Call for Papers

Adventist Studies: State of the Art and the Things to Come

Symposium, ThH Friedensau, April 27–30 (online)

Further details, times and zoom link to be communicated.

The field of Adventist Studies has come a long way. Recent milestones – such as the Oxford Handbook of Seventh-day Adventism, the online Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, and two volumes of Ellen White’s annotated early manuscripts and letters – indicate the discipline’s maturity and diversity. Scholarly discourse on Adventist origins, variegated development, and global denominational presence is thriving.

This symposium aims to chart future directions by evaluating achievements and break­throughs as well as discussing challenges and desiderata in the field and its research practices. Some of the possible themes are:

[A. History] (1) The future of Ellen White studies, (2) The study of regional Adventisms, including decolonial perspectives, (3) Researching dynamics of SDA migration and denominational globalization, (4) Reflections on Adventist historiography.

[B. Theology] (5) Approaches to contextual Adventist theology, (6) Adventist biblical studies?, (7) Investigating Adventist moral traditions and ethics.

[C. Frameworks] (8) Comparative methods in studying adventistic movements throughout religious history, (9) The social sciences and empirical studies in Adventist phenomena, (10) “Adventist epistemology” in Adventist Studies?, (11) The study of popular Adventisms, (12) Researching women and Adventism, (13) Digital humanities and Adventist research.

[D. Past, Present, and Future] (13) Classics in Adventist Studies and what we can learn from them, (14) Past and potential breakthroughs, (15) Adventist Studies as ministry to the church, (16) Blind spots of the discipline so far.

You are invited to submit a topic and an abstract by November 15, 2025. Contributions should focus on methodology, theoretical framework, research philosophy, scholarly practices, and other foundational aspects of the field. Symposium participants will be scholars of various backgrounds as well as teachers, pastors, church administrators, archivists, and individuals who are interested in the field of Adventist Studies. Symposium presentations will be published as part of the IAS series.

Institute of Adventist Studies (IAS), Friedensau Adventist University

Stefan Höschele, Ph.D., & Bernd Müller, Ph.D.

Symposium Details

Symposium background: On the evening of January 21, 1525, Konrad Grebel baptised the former Roman Catholic priest Jörg Blaurock, who had asked him to do so, in Zollikon, near Zurich. Blaurock then baptised others among their friends. With this act, a first independent congregation was constituted which detached itself from the Zurich Reformation. To this day, January 21, 1525, is considered the founding date of a movement that has been pejoratively named the “Wiedertäufer” (Anabaptist) movement by its opponents. Since the 20th century, it has also been called the Radical Reformation or the “left wing” of the Reformation. Yet these names can only inadequately reflect the breadth and diversity of interests of the movement. The core concern was the longing for a comprehensive Reformation, which was dominated by four emphases: (1) consistent discipleship, (2) the Holy Scriptures as the indispensable standard for faith and life, (3) the priesthood of all believers, and (4) the separation of church and state power. This often led to strict non-violence, withdrawal from the world and strong eschatological expectations. Faith baptism marked membership in the movement.
The Anabaptists did not represent a homogeneous revival movement within the 16th century Reformation and was not limited to Switzerland and Southern Germany. The radical demands prominent among them, i.e. church-state separation and the personal decision for the faith by each Christian, represented a significant intellectual-historical background for the Reformation which had been initiated by Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli. For various reasons, however, these two categorically rejected the claims of the Anabaptist movement, and even demanded and supported their persecution by the authorities. As early as 1527, the Anabaptist leader Felix Manz was drowned in the Limmat river of Zurich, and Michael Sattler was burned in Rottenburg am Neckar. Two years later, in 1529, the Diet of Speyer passed the so-called “Anabaptists Mandate” with the consenting votes of the Protestant princes. This resolution stipulated that all those who practised faith baptism and those who did not have their children baptised were to be sentenced to death. Although the mandate was not implemented in the same manner everywhere, many Anabaptists lost their lives because of their faith.
Even though today there are only a few major groups that directly trace their history back to the Anabaptist movement (the Mennonites, the Amish, and a few others), influences of this movement can be found in many ways in the creeds and church order of contemporary denominations. In preparing for the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement in 1525, Friedensau Adventist University invited the public you to an international symposium that explored various aspects and vestiges of the Anabaptist movement in Adventism and beyond.

The fourth symposium of the Institute of Adventist Studies at FAU aimed at deliberating the variety, continuities, and distinct emphases in Adventist interpretations of biblical apocalyptic. Beyond Daniel and Revelation, what have been the roles of other biblical passages of this genre (e. g., in Zechariah, Ezekiel, Paul, and Peter)? What impact, if any, did the Methodist, Baptist, and Christian Connection backgrounds of the founders have on their particular “apocalyptic accent”? Which themes were stressed in earlier periods, and which received attention in later generations? How should the denominational spectrum of hermeneutical and interpretative traditions with regard to apocalyptic materials be assessed? How have Adventists handled key themes such as theodicy and judgment, the nearness and “delay” of the parousia, and consequences of apocalyptic eschatology for mission and ministry? What impact has the apocalyptic orientation had for members’ anticipation and angst regarding future events, and for their life in but not of the world?

By observing and pondering Adventist discourses in the various realms touched by apocalyptic beliefs and thought, symposium participants aimed both at critically analyzing and at gaining a fresh appreciation for a contested, but crucial element of Christian theology and salvation history – the expectation that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”

The program featured seventeen scholarly papers. Here you can find a list of all presenters (including working titles).

The proceedings will be published in the IAS series Adventistica. Watch out for news.

Download: Complete e-book (PDF):
Höschele & Wogu 2020: Contours of European Adventism

Is there such a thing as "European Adventism"? What are its most important contributions to worldwide Adventism? These were some of the questions discussed at the symposium "Contours of European Adventism" organized by the Institute of Adventist Studies. From 23 to 26 April 2018, the participants of the symposium heard 21 lectures by Adventists from many European and non-European countries. The presentations reflected historical, theological, empirical or sociological perspectives and dealt with the problems of past and present generations of Adventists in Europe

The presentations have been published; the book can be ordered here via Amazon or here via BOD, with cheaper shipment in many countries (Contours of European Adventism: Issues in the History of the Denomination on the Old Continent. Ed. by Stefan Höschele und Chigemezi N. Wogu).

If you are interested in IAS publications, you can subscribe to the IAS Newsletter. All you need to do is send an e-mail to: .

• Adventist Today
• Adventistischer Pressedienst
• Spectrum Day One, Day Two, Day Three

Book chapter with color graph:

• P. Cincala, European Adventist Ways of Reaching Secular People for Christ

Are Seventh-day Adventists “heirs of the Protestant Reformation”? How did early Seventh-day Adventists perceive the Protestant Reformation? Which theological lines connect Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church? These and other issues were discussed on the Second International Symposium of the Institute of Adventist Studies of FAU, May 9-12, 2016. The Symposium consisted of 18 scholarly lectures held by national and international researchers. In the first part, the focus was on the Protestant Reformation as an overall movement, and then, in a more specialized part, on the tradition of the Anabaptists, the so-called “left wing” of the Protestant Reformation.

In a constructive atmosphere, ideas could be exchanged, and perspectives widened. The Symposium came to an end with an excursion to Lutherstadt Wittenberg. In 2018, an anthology of the scholarly lectures was published in the series "Adventistica" by FAU.

Reports:

• Spectrummagazine
• Adventistischer Pressedienst
• Adventisten Heute

The Institute for Adventist Studies of FAU organized its first International Symposium on May 12-15, 2014. Approximately 90 speakers, auditors, and students attended the Symposium with the theme “The Impact of World War I on Seventh-day Adventism”. After listening to the lectures held by 19 speakers, amongst others, the church historian George Knight (USA), there were discussions with questions and answers on the respective topics.

The event was structured by three thematic blocks: the interpretation of prophetic texts on the expected fall of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), the military service of Seventh-day Adventists (also on Sabbath) in countries involved in World War I, and the origin of the Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement in 1915 in reaction to the Church's position towards this issue.

The highlight of this Symposium was the discussion with some leading representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement on Wednesday evening. There had already been a discussion with representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement in Friedensau in 1920, which should be repeated in 2014. There was an open exchange of views in a fraternal atmosphere, which aroused the desire for further discussions on the basis of an historical study of sources and a dialog without apologetics/polemics.

The conference organized by Prof. Dr. Rolf J. Pöhler came to an end on Thursday with an excursion to Lutherstadt Wittenberg in the afternoon and a concert of the world-famous conductor Herbert Blomstedt at the Gewandhaus Leipzig in the evening.

A compilation of the scholarly lectures as an anthology is currently in progress and planned for spring 2019. If you are interested in publications of IAS, you can subscribe to the newsletter of IAS. Just send an e-mail to: ">.

Reports:

• Adventist Today
• Adventisten Heute
• Adventistischer Pressedienst
• Spectrum
• Adventist Peace Fellowship