of unacknowledged use of material from contemporary writers on the Gospels and the life of Christ in her writingDA and especially in her own pre-DA materials. This became such an issue in the 1970s and early 1980s, that theAdventist General Conference commissioned a major study by Fred Veltman to examine the extent and nature of White's literary dependence in writing on the life of Christ. His full 2,561-page report of the "'Life of Christ Research Project" is available online,[8][9] along with an abridged[10] and condensed[11] editions. After eight years examining fifteen, randomly selectedDA chapters for evidence of literary dependence, Veltman stated, "On an average we may say that 31.4 percent of theDA text is dependent to some extent on literary sources."[12] However, he acknowledged, "But when you add to the literary dependence the similarity of ideas, particularly with reference to … the way in which the arrangement of the subunits of the chapters reflect the same thematic development as found in the sources, it becomes apparent that Ellen White is more dependent on her sources than the actual verbal parallels indicate."[13]
Originally, DA was to be two books:Christ of Bethlehem: Our Brother andChrist of Calvary: Our Sacrifice.[14] It was eventually published as one book,The Desire of Ages. Its title was based on the language of Haggai 2:7: "And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." (KJV).
Since White's death in 1915, theEllen G. White Estate published or authorized the publication of the following editions or selections fromDA:[15]
The Desire of Ages public domain audiobook atLibriVox_(cropped).jpg)