.

p f
i9
L
l
in
V*
me
"'
THE B|BL|5
`
[Editor's
not e: The Bible Research
Fellowship,
conducted
by
the
college
Bible teachers
of
North
America between 1943 a nd
1952,
was the
pi oneer
organi zat i on of
the church devoted to
cooperat i ve
Bible
study
on t he research level. The aut hor
of
this
article,
who served as
secretary of
the
Fellowship
t hroughout
its
brief lifetime,
has
preserved
a
complete le of
documents and
correspondence
related to the
Fellowship.
The
majority of
the
historical
facts pres ent ed
here ar e taken
from
this
documentary
archive. The
secretary
's
complete per -
sonal
le of
all
paper s present ed
to the
Fellowship
is
in the
Heritage
Room
of
the James White Memorial
Library,
Andrews
University,
Berrien
Springs,
Mi chi gan]
`
OR MANY YEARS, t he
Seventh-day
'_
Adventist
college
Bible teachers of
: _
Nort h America have met
following
t he

quadrennial/quinquennial
session of
9
'
the General Conference, under General
Conference
auspices,
to counsel
together
on matters
of mutual interest and concern. The
agenda
has con-
sisted of t opi cs relating to principles, methodology,
~
REE/-\RcH
FELLo\x/sH|P
l/4
PianecringSer/mt/1-day
Adventist
Orgauzkation
in
Kvtraspcct
Raymond
F.Cottrell
and
procedures
in
rel i gi ous education, and to various
aspects
of Biblical
hermeneutics, interpretation, and
theology.
At t he close of t he 1940 Bible Teachers Council in
Takoma
Park, Maryland,
consideration was
given
to
means
by
which t he
college
Bible teachers could
share with one another their individual endeavors to
understand the Bible more
perfectly,
in order that all
mi ght
benet from t he labors of each, and that each
might
benet from t he constructive criticism of al l ,
The minutes of the 1940 Council conclude
by report-
ing:
At the conclusion of a very wonderful convention
all expressed their delight at having
been
present, and a fellowship was organized called
the College Bible Teachers' Fellowship." Elder
Andreason was
unanimously
elected as the
organizing secretary.
An annual fee of $2. 00 for
each member was agreed upon,
this money to be
used in
providing a monthly report from t he
secretary, as a kind of exchange medium between
Formerly
an associate editor
of
t he REVIEW AND
HERALD, Raymond
Cottrell is now retired and
living in
California.
39
\
X
|
the Bible t eachers, and it was
emphasized
that
when
any
one of the
group
found
something
of
particular
interest that he would
pass
it on to the
others
through
this
Fellowship.
The
Seminary
was asked tobecome the
t reasury
for the Fellow-
ship
and inasmuch as
by
our vote wehad
pledged
ourselves to stand behind the
Seminary,
with our
prayers
and our
support,
the
Semi nary
thus
becoming
the
graduat e
school of our
colleges,
it
seemed the normal course for us to look to the
Seminary
as the center of such an
organization.
The
thirty-ve
or so Bible teachers
present paid
the
stipulated
annual dues to Milton Earl
Kern,
rst
president
of t he
Seventh-day
Adventist
Theological
Seminary.
Elder Milian L. Andreasen, a teacher at
the
Seminary
and chairman of the
Council,
never im-
plemented the
planned College
Bible Teachers
Fellowship, however, and Elder Kem turned over
the dues intact to his successor, Denton E.
Rebok,
in
1943. At the 1944 Bible Teachers Council Elder
Rebok
proposed ret urni ng
the dues, but t he teachers
reafrmed their intention with
respect
to the
pro-
posed Fellowship.
Some
suggested
that the General
Conference Ministerial Association be asked to
operate
t he
proposed
medium of communication;
others averred that such an
arrangement
would
give
it too ofcial a avor. "
At this
point
Dr. Leon L. Caviness, Biblical
languages
teacher at Pacic Union
College,
told of
the
monthly
Sabbathaftemoon
meetings
of t he Bible
teachers there. On the last Sabbath afternoon of
March, 1943, they
had met
infomzally
with a few
other teachers at his invitation. The aftemoon was
devoted to
reading
and
discussing
a Bible research
paper I had recently completed summarizing
one of
my personal study projects.
At the close of t he dis-
cussion those present agreed to meet on Sabbath
aftemoon each month to consider a
paper
to be
presented by
some member of the gr oup. Over the
next fteen months others
joined
the
study group
and a few elsewhere in California became corre-
sponding
members.
"
including
World War H, intemational
, ,
events concentrated t he attention of
L)

Seventh-day
Adventists on
last-day
f n -
'
prophecies, particularly
t he
identity
of
the
king
of the north inDaniel 11 and the battle of
Annageddon
in Revelation 16. In the decade
prior
to
Pearl
Harbor,
Adventist
evangelists
and
publica-
tions, notably
t he
Signs of
the Times, were
condently identifying Armageddon
as a
political
battle in Palestine; Japan
and t he other nations of
t he Orient as t he
kings
of t he east; and
'1`urkey
as t he
king
of the north, a
pattern
of
interpretation
to which
not a few oft he Bible teachers took
increasing excep-
tion. The extension of hostilities to the Pacic led
some Adventist ministers-William R. French at
Pri
' ' '
u-
N THE YEARS
leading up to,
and
3
Ula
40
Pacic Union
College,
for
exampl e- t o assure their
congregations
that the
entry
of t he Sunrise
Kingdom
into t he conict made certain that World War II
would climax in the Biblical
Armageddon.
In
response
to these condent assertions from
Adventist
pulpits
and in the Adventist
press,
and
with a view to
ascertaining their true import,
Bible
teachers
gave
these
prophecies
careful
study.
In this
setting,
the local
st udy group
at
Angwin
chose the
name
"Eschatology Society," and at its rst
meeting
read and discussed
my contextual-linguistic study
on
The
Kings
of the East.
After
listening
to Dr. Caviness' account of the
monthly meetings
at
Angwin
over the
precedingyear
and a half, t he
college
Bible teachers asked Elder
Rebok to transfer their dues from the
custody
of t he
Seminary
to Dr. Caviness, requesting
that
they
be
accepted
as
corresponding
members of his
study
gr oup at Angwin. Returning home, Dr. Caviness re-
organized
the
Eschatology Society
as t he Bible
Research
Fellowship,
with the Bible teachers of t he
colleges
in North America as members.
Over t he next sixyears the Bible Research Fellow-
ship grew rapidly.
All but six of the
sixty-six
Bible
teachers at the
Seminary
and in all Adventist
Eng-
lish-language colleges
around the world became
members. Several
colleges
reimbursed their Bible
teachers for membership dues in t he Fellowship, on
the basis that it was a
professional organization.
Most of the 190 or so Bible research paper s
contributed to the
Fellowship during
its lifetime of
ten years
were writtenby these members. Anumber
of
pastors, evangelists, editors, and administrators
also requested membership
and were accepted.
Dues, originally
$2
per year,
were later raised to $4.
Principal expenses of t he
Fellowship
were t he
duplication
and
mailing
of
papers,
and
correspond-
ence. Dues and other funds were
deposited jointly
in
the names of Leon L, Caviness and
Raymond
F.
Cottrell in t he St. Helena branch of the Bank of
America.
Although
the Bible Research
Fellowship
was
brought
into
being by
the
college
Bible teachers of
North America
specically
to meet their own felt
need for an
organized way
in which to make
coopera-
tive Bible
study possible,
the
organization
was never
more than
quasi-ofcial.
Initiated at one of their
ofcial
quadrennial
councilswith the tacit
blessing
of
the General
Conference,
under whose
auspices
these
councils
met,
it was in the strict sense of t he word
always
unofcial.
In
keeping
with t he
request
of the
college
Bible
teachers for
membership
in the Pacic Union
College study gr oup,
and
by
common
consent,
Dr.
Caviness continued to serve as
paterfamilias
of the
organization.
He motivated the formation of the
original
nucleus around which the
Eschatology
Society,
and later the Bible Research
Fellowship,
grew.
His
qualications
for this
assignment
were his
, v i
r
F'
F
competence
in Biblical
languages, teaching experi-
ence, a sound
concept
of Biblical hermeneutics, and
skill in personal relations and
gr oup dynamics.
His
personal
interest in research-level Bible
st udy
was
reected in t he considerable clerical work
required
in
evaluating, processing, duplicating,
and distribut-
i ng
the
many papers;
in extensive
correspondence
with individual members and t he several chapt ers; in
his faithfulness to the trust the
college
Bible teach-
ers reposed in him; in his initiative in
counseling
with the Ministerial Association, t he Ellen G. White
Estate, t he
Theological Seminary,
and other
agen-
cies of t he church; and in his
loyalty
to t he church
and its leaders in
everything
and at all times. The
church is
deeply
indebted to him for
pioneering
what
proved
to be a
highly
successful
program
of
coopera-
tive Biblical research and
study. Throughout
the
lifetime of t he
Fellowship
he continued to serve as
chairman, and I served as
secretary.
As time
passed,
additional
chapters began
meet-
i ngregularly
on seven other
campuses,
and one con-
ference
president organized
the
pastors
of his
conference into a
Fellowship chapter.
In
my
ofcial
secretary' s report
to the
college
Bible teachers at t he
1950 Council at
Angwin,
I
reported
a
membership
of
157 in the
Fellowship.
Of
these, sixty-ve
were
college
teachers and another
twenty-eight
resided
outside of North America. Seven
(eventually
seven-
t een) were from t he General Conference, and the
remaining eighty-ve
were conference
presidents,
departmental leaders, doctors, editors, pastors,
and
evangelists. In
response
to t he
secretary' s report,
the Bible teachers in attendance at t he 1950 Council:
VOTED, that we ext end an expression of
appreciation
to t he ofcers of t he Bible Research
Fellowship
for t he
splendid work
t hey
have done
in
bringing into existence such a valuable
organization, and for the service it offers
mi ni st ers and Bible t eachers in the
exchange
of
ideas and
i nt erpret at i ons of difcult
passages
of
Scripture.
In 1951
membership stood at 204, and
nally
in
1952 at 256.
Ninety-one percent
of all Bible teachers
in all sixteen
English-language colleges
around the
world were members.
Basically,
t he Bible Research
Fellowship remained their organi zat i on and served
the
purpose
for which
they designed it, but
persons
interested in serious Bible
study serving
t he church
in
many
different
capacities eventually
made
up
t he
majority
of its
membership.
As an unofcial organization, t he Bible Research
Fellowship functioned with a minimum of
organiza-
tional structure. It had no elected ofcers. Dr.
Caviness continued to lead in its
activities, having
been asked to do so
by the college Bible teachers of
North
America,
who
appreciated
his
approach
to
Bible
research, the principles on which he succeeded
in
get t i ng thinking
men of diverse minds to
cooperate
on sensitive matters, and the demon-
Participants
in t he 1940 Bible Teachers Council in
Takoma Park, Maryland,
voted to
organi ze
the
College
Bible Teachers
Fellowship.
Assoc a on Pub s h`ng ew and Hera 0 Rev cred

l
I
l
A
`!
i
i
' i r
4 . 1
At the 1944 Bible
Conference,
the teachers
pre-
sent
reafrmed
their interest in a Bible teachers
fellowship.
Elder Denton E. Rebok, secondpresident
of
the
Theological Seminary from
1943 to
1951,
transferred dues from the Eschatology Society
to Dr.
Leon L. Caviness
for
the
proposed
Bible Research
Fellowship.
cream Review and Herald Pumishing Asmciauon
strated success of t he
Fellowships predecessor,
the
Eschatology Society of Angwin.
' ' '

N ALL OF THE
Fellowship
delibera-
%
.
tions and
exchanges
of
opinions
over its
, g
ten
years
of life, mutual
respect pre-
E)
o vailed for the sometimes diverse views
- w r -
`
of its members. No vote was ever taken
for or
against any particular point of view,
or on
any
paper presented for consideration. It never
adopted
or advocated
any particular interpretation
of
Scripture.
It made no
attempt
to decide between
alternative views. It never
expressed
an
opinion
on
any subject,
nor did it
attempt
to disseminate the
ndings
of
any
of its members.
Papers
were never
supposed
to be
given, loaned,
or sold to non-mem-
bers
by anyone
other than the author. The sole
pur pose
of the Fellowship was to provide a means of
communication and interaction
among
its members
in their individual research, for their own edication,
in order that all
might
benet from the labors of each
and that each might benet from the comments and
constructive criticism of his
peers.
Research
papers
considered
by
the
Fellowship
were sometimes
requested,
but
usually
were sub-
mitted
voluntarily by members as reports of their
personal st udy projects.
Of
approximately
190
papers
evaluated during its lifetime, about 120 were
accepted for formal consideration. At rst the chair-
man and the
secretary
evaluated
papers
submitted.
Later,
two other resident members of the
Angwin
42
chapter participated
in the evaluation
process,
and
eventually
a
panel
of six non-resident members was
set
up
to assist in t he evaluation and to
give
counsel
when
requested.
These non-resident members were
appointed by
Dr. Caviness froma list
prepared
at his
request by
t he General Conference Ministerial
Association. This
panel
included an
evangelist,
a
pastor,
two administrators, and two Bible teachers.
From time to timelists of
papers awaiting
evaluation
were sent to the nine
organized chapters
for an
opinion
as to which should be
accepted
for consid-
eration, and the
priority
to be
assigned
various
papers.
As might be expected, manuscripts
varied in
quality. They
were
judged
on the basis of their
intrinsic
quality
as research
papers
and their
poten-
tial value for
study, irrespective
of their
point
of
view. As a rule, research-type papers only
were
accepted. Occasionally several
papers dealing
with
the same topic, and perhaps expressing
diverse
points
of
view,
were
grouped together for considera-
tion at the same
meeting.
Once a
paper
was
accepted, preliminary sugges-
tions to
strengthen
the authors
presentation-which
he was free to
accept
or
rej ect -were
often forward-
ed to him
prior
to
duplication.
The
duplicated paper
was then sent out to all members and a date was set
for
reading
and
discussing
it. Later, papers accepted
for consideration were
duplicated
in their
original
form and sent out to all
chapters. Suggestions
from
the
chapters
were collated and sent to each author,
who
might
choose to revise his
paper
before it was
duplicated
in nal form and sent to all members.
At the
Angwin chapter meetings
the author, if
present,
would read the
paper
and members would
ask questions and make comments. If the author
were not
present,
one of the resident members was
appointed
in advance to read it for him, to represent
his
point
of view as
accurately
as
possible, and to
answer
questions
for him as best he could. The
reading
was followed
by general
discussion of the
subject.
The
secretary recorded, collated,
and
summarized the comments for the record and for
passing
on to t he author to use as he s aw t.
Each
Fellowship paper
bore this notation im-
mediately below the title:
Presented to t he Bible Research
Fellowship
Though presented
tothe Bible Research
Fellowship,
like all other
papers
it
represents
no
pronouncement
of t he
Fellowship.
Members were
requested
to hold
Fellowship papers
in condence.
They
were considered the
personal
property
of their
respective authors, who retained
full control of them. An author
might
secure
additional
copies
of his
paper
for
personal use,
with
the above notation and mention of the
Fellowship
deleted, and was free to use them as he deemed
appropriate.
The broad
scope
of
Fellowship
research is evident
from this
sampling
of titles:
The
Soul-Winning
Motive
The Two Covenants"
The Shut Door
The
King
of t he Lombards"
Har-Mageddon

The Jubilee Calendar

Before the Veil
Melchisedec
This Generation
The Divorce
Question
The
Deity
of Chr ist"
The
Sealing
of the Saints"
The Three
Angels' Mes s ages "
Development
of the
Mystery
of
Iniquity"
The Place of Christ in
Spiritualism"
Spiritual Signicance
of the
Sanctuary"
The Four Divisions of Alexanders
Empi re"
The Eternal Priesthood of Christ
The
Chronology
of the Hebrew Monarchies"
How
Long
Shall Be the Vision?"
The Prohibition of Unclean Meat s
The
Glory
That
Lightens
the Ear th"
Pioneer Views on Daniel and
Ar mageddon"
The
Privileges and Conditions of
Stewardship"
Historical
Setting
and
Background
of t he Term
Dai l y"'
Meteoric Showers Seen as Heralds of t he
Advent
Among
t he aut hors were:
Wilfred J.
Airey
Albert W. Anderson
Henry
F. Brown
Leon L. Caviness
Raymond
F. Cottrell
LeRoy
E. Froom
Edward
Heppenstall
R. E. Hoen
George
D.
Keough
Stewart Kime
A. F. J. Kranz
Herbert C,
Lacey
Roland E.
Loasby
Charles S. Longacre
. _

was 'mam "DAILY
1-us'romcAL
smrmc mm
Bigifnomm
OF
Dr. Leon L.
Caviness,
a Bible
l anguages
teacher at
Pacic Union College, was chairman of
the Bible
Research Fellowship duri ng
t he entire ten
years of
its existence.
Duri ng t heperi odof
its exi st ence, approximately
140
papers
were evaluated
by
the Bible Research
Fellowship a nd about 120 were
accepted for formal
consideration. The Fellowship
never
adopted
or
advocated any particular i nt erpret at i on of Scripture;
i t s sole
purpose
was to
provide
a means
of
communication and i nt eract i on
among
i t s members
in their individual research.
courtesy:
Loma Linda Uni versi t y Heritage Room
L. E, Froom
Presented
to t h e
anne Reseereh r e i i e w s m p
Number 5. 1951
i n i Reseeren r e i i e ws hi p
l i k e an
(Thg Pd
t h e B 9 I
uneement of cite Fellowship)
o t h er papers,
it represents
no prmw
sent to t h e Bi b l e Teachers' Council
Meade MacGuire
Andrew Nelson
Walter A. Nelson
Albert V. Olson
H. O. Olson
George McCready
Price
Paul E.
Quimby
William A.
Spi cer
Edwin R. Thiele
Jean Vuilleumier
Guy
F. Wolfkill
Alonzo J. Wearner
C. L. Woods
.-
I
I
iiiil-il-EFS -
-naekgrounds
of
THE GLORY
THAT
r
1537 ~
ENS THE EARTH
by
Meade
Maecui,-E
Presented
en th
r vbi ~\
e
1 S
Research nellovrship
dumber
12, 1951
(Thh Ures en _ t ed te eh
ot her _
e
Bible Rese.-, 1 .
Vi p ers , it
r epr esent s ne
prenmxisl
Feumlshlp. l i k e 311
m e n t f the
reliewehip)
A
l i t t l e over a e e q t
r y ago 60d .
p m p h
.
A
l ed W-'n~
Miller to a 59;

ege nCo c Un'o Pac
u
9
0
g a l e s ' " h u h
bfmleht cehi m s e A _ _ ,, _
my f
the
\
l

rv-ff,
HE BIBLE Research Fellowship
sub-
7,
'
scribedtothe great
fundamentals of the
Christian faith on which there is
5
ggeneral agreement among Seventh-day
A 0- Adventists. Its
primary
attention was
devoted to
aspects
of these fundamentals and to
passages
of
Scripture
with
respect
to which there
was not yet
substantial concensus, with a view to
clearer understanding
of
Scripture
at these
points.
Such matters obviously required
t he attention of
those in t he church
who, by training
and
experience,
were best
qualied
to
investigate
them on the basis
of sound
principles
of
exegesis,
in an environment
conducive to such
study.
The Bible Research Fellow-
ship
was t he
corporate response
of the col l ege
Bible
teachers of t he church to the
emphatic
counsel of
Ellen White:
There are mines of truth
yet
to be discovered by
t he eamest seeker.
[We
should enter into] a diligent st udy
of the
Scriptures
and a most critical examination of the
positions
which we hold. God would have all the
beari ngs
and
positions
of truth thoroughly
and
perseveringly searched, with prayer and fasting.
Believers ar e not to rest in suppositions
and
ill-dened ideas of what constitutes truth.
When no new questions
are started by investiga-
tion of t he
Scriptures,
when no difference of
opinion
arises which will set men to searchi ng
t he
Bible for t hemsel ves, to make sure that
t hey
have
the truth,
t here will be many now, as in ancient
time, who hold to tradition, and worship they
know not what.
The initiators of the Bible Research Fellowship
be-
lieved that a full and fair
investigation
of all the
evidence is essential to
genuine research, and pro-
motes
unity.
Fellowship
members
respected
each others per-
sonal
integrity
as dedicated Seventh-day
Adventists.
Each was left free to form his own opinions
and to
drawhis own conclusions. The
Fellowships
role was
to
provide
an environment in which effective
group
study
could take
place.
As Proverbs states,
In an
abundance of counselors there is
safety.
Paradoxically,
the Bible Research
Fellowship,
vol-
untarily
but under pressure,
terminated its activities
at t he hei ght of its success,
in
December, 1952, and
initiated the transfer of its role to the General Con-
ference. From an original membership
of
thirty-ve
in 1940-44, it had
grown
to more than 250
by
1952.
'Iwo fundamental reasons were responsible
for its
demise.
First, there existed a deep-seated
difference of
opinion
in t he church with
respect
to the value and
importance
of
research-type
Bible
study.
In
favor
of
the Fellowship
and its
approach
to collective Bible
study
on t he research level were t he
college
Bible
teachers in all sixteen Adventist
English-language
colleges
around the
world,
other
college teachers,
44
credit: Review and Herald Publ i shi ng Association
,,j"{"
V
Elder William H. Branson,
President
of
t he General
Conference from
1950 to 1954, misunderstood t he
pur pose of
the .Bible Research Fellowship
a nd
recommended that it be disbanded. In its
place
was
established the Committee
for
Biblical
Study
and
Research of
the General
Conference.
editors, and
many pastors
and administrators in local
conferences and in the General Conference. Many
of
their individual
expressions
of
appreciation
are on
record in t he Bible Research Fellowship correspond-
ence l e, The collective
expression
of the Bible
teachers is on record in the minutes of t he 1950
College Bible Teachers Council. To
my knowledge,
no member of the
Fellowship
ever
questioned
its
objectives,
its spirit, or its modus
operandi.
On the other hand,
some non-members who knew
little, if
anything,
about t he
Fellowship or about
research-level Bible
study objected
to its existence.
They found its detailed
analysis
of Bible
passages
and t he investigation
of alternative
possible interpre-
tations of these passages- with
a view to
providing
the church with a rmer
Scripture
basis for t he
proc-
Y i ?
- t l T , - _ | _
ge Room Her' a r s y cour1es y Andrews Ur\'ve
William H.
Branson, president
of the General
Conference,
are also a matter of record.
Secondly,
for an unofcial
organi zat i on
such as the
Fellowship
to function across administrative and
institutional
lines, throughout
North America and
around the
world,
without administrative
super -
vision and control of the General
Conference,
was
considered by
some
admi ni st rat ors-i ncl udi ng
the
president
of the General Conf er ence- to be in viola-
tion of
generally accepted denominational protocol.
Several individuals held this
position irrespective
of
t he fact that t he
Fellowship
was in
every respect
completely loyal
to t he
church,
to its
leaders,
and to
its fundamental teachings.
To
my knowledge,
no
member had ever criticized or
questioned
church
leadership
at
any
level. It never occurred to us to do
so; our quest and concern was for truth of value to
t he church.
Neither of these two factors s eems to have been
sufcient in and of itself, however,
to
compromise
the viability of the Fellowship. But a situation that
developed
in Australia
brought
these two elements
t oget her in a lethal combination that precipitated
action on t he
part
of Elder Branson. The catena of
events deserves narration at some length as a case
study
of t he
problems
serious Biblical research and
study continues to encounter.
Dr. Vernon
Hendershot, president of
the
Theological
Sr
ni nary from 1951-1952, chaired t he 1950 Bible
T<Lchers

Council held at
Pacic
Union
College.
/ 1r ~' , ~"~*.
ei
gf
lf, f
expense
and
spent
several
days
at
, f n - . .
Angwin following
t he session. The 1950
General
Conference-sponsored
Bible Teachers
Council met on the
campus
of Pacic Union
College
from
July
23 to 30, and on his own initiative Brother
Were attended a number of t he Council
meetings
along
with a few other interested teachers.
Formerly
an Adventist
minister,
he had left the
ministry
as a
result of indiscretion on his
part .
An ardent Bible
student, he had
publ i shed
a number of books and
pamphl et s
on various
subjects
in which he set forth
at considerable
length
t he results of his Bible
study.
A
subject
on which Were wrote at some
l engt h
was
the
king
of t he nort h and
Armageddon,
a live
topic
for discussion in t he
years leading up
to and
duri ng
World War II. His views on Daniel 11 and Arma-
geddon
were similar to those of James White and
other
pi oneer
Adventist Bible students but differed
from those of Uriah
Smith,
which church leaders in
Australia favored at the time.
Despi t e
their
emphatic
disapproval,
Were
persisted
in
presenting
and
publishing
his views.
One of the
assigned papers
at t he 1950 Bible
Teachers' Council dealt with t he
present at i on
of con-
troversial
subjects
in the classroom. The
morning
this paper was to be read,
I
suggested
to Dr. Vernon
2,7
gg
OUIS F. WERE of Australia attended
9%
t he 1950General Conference Session in

San Francisco
(July
10 to
19)
at his own
1

\
Az the 1952 Bible
Conference,
Walter E. Read was
asked to direct the newly-established Ofce of
Bible
Research at the General
Conference
a nd to set
up
a
permanent committee for Biblical st udy
a nd re-
search.
y: N`ge G. Barham courtes
1
i
!
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"2
i
1
1

Hendershot, president of the

Theological Seminary
and chairman of the
Council,
that it
might
be inter-
esting
to
poll
the teachers
present
on their views
with
respect
to a number of
subjects
that had occa-
sioned
controversy
over the
past
half
century.
He
concurred, and I
prepared
a form on which each of
the Bible teachers could indicate his own under-
standing
with
respect
to the various
points
of contro-
versy.
This was done
immediately following the
reading
of the
paper
on controversial views.
Among
t he items listed in the
poll
were various interpreta-
tions that had been
given
the
king
of the north and
Armageddon.
The
poll revealed
general unanimity
on all of the
formerly
controverted
points,
and
complete agree-
ment with
respect
to the
king
of the nort h and
Armageddon.
A chorus of fervent amens
greeted
my announcement of the results, and someone
pro-
posed
that we
si ngthe
Doxology-which
we did. The
Bible teachers voted that the
poll
results be included
in the ofcial minutes of t he Council.
The Bible teachers
agreement on the
identity
of
t he
king
of the north and the nature of the battle of
Armageddon
coincided with that for which Louis
Were had been
severely criticized in Australia. He
retumed to
Australia, wrote K. J.
Reynolds
of the
General Conference
Department of Education, with
the
report
that t he best
theological
brains
among
t he Adventists in America were giving full support to
the
things
he had been
teaching
for
years
in Austra-
lia
against
the
opposition
of the
leading
brethren.
So
you see, he has stirred
up quite
a
tempest. As a
result Neal C.
Wilson, Sr., president
of the
Division,
appealed
to Elder Branson of the General Confer-
ence to deal
appropriately
with the situation. Elder
Branson
responded by issuing
a letter
warning
church administrators
against
the Bible Research
Fellowship, set t i ng up
an ad hoc committee to
st udy
the king of the north and
Armageddon,
and schedul-
ing
a
large
ecumenical Bible Conference for
Septem-
ber, 1952, that would
lay
down the ofcial line on
these and other
subjects.
ONFUSING THE 1950 quadrennial
council of t he
college
Bible teachers at
Angwin
with the Angwin-based
Bible
},
Research Fellowship, Elder Bransons
'
presidential letter, issued to church
administrators around the
world,
wamed them
against
the Bible Research
Fellowship-which
was
in no
way
involved with the situation in Australia
that precipitated
his
correspondence.
In this
letter,
dated October
7,
1951
(immediately
preceding
t he Fall
Council),
Elder Branson acknowl-
edged
that he had received
very
little of the materi-
al
being
sent out
by
t he
Fellowship,
so
[I] actually
know little about its activities
except
as I receive re-
percussions
from the eld
[Australia].
Some of
these, he wrote, give to those of us here at head-
V 7 '
46
quarters
some cause for concem. The
Fellowship
had become a
major
denominational
probl em, "
he
continued, because of its chapters or branches in
the various
Divisions, and t he General Confer-
ence
Ofcers, who recently gave considerable study
to reactions from the
eld, expressed
considerable
concem over the situation that is developing. " He
lamented that:
A
very wrong impression
is
being given
to the
world eld as to t he
loyalty
of
many
of the
Fellowship
members to the old fundamentals of
the Advent
message [Uriah
Smith's view of the
king
of the north and Armageddonl , and that
scores of our workers and
college
students are
becoming
confused as to
many points
of
denominational faith and
teaching.
He specically objected to inclusion of the poll on
controversial
subjects
in the ofcial
report
of the
1950College Bible Teachers Council, and identied
the
unanimity
of the Bible teachers with
respect
to
Armageddon and the
kings
of the east (count er
to
Uriah Smiths
view)
as the
theological
cmx of his
objection.
Curiously,
Elder Branson addressed this four-
page letter to L.L. Caviness, Ph. D. , and Prof.
Raymond'
F. Cottrell but sent it to administrators
around the world and not to either
of
u s , Puzzled
inquiries
from
Fellowship
members around t he
world a fewweeks later provi ded our rst intimation
of such a letter. Our rst
copy
came from a
personal
friend of Dr.
Caviness,
a Bible teacher at
Helderberg
College
in South
Africa,
who was a member of the
Fellowship.
As Elder Branson stated
frankly
in his
letter, he himself knew little about the
Fellowship
and what little he did know had come to him in the
form of
repercussions
from the el d- f r om
people
who
evidently
did not know much more about
it than he did. Neither he nor
they
had
sought
rst-
hand information about it from
any
of t he Bible
teachers or fromthe ofcers of the
Fellowship
before
taking
action.
As chairman and
secretary
of the
Fellowship,
Dr.
Caviness and I both wrote Elder Branson
requesting
information about t he letter and an
explanation
of his
reason for
sendi ng
it out. It was clear to us that he
and his informers were
unwitting
victims of misinfor-
mation which none had made an
attempt
to
verify.
Two months later Roger Altman, administrative
secretary
to Elder
Branson, sent each of us a
copy
of
the letter with an
apology
for the omission of our
names from the list of
recipients.
For some months
Dr. Caviness and I
sought unsuccessfully
to
clarify
matters with Elder Branson, explaining
the role of
the Fellowship as a st udy group
initiated
by
t he
college
Bible teachers and
assuring
him of our
individual and collective, complete and undivided
loyalty
to t he church and its leaders. But he had
evidently
decided that the Fellowship posed a grave
threat to the
church,
and that settled the matter. All
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efforts to
clarify
the situation
proved
futile.
The immediate effect of his letter was to create an
even
greater
interest in the
Fellowship
than had
existed before. Twice as
many membership applica-
tions were received
during
the year after his letter as
duri ng any comparable period prior to it.
After some months of
correspondence
with Elder
Branson,
I
reluctantly concluded that further
attempts
to
clarify
matters would be futile and that
more harm would result from defending the Fellow-
shi p than from
discontinuing
it in deference to the
well-being of t he church as a whole. The
key
factor in
my
decision was reluctant
acceptance
of his
opinion
that denominational
protocol precluded
its existence.
The
Fellowship
was
serving
the Bible teachers of all
sixteen Adventist
Englishlanguage colleges
around
the world and had members in
every
world division
of t he General Conference
except one, and in
every
union conference
except
one.
Accordingly, upon
three occasions
duri ng
the
winter of 1951-52 I
proposed
to Dr. Caviness that we
return t he
Fellowship
to the college Bible teachers at
the
proposed
1952Bible Conference in Takoma Park,
Maryland,
with t he recommendation that it be dis-
banded. I also
proposed
that we
request
the General
Conference to make
provision
for Bible research
withinthe framework of the General Conference. He
reluctantly agreed
that that would be the best course
of action under the circumstances.
But it was nevertheless, a
deep disappointment to
all ofthe Bible
teachers,
to be so misunderstood and
misrepresented
around t he world-for what was
intended to be sincere and dedicated service to the
church-and to see the effective
ministry
of the
Fellowship brought
to a close. The
impasse
to which
we had come was a modem
version,
in a
religious
setting,
of t he
age-long difculty
town and
gown
have
always experienced
in
trying
to understand and
cooperate
with each other. However, attempts
to
resolve this
particular
difference of
opi ni on- be-
tween t he
college
Bible teachers and t he General
Conference administration-were marked on both
sides,
from
beginning
to end, by goodwill
and
mutual
respect;
relations never deteriorated to the
personality
level.
Simultaneously
with
my proposal
that the Fellow-
shi p
be disbanded, I drew
up
a formal recommenda-
tion that the General Conference establish an ofce
of Bible research and appoint a Bible research
committee. I sent
copies
of this recommendation to
several persons at the General Conference and to
other
per sons
of inuence in church affairs with
whom I was personally acquainted.
I then arranged
with Clifford L.
Bauer, president
of the Pacic Union
Conference, for Dr. Caviness to attend t he Bible
Conference as a
delegate
of the Pacic Union,
specically
that he
might
work
out,
with the Bible
teachers and the General Conference, t he transfer of
Fellowship
activities to the General Conference. A
48
few
days later,
Elder Branson
personally
invited him
to attend the Autumn Council and to
participate
in
arrangements
for
establishing
t he ofce of Bible
research and the new Bible Research Committee.
Walter E. Read of the General Conference secre-
tariat was
appointed
chairman of the ad hoc
committee set
up
to make an
in-depth st udy
of the
king
of the north and
Armageddon,
and to
present
this
subject
at the 1952 Bible Conference. On behalf
of the committee and in
preparation
for the
conference, he
corresponded
with me at
l engt h
over
a
period
of several months.
Among
other
things,
he
requested copi es
of a number of
papers
I had written
on various
aspects
of the
subject
for the
Fellowship.
The ad hoc committee was
eventually merged
into
the Bible Research Committee, which
presented
a
formal
report
in the March, 1954
Ministry.
This
report
listed several of these
papers, among others,
accepted
their conclusions, and
gave
the
papers
appropriate
credit. The report consisted essentially
of a resume of
my paper,
Pioneer Views on Daniel
11 and
Armageddon.
' ' ' -
NORDERTOcounteract what he felt to
R?
.
be the
objectionable
inuence of the
_,
Bible Research
Fellowship (all of the

a Bible teachers of the church, collec-

'
~ f - -
'
tively),
Elder Branson, as
previously
noted, decided to convene a
large
ecumenical Bible
Conference to reafrm the historic position of t he
church on
important points of Biblical
interpretation
as he understood them. That conference met in t he
Sligo
Church in Takoma Park from
September
1 to
13, 1952,
a few
days
before the 1952 Autumn
Council. Most of the
delegates
to this conference
were from North
America,
but
many
from overseas
came
early
to attend both
gatherings. Major
atten-
tion was
given
to certain
points
of
interpretation
listed in t he
questionnaire
at t he Bible Teachers
Council two
years before, to which Elder Branson
had taken
particular exception,
and
especially
to the
king of the north, the battle of Armageddon, and
related events. The Bible Conference was so
structured that only what
might
be called t he
ofcial
position"
was to be mentioned
publicly,
and
no provision was made for discussion on t he oor -
though
there was considerable locker room
discussion. To this end all papers were carefully
screened in
advance,
as were written
questions
from
the oor. In his
lengthy, two-part presentation
of
Armageddon
and related
subjects,
Elder Read took
the same
position
as that reected
by
the
college
Bible teachers in t he 1950
poll.
Bible teachers
attending
the 1952 Bible Confer-
ence
agreed
to disband the
Fellowship,
and the
Autumn Council a few
days
later
(September
17 to
27) appointed
Walter E. Read to direct t he ofce of
Bible research and set
up
a
permanent
Committee
for Biblical
Study
and Research. Dr. Caviness
if
I
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The 1952Bible Conference met in the
Sligo
Church
September
1 to 13. Bible teachers
attending
that
conference agreed
to disband the Bible Research
Fellowship
because the General
Conference was
establishing
its own
permanent ofce of Bible
R95earh_ counesy: Fleview and Herald Publishing Association
thereupon
laid
plans
to disband the
Fellowship
as of
December, 1952, when membership dues
already
received would
expire.
In November the new
committee met for the rst time under the chaimian-
shi p
of Elder Read. The
guidelines
drawn for it
by
t he General Conference ofcers
specied
t he
objectives
and
procedures pioneered by
t he Bible
Research Fellowship.
With the
approval
of their
authors, some
thirty
research
papers awaiting
con-
sideration
by
the
Fellowship
were turned over to the
new committee, and Dr. Caviness wrote to the nine
local
chapters inviting
them to deal
directly
with
Elder Read and the new committee.
Through
the
columns of The
Ministry
an announcement was
made of the new committee and an invitation issued
for research
papers
to be contributed. There was
thus direct
continuity
between the Bible Research
Fellowship andthe new Committee for Biblical
Study
and Research.
The Bible Research
Fellowship
thus terminated
nearly
ten
years
of
pioneering ministry
to t he
church,
duri ng which time the
Angwin chapter met regularly
one Sabbath aftemoon each month. It was
my
50
, , . , . , . . . . . . i . = . . . . . , . _
privilege
to attend
every meeting
of the
Fellowship
from 1943 to 1952, and
every meeting
of the new
Bible Research Committee from 1952 to 1975.

"""'!\
HE INFLUENCE OF the Bible Re-
is
`
search
Fellowship
did not cease with
Qformal termination of its activities. In
5, Q
ten short
years
it
madeanimpact
on the
3 0
denomination that has vitally affected
church life and work. There were both
immediate,
tangible results, and less
tangible
but
equally
important long-range
results. The
principal tangible
results consisted of:
1. A
permanent General Conference ofce of
Bible research, established in 1952, the
year
of
transition.
2. A
permanent
General Conference Committee
for Biblical
Study
and
Research,
also established in
1952.
3. The ecumenical Bible Conference of
1952,
in
Takoma Park.
4. The principles of
interpretation
built into the
SDA Bible
Commentary,
1952 to 1957.
Practically
all
of the writers and the two editors of the
Commentary
were Bible teachers and members of t he Bible Re-
search Fellowship at the time
they accepted
their
assignments. The
Commentary
reects the
spirit,
the hermeneutical
principles,
and the
interpretation
of
Scripture encouraged by
the
Fellowship,
and is a
living monument to it. These herrneneutical princi-
ples
are also set forth at some
length
in
my chapter
on
principles
of Bible
interpretation
in t he book
Problems in Bible Translation; in
my
article on The
Role of Israel in Old Testament
Prophecy"
in
Volume 4 of the
Commentary;
and in numerous
unpublished paper s
on the
subject.
Less
tangible
results of the
Fellowship
include:
5. A demonstration of effective
gr oup dynamics
in
cooperative
Bible
study
on the research level for the
rst time in the
history
of the church. It
brought
the
college
Bible teachers of the chur ch- with their
concern for such
st udy-t oge t he r
in a
permanent,
cooperat i ve working relationship
in which mutual
respect
and condence, complete
freedom of ex-
pression
and
investigation,
and a
spirit
of dedication
and
loyalty
to t he church
prevailed.
6. A demonstration of the
at mosphere necessary
for creative, cooperative
research-level Bible
study.
This
atmosphere
is
composed
of
willingness
to
recognize
t he
Holy Spirit
as the author, guardian,
and arbiter of truth, and to followwherever the
Spirit
leads; willingness
to deal
objectively
and
fairly
with
all of the available evidence; and
willingness
to listen
attentively
and with an
open
mind to the other
persons perspective of t he truth, in t he realization
that he
may
have a more accurate
understanding
of
some facets of it than l do, and with sincere
respect
for his
perception
of truth and condence in his
personal integrity, dedication, and
loyalty
to the
church. Such an
atmosphere
is vital to a successful
corporate quest
for truth.
7. Its
provision
of a
place
to which the Bible
l
r
1
5* ~
\
a n t i w a r , -
scholars of t he church could take
reports
of their in-
dividual st udy
for evaluation and constructive
criticism by
their
peers;
that
is, per sons competent
to evaluate research-level
study projects.
Ellen
White counseled those
who,
in their
st udy
of the
Bible, nd what
they
take to be a clearer under-
standing
of
truth,
to submit their
ndings
to
persons
of experience-obviously persons
with more
exper-
ience than their own:
__.t he only safety
for
any
of us is in
receiving
no
new
doctrine,
no new
interpretation
of the
Scriptures,
without rst
submitting
it to brethren
of
experi ence. Lay
it before them in a humble,
teachable
spirit,
with eamest
prayer:
and if
t hey
see no
light
in
it, yield
to their
j udgment ;
for i n
the multitude of counselors there is
safet y."
But to whom can those with the best
training
and
highest degree
of
competence
in Biblical studies
go
for such counsel?
Obviously, only
to their
peers;
that
is, persons
with
comparable training
and
experience
in Biblical studies. The Bible Research
Fellowship
provided
a fonim in which t he results of Bible
study
onthe research level could be evaluated
by
a
panel
of
other
competent
Bible scholars, in an
atmosphere
of
mutual
respect
and condence.
8. A demonstration that freedom to
investigate
the Bible objectively,
under the
guidance
of the
Holy
Spirit,
with an
open
mind and in mutual condence,
is a far more effective
catalyst
for
unifying compe-
tent, responsible, thinking persons
than
regimenta-
tion of
t hought .
The
Fellowship
was unofcial in its
51
organization
and
operation, and therefore had no
need to take a
position or make a
pronouncement . It
never did so. Its
purpose was
simply
to
help
its
members in their individual quests for truth. Inas-
much as the
Fellowship eventually included
virtually
all the
college Bible teachers of the church, through
them it made a
major contribution to our collective
perception
of truth. In this unofcial
atmosphere
the
investigation
of altemative possible interpretations
andpoints of viewcould
proceed in a
relaxed,
secure
atmosphere
of mutual respect and
condence,
without fear of
being misunderstood, or of recrimina-
tion or
reprisal.
The
responsible scholarly exchange
and examination of altemative
interpretations and
points of view in such an
at mosphere seemessential
to
any genuine quest for truth.
9. A demonstration that
cooperation
with others
in the
quest
for truth is a
highly
desirable
safeguard
against weak
spots
in ones own
reasoning process,
andthat the
experience of
working
with others in the
quest binds hearts and minds together in a richer
understanding
of Gods word. I feel that one of the
most valuable
byproducts
of the Bible Research Fel-
lowship
was the
spirit
of
unity
and
fellowship
it
provided
for its members in their collective
quest
for
truth.
10. Its
powerful incentive to
diligent, thorough,
persevering
Bible
study onthe research level, with a
view to
ascertaining
as accurate and
complete
an
understanding
of the
import of Scriptures as
possi-
ble. It
brought
individual endeavor to understand the
Bible into
sharp
focus. The
experi ence of
critically
evaluating many scores of
papers, analyzing
an
Elder R. F. Cottrell was
secret ary of the Bible
Research
Fellowship duri ng
the entire
peri od of
its
existence. Besides
writing
some
of
the
papers
discussed
by
the
Fellowship, he attended
every
one
of
its
meet i ngs from 1943 to 1952 as well as
every
meet i ng ofthe
later Bible Research Committee
from
1952 to 1975, wunesy: Pacic union
college
_S
3.
- -
f --
_
,
. . . - .
. - / , . "f\.. ;.."'
qu,
if
P
authors
presuppositions, his
hermeneutic, his
reasoning process,
and the
validity
of his conclusions
in tenns of the evidence he present ed was also of in-
estimable value.
The church is
deeply indebted to t he Bible
Research
Fellowship and tothe dedication and vision
of its founder and
leading spirit, Dr. Leon L.
Caviness. The church
might
well be served
today by
a revival of the
objectives,
the
incentives, t he
principles, the
atmosphere, the
procedures, and the
spirit of
fellowship
in the
quest
for truth it
provided
those who
participated in it.
SELECTEDSOURCES
BOOKSAND PAMPHLETS
General Oonlarenos at Swentn~day Adventists. Our Firm Foundation. 2 Vols.
Washington, D.C.: Reviewand Herald
Publishing Association, 1953.
Were, Louis F.
Armagoddon:Tha Battle ot the Grnt Day oi Bod
Almighty.
Privately pri nt ed. nodate.
i. Tho
King
at the North In Jorunllm.
Privately pri nt ed, nodate.
White, Ellen 6. Oounuil lo Writers and Editors , Nashville, Tennessee:
Southern Publishing Association, 1946.
m. Tntlrmnlea to thomur di. Vol. 5. Mountain View. California: Pacilic
Press Publishing Association, no date.
LEITERS
.5.5_5?
.=;r-
I
eynnl ds to R. F.
Cottrell, January 14, 1951.
Branson to L. L. Caviness and Ft. F. Cottrell, October 7, 1951.
Harris to R. F.
Cottrell, January 21, 1951.
H. Branson wL. L. Caviness and Fl. F. Cottrell, January 21, 1952.
ADDITIONAL SOURC
Other articles, pamphl et s, manuscripts, and statements are lrom the personal
tiles of the author.
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