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Introduction In 1980, as a result of Dr. Walter Rea's
discovery of striking similarities between her writings and those of
other authors, Mrs. Ellen G. White joined the "Who's Who" of
high-profile authors accused of plagiarism.[1]
The list includes such notables as Rudyard
Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, Richard Henry Dana,[2]
and even William Shakespeare.[3] In
that same year, Dr. Fred Veltman, Ph.D.,
chairman of the religion department of Pacific Union College and expert
in language and source analysis, launched what was intended to be a
six-month literary study of The Desire of Ages. As he told me
later, his interest was not to prove or disprove the charge of
plagiarism, but to get a realistic handle on the extent of Ellen White's
borrowing of literary expressions in The Desire of Ages from
the writings of authors who had preceded her. (The thought of
literary borrowing by inspired writers was not troubling to Dr. Veltman
since he had studied the same issue before in relation to Biblical
writers.) In
setting up the project, Dr. Veltman faced a monumental task.[4]
How was he to obtain the probable source works that were no longer all
in one place? Of the 1200 works in the private and office libraries of
Ellen White at the time of her death,[5]
perhaps 75 of them relate to the four Gospels in some way. Approximately
50 more were devotional, inspirational books (including sermons) that
could contain material relating to certain portions of The Desire of
Ages. To perform a thorough evaluation of possible sources, Dr.
Veltman would need to obtain as many of these as possible—first at the
White Estate Office and then at libraries across the country. The
pursuit of these books was on! Obtaining
40 works of the most familiar authors—which included William Hanna,
Daniel March, John Harris, George Jones, Alfred Edersheim, Frederick W.
Farrar, Robert Boyd, John R. Macduff, Andrew Murray, Samuel J. Andrews,
and Cunningham Geikie—was only the beginning. Over the span of the
next eight years, the researchers would obtain and search through more
than 500 works! (Those who would suggest that there were likely many
more sources of parallels than those identified are simply unaware of
the exhaustive nature of this investigation![6])
It was the duty of Marcella Anderson, Dr. Veltman's research assistant,
to peruse each volume and pick out the portions relating to The
Desire of Ages chapters under investigation. With
this kind of comprehensive study, it soon became apparent that a
thorough investigation of all 87 chapters of The
Desire of Ages would simply not be feasible under the time and
financial constraints of the project. It was decided that a carefully
selected representative number of chapters would work just as well in
making valid generalizations about the book. Because Walter Rea had
asserted that longer chapters would be found to have more borrowing than
shorter ones, Dr. Veltman divided the book into three groups, according
to length: 29 long chapters; 29 short chapters; and 29 middle-length
ones. From each of these three categories, five chapters were randomly
selected by two professors of the Pacific Union College Mathematics
Department, Dr. Richard Rockwell and Dr. A. Keith Anderson. (This was to
avert any complaints that a chapter had been selected because it was
known to have a smaller or larger number of parallels.) Chapters 10, 14,
37, 72, and 75 were selected from the long chapters; chapters 3, 13, 46,
56, 83 from the short chapters; and chapters 24, 39, 53, 76, and 84 from
the middle-length chapters. Since Walter Rea had also asserted that the
earlier "life of Christ" treatises by Ellen White had a
smaller percentage of borrowing than The
Desire of Ages, Dr. Veltman decided to perform the research
necessary to settle this issue as well. (Both of Walter Rea's assertions
were proved false.) To
further conserve resources, Dr. Veltman recruited volunteer readers.
Each volunteer was assigned one or two chapters of The Desire of Ages,
plus chapter 75, which was the control chapter that insured consistent
application of method. In addition to their assigned Desire of Ages
chapters, each volunteer was to read the portions of the possible source
works relating to those chapters. Reports from their reading were
compiled under the corresponding Desire
of Ages chapter, whether or not source parallels had been found. The
readers' goal was to find as many literary parallels as possible between
the source works and The Desire
of Ages chapters. If any book did not yield parallels to The
Desire of Ages, it could be ruled out as a source work. (In the
course of study, readers unofficially covered all the chapters in The
Desire of Ages and discovered that there were actually five chapters
that were parallel free.) It
is common knowledge that Ellen White made use of literary helpers in
producing her books and periodical articles. The Desire of Ages was
a revision of the life of Christ account in Spirit
of Prophecy, volumes 2 and 3, published in the 1870s, with
additional materials written by Mrs. White. In order to find the
materials of Mrs. White that had been used in The Desire of Ages,
Dr. Veltman and Marcella Anderson combed through Ellen White's
periodical articles, her books published before 1898 (The Desire
of Ages having been published late that year), her personal diaries
and letters, and her handwritten manuscripts and transcripts on the life
of Christ. However, they did not make use of the Spiritual Gifts
life of Christ material. (More on this later.) Dr. Veltman was granted
free access to the E. G. White files at the White Estate. From these
files he brought back reams of unpublished materials. Marcella Anderson
reviewed these manuscripts and catalogued them according to the chapters
of The Desire of Ages,
retyping the most pertinent portions that had to do with Ellen White's
writings on the life of Christ, her use of literary helpers and writing
methods, and the issues of inspiration and revelation. If the work of
Ellen White were to be isolated from that of her editors, it would be
necessary to have her handwritten supporting manuscripts. Though only
chapters 14, 24, and 75 of The Desire of Ages had any handwritten
documentary support, the chapters in Spirit
of Prophecy, volumes 2 and 3, upon which chapters 3, 10, 13, and 14
of The Desire of Ages were
built, did have corresponding handwritten manuscripts. These supportive
manuscripts, which related to the fifteen research chapters, were not
sent out to the volunteer readers, but were examined for source
parallels by Dr. Veltman, Dr. J. Paul Stauffer (part-time researcher),
and E. Marcella Anderson. Summary
of literary dependency for the fifteen chapters
In
order to assign a relative numeric value to the level of literary
dependency for each chapter, Dr. Veltman determined that sentences (and
not words) would be the basic unit of evaluation. Each sentence would be
assigned a number according to its relative level of dependency from
seven down to zero—7 for strict verbatim (V1), 6
for not so strict verbatim (V2), 5 for strict
paraphrase (P1), 4 for simple paraphrase (P2),
3 for loose paraphrase (P3), and 2 for Bible
used same as in source (B1), 1 for partial
independent (I2), 0 for strict independent (I1)
and Bible references (B2). With each sentence being
assigned a number, an average level of literary dependency could be
calculated and the literary dependency of the rest of the book could be
reliably projected. Dr.
Veltman arbitrarily designated each work that was demonstrated to have
parallel material to The Desire of Ages as either a major or
minor source. "Major" meant that a work had more than ten
sentences that paralleled material in a given Desire
of Ages chapter; "minor" meant it had less than ten. Based
on these criteria, there were ten major source works that Ellen White
likely consulted in writing the selected 15 chapters of the
Desire of Ages
covered in the research project, a major source work tending to
dominate in each of the chapters. The major sources are, in order of
descending use in the chapters: The
Life of Christ by William Hanna; Night
Scenes of the Bible by Daniel March; The
Great Teacher by John Harris; The
Life of Christ by Frederic Farrar; Walks
and Homes of Jesus by Daniel March; Life-Scenes
from the Four Gospels by George Jones; The
Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim; The
Prince of the House of David by J. H. Ingraham; Salvation
by Christ by Francis Wayland; and Sabbath
Evening Readings on the New Testament, St. John by John Cumming. What
percentage of the text of The Desire of Ages shows evidence of
being influenced by any of the sources? Dr. Veltman answered in the
summary of the report: For those looking for some percentage of dependency I think it is safe to say that about 31 percent of the DA text measured some degree of literary dependency and about 61 percent registered independence. The rest represents the use of Scripture. The
rate of dependency … averages out at 3.33 or at the level of Loose
Paraphrase when viewing the degree of dependency for dependent
sentences. … When looking at the average dependency rate for an entire
chapter, including the independent sentences, the rate drops to 1.12 or
about the level of Partial Independence.
[7] In
other words, "there are twice as many independent sentences as
there are dependent sentences,"[8]
and the majority of the sentences considered to have verbal similarity
followed their supposed sources rather loosely. It should be noted that,
for a sentence to have "some degree of literary dependency,"
it only had to have one verbatim word. A
careful reading of Dr. Veltman's 2,222-page written report[9]
reveals that he often established dependency for loosely paraphrased
sentences by correlating The Desire of Ages text to patterns of
parallel verbatim words and similar phrasing in the underlying pre-DA
materials available to Marian Davis for revising the Spirit of
Prophecy chapters on the life of Christ. Such pre-DA
materials include Ellen White's earlier books, manuscripts, journals,
letters, and periodical articles on the subject. in the process of
changing verb forms and dropping unnecessary words for incorporation
into the text of The Desire of Ages, many of the verbatim clues
disappear.[10]
We could liken the pattern of verbatim words and similar phrasing in her
manuscripts to a connect-the-dots drawing that has been photocopied with
such a light setting that it is just barely distinguishable. It
is the opinion of this writer that such a vague image formed by verbatim
words and similar phrasing is consonant with W. C. White's description
of his mother's use of life of Christ writings—that is, that she
used these writings in keeping to the storyline of the Gospels and in
jogging her memory about what was vividly revealed to her in vision. That
she should occasionally mirror some of their verbatim wording as she
used their works to remember essential parts of the story would only
seem natural. The great events occurring in the life of our Lord were presented to her in panoramic scenes as also were other portions of The Great Controversy. In a few of these scenes chronology and geography were clearly presented, but in the greater part of the revelation the flashlight scenes, which were exceedingly vivid, and the conversations and the controversies, which she heard and was able to narrate, were not marked geographically or chronologically, and she was left to study the Bible and history, and the writings of men who had presented the life of our Lord to get the chronological and geographical connection. Another purpose served by the reading of history and the Life of Our Lord [likely William Hanna's Life of Christ (1863) under an alternate title] … was that in so doing there was brought vividly to her mind scenes presented clearly in vision, but which were, through the lapse of years and her strenuous ministry, dimmed in her memory. Many times in the reading of Hanna, Farrar, or Fleetwood, she would run on to a description of a scene which had been vividly presented to her, but forgotten, and which she was able to describe more in detail than that which she had read.[11] It should be noted that none of the fifteen random chapters covered in the Life of Christ Research Project had any "strict verbatim" sentences, and that six of the fifteen—chapters 10, 13, 53, 56, 72, and 76—did not have any of the less strict V2 adapted "verbatims," defined by Dr. Veltman as a verbatim sentence having "slight modification of word forms, incidental word substitutions or punctuation changes." Many of these "verbatim" sentences represented only a piece of a sentence in the "source." All the "verbatim" sentences noted in the study V2 -
Modified verbatims (dependency rating, 6) Chap.
3
(1 V2 sentence out of 130 sentence units)
►
"The
fullness of the time had come."
DA 34.4. Supposed
source: "When, in the
fulness of time,
the eternal Son came forth from the bosom of the Father, he descended to
a region of spiritual darkness." John Harris, The Great Teacher,
49. Comment:
Perhaps this should have been
identified as a B2, since the quotation follows Galatians 4:4
more closely than Harris: "But when the
fulness of the time was
come, …" Chap.
14
(5 V2 sentences out of 250 sentence units)
►
"Again
the face
of the prophet was lighted up with glory
from the Unseen, as he cried,
'Behold
the Lamb of God!'" DA
138.4. Possible
source: "On the following
day, while two of John's disciples were standing near by, Jesus came, in
sight, and the
Baptist's face again
took the glow of inspiration, as
he cried: 'Behold
the Lamb of God!'"
George Jones, Life-Scenes
from the Four Gospels, 96. Comment:
This
"verbatim" is more of a paraphrase, with the words of John
taken from John 1:29, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto
him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world." ►
"The
words thrilled the hearts
of the disciples."
DA 138.4. Possible
source: "The
two disciples, how they were thrilled
by the words!" Jones, LSFG
96. Comment:
Ellen White's description merges Jones' words with those of Luke 24:32:
"And they said one to another, Did not our heart
burn within us, while he talked with us
by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" ►
"Philip entered
into no
controversy." DA 140.3 Possible
source:
"The reply of Philip is
every way observable. He entered on
no controversy, he attempted no
discussion; he felt that the means which had been effectual with himself
were most likely to be effectual with Nathanael; ..." Henry
Melvill, The Golden Lectures, 81. Comment:
Four verbatim words from two sentences of 36+ words. ►
"If you believe on Me
as such, your faith
shall be quickened." DA 142.4. Possible
source:
"Believe what that sign was
meant to confirm; believe in me as
the lamb of God, the Saviour of the world, the baptizer with the Holy
Ghost, and your eye of faith
shall be quickened." William Hanna, Life of Christ,
108. Comment:
Eight verbatim words from a 35-word sentence. ►
"I
have opened them
to you." DA
142.4. Possible
source:
"… and you shall see those heavens standing continually open
above my head—opened by
me for you;"
Hanna, 108 Comment:
Two verbatim words out of a 99-word sentence! Chap.
24
(1 V2 sentence out of 153 sentence units)
►
"They
hurried him
to the
brow of a precipice, intending
to cast him down headlong."
DA 240.1. Partial
source: "…
they hurry
him forth
to the brow of a precipice, near
by the synagogue, that they may cast
him down headlong." Daniel March, Walks and Homes of
Jesus, 61. Comment:
Ellen White may have taken "hurried"
and "precipice" from
March, but the rest of the sentence comes from Luke 4:29—"And
rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow
of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast
him down headlong." Chap.
37 (5
V2 sentences out of 217 sentence units)
►
"Where
He had passed, the objects of
His compassion were rejoicing in health, and making
trial of their new-found powers. DA 350.3 Source:
"Where he had passed, the
restored might be seen, making trial of
their new-found powers; listeners,
formed into groups to hear the tale of healing; and the
delighted objects of his compassion, rehearsing, with earnestness, what
had passed, imitating his tones, and even trying to convey an idea of
his condescending ways." Harris, TGT 343. ►
"His
voice was the first sound that
many had ever heard,
His name the first word they had ever
spoken, His face the
first they
ever looked upon." Source:
"His voice was the first sound
which many
of them heard; his
name the first word they had pronounced,
his blessed form the
first sight they had
ever beheld."
Harris, TGT 343. Comment:
10 verbatim words out of a 52-word sentence. ►
"As He
passed through the
towns and cities He was like a
vital current,
diffusing life
and joy wherever He went."
DA 350.3. Source:
"He went through
the land like
a current of vital
air, an element of life, diffusing
health and
joy wherever he appeared."
Harris, TGT 343. ►
"And more
than angels are in the ranks."
DA 352.2. Likely
source: "… he reminds
them that they struggle for an invisible world, that they fight in the
fellowship ... with all the children of light, that more
than angels are in their ranks."
Harris, TGT xliv. Comment:
6 verbatim words out of a
59-word sentence. ►
"Every
soul was
precious in His eyes." DA
353.1. Source:
"Every scrap
of humanity was sacred
and precious in his eyes."
James R. Miller, Week-Day Religion, 187. Comment:
Ellen White adapts the language of Miller to comment on Matt. 12:20,
"A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not
quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory." Miller says:
"He was utterly
incapable of rudeness";
Ellen White says: "He was never rude."
Ellen White corrects Miller's use of "scrap
of humanity" and "sacred and precious,"
describing every "soul,"
as "precious" but not
"sacred." [12] Chap.
39
(1 V2 sentence out of 158 sentence units)
►
"We
are not to plunge into
difficulties, neglecting
the means God
has provided, and misusing
the faculties He
has given us." DA 369.1. Source:
"When we plunge
ourselves into difficulty,
by a neglect of the
means or by a misuse
of the faculties which
God has bestowed upon us, it is to be expected that he will
leave us to our own devices." Francis Wayland, Salvation by
Christ, 246. Chap.
46 (2
V2 sentences out of 89 sentence units)
►
"The
Saviour and his disciples have spent
the day in traveling and
teaching, and
the mountain
climb adds to
their weariness." DA
419.1. Source:
"He has spent
the day in travel, and
in teaching,
and this
mountain climb at night adds
a heavy weight to
weariness that demanded rest
before the evening came." March, WHJ 150. ►
"The disciples do
not venture to ask Christ
whither He is going, or
for what purpose." DA 419.3. Source:
"They do
not ask him
whither he is going, or
for what purpose, he leads them away to the solitude of the
mountain—just as night is setting in, and they all need repose and
protection in the homes which they have left behind." March, WHJ
151. Chap.
75
(6 V2 sentences out of 351 sentences)
►
"Christ
was to be tried
formally before
the Sanhedrin; but before
Annas He was
subjected to a preliminary
trial." DA 698.3. Likely
source: "It was in this
hall, and before Annas, that Jesus
was subjected to that
preliminary informal
examination recorded in the eighteenth chapter of the gospel
of St. John, ver. 19–24. He
was to be formally
tried, with show at least of law,
before the Sanhedrim, the highest
of the Jewish courts; but this
could not be done at once." Hanna, 663. Comment:
15 verbatim words out of a 58-word sentence. ►
"Their
own rules declared
that every man
should be treated
as innocent until proved
guilty."
DA 699.2. Likely
source: "But
He would not repeat it, in spite of their insistence, because He knew
that it was open to their wilful misinterpretation, and because they
were acting in flagrant violation of their
own express rules and
traditions, which demanded, that
every arraigned criminal
should be regarded and treated
as innocent until his guilt
was actually proved."
Farrar, Life of Christ, 615. Comment:
13
verbatim words out of a 56-word sentence. ►
"And He suffered
in proportion to the perfection of His holiness and
His hatred
for sin." DA
700.3. Source:
"… 'he suffered, being
tempted,'—suffered in proportion to the
perfection of his holiness, and
the depth of his
aversion to sin; but
though his residence in an atmosphere of sin was revolting to his
purity, though the presence of depravity made his continuance here a
perpetual sacrifice, his love induced him to submit, …" Harris, TGT
340. Comment:
12 verbatim words out of a 100-word sentence! ►
"Of all the
throng He alone was calm
and serene." DA
704.0. Possible
source:
"He alone, of
all that countless host,
He alone was calm—serene—fearless!"
J. H. Ingraham, The Prince of the House of David, 360. Comment:
The source, published in 1888, was not listed in Ellen White's libraries. "Serene" was
used in 3SP 129.1; "calm"
in Farrar 635. ►
"Caiaphas was
desperate." DA 706.1. Possible
source: "On this Caiaphas
became desperate,
and adopted a resource which our own rules of evidence would declare
most infamous, and which was also wholly adverse to the first principles
of Mosaic jurisprudence and the like of which occurs in no circumstance
of Hebrew history." John Kitto,
Daily Bible Illustrations,
408. Comment:
Two verbatim words out of 44 words in the source. ►
"There was
a time to be
silent, and
a time to speak." DA 706.4. Possible
source:
"There is
a time to speak, and
a time to keep
silence." Joseph Hall, Scripture History; or
Contemplations on the Historical Passages of the Old and New Testaments,
575. Comment:
Both sentences are paraphrases of the last part of Ecclesiastes
3:7—". . . a time to keep
silence, and a time to speak,"
and Ellen White uses the Biblical order of the phrases. Chap.
83
(4 V2 sentences out of 116 sentence units)
►
"During the journey the
sun had gone
down, and before the travelers
reached
their place
of rest, the laborers in
the fields had left
their work." DA 800.2. Source:
"The sun has
gone down behind the gray
hill-tops, and the shadows of evening have begun to deepen in the narrow
valleys, and the laborers have
left the
terraced orchards and vineyards on the hill-sides before the
two travelers reach
their home."
March, Night Scenes, 417f. ►
"Christ never
forces His company upon
anyone." DA
800.3. Source:
"He
never forces himself upon
any." March, NS 418. ►
"Now He puts
forth His hands to bless the
food." DA 800.4. Source:
"When bread, the simple fare of the poor, was set before them,
he put forth his hands to
bless it."
March, NS 418. ►
"The disciples
start back in astonishment."
DA 800.4. Source:
"But what now so suddenly startles
the wondering
disciples?" March, NS
419. Comment:
Two verbatim words out of 9 in the source. This sentence is more of a
paraphrase than a verbatim. Chap.
84
(4 V2 sentences out of 138 sentence units)
►
"Every
eye is fastened upon
the Stranger." DA 802.2. Source:
"Every eye is fixed
upon the stranger." March, NS
422. ►
"No footstep
has been heard." DA
802.2f. Source:
"No sound
of entering footsteps
has been heard." March, NS
422. ►
"The
Holy Spirit was
not yet fully manifested; for
Christ had not yet
been glorified."
DA 805.2. Possible
source: "The
Holy Ghost was not yet in his fulness given,
because that Jesus was not yet glorified."
Hanna, LC 806. Comment:
This sentence is based on John
7:39: "But this spake he of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive: for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given;
because that Jesus was not yet glorified."
As such, it is "community property." ►
"The doubting disciple knew
that none of his
companions had seen Jesus
for a
week." DA 807.3. Possible
source: "Thomas
knew that for
seven days none
of the disciples had
seen the Lord."
Hanna, LC 91. Comment:
This sentence is more of a
paraphrase than a verbatim. Carefully
examining these 28 sentences, we see that "modified verbatim
sentence" doesn't mean that a whole verbatim sentence was taken
from a source with only slight modification; it means that, at most, a
verbatim phrase in a sentence was taken with only slight modification or
that a new shorter sentence was composed of mostly verbatim words taken
from a longer sentence. First instance of each other category of dependent sentences P1
- Strict paraphrase (dependency rating, 5) 183 sentences out of 2624. ►
"In his manner
and dress
he resembled
the prophet Elijah." DA
104.3. Likely
source: "… a large
gathering of excited people around a man of singular, appearance, who
was making a most wonderful announcement, and was engaging in a
baptismal rite of startling significance. He was a gaunt ascetic; in
his dress and
manner, and in his authoritative
language, reminding all who saw and heard him of the old prophet; and
indeed, in his appearance so much resembling
Elijah, that the query was
immediately started in every man's mind, whether he was not actually
that prophet risen from the dead." Jones, LSFG 3. Comment: Like the "modified verbatims" above, a "strict paraphrase" can also be the extraction of a phrase or two from a much longer sentence, as long as its components mean the same as the parallels in the source. P2
- Simple paraphrase (dependency rating, 4) 256 sentences. ►
"One language
was widely spoken, and was
everywhere recognized as the language of
literature." DA 32.2. Likely
source: "When we further
consider that there was, as it were, one
universal
language, superseding by
its copiousness and fulness all others,—the
language of literature, of cultivation, of the arts, and of
trade and commerce: —we easily—see that the whole world had almost
become one family:" Thayer, Sketches from the Life of Jesus,
Historical and Doctrinal, 21. Comment:
The difference between strict paraphrase and simple
paraphrase is that, in addition to saying basically the same thing as
the source, simple paraphrase sentences have an additional
thought. In this example, it is the uniqueness of a parallel phrase that
points to a possible link to a source. This category was, by far, the
largest category of literary parallels in the study. P3
- Loose paraphrase (dependency rating, 3) 93 sentences. ►
"The nations were
united under one government."
DA 32.2. Likely
source:
"While the
dominion of Rome so oppressed the
nations; it yet unified the
world, and harmonized it into the semblance of one
family." Thayer, SLJ
21. Comment:
Ellen White very loosely expresses the same general idea as Thayer.
However, without the previously identified parallel phrase,
"language of literature," under simple paraphrase, it
would be difficult to certify that Mrs. White's statement was derived
from Thayer. (It should be noted that the sentences she supposedly
paraphrased from Thayer in this chapter do not follow Thayer's order.) B1
- Source Bible (dependency rating, 2) 84 sentences. ►
"In
'the region and shadow of death,'
men sat unsolaced. [Matt.
4:16]" DA 32.4. Possible
source: "…
what must have been the wishes and aspirations of those
who, with a keen perception of their exigence [urgency], were
sitting in darkness and the shadow
of death?" Harris, TGT 21b. Comment:
One might question the uniqueness of quoting Matthew 4:16 in an
introductory chapter on the life of Christ. Most other B1's are
more striking. I2
- Partial independent (dependency rating, 1) 178 sentences. ►
"From the days of Enoch the promise
was repeated through patriarchs
and prophets, keeping alive the hope of
appearing, and yet He came not." DA 31.2. Possible
source:
"We remember the Patriarch's
remark, that 'Judah's sceptre should not depart till
Shiloh come;' we remember the
promise of an eternal dominion to the family of David: and
still more vividly shines, the vision of Daniel." Kennedy, Messianic
Prophecy, and the Life of Christ. Comment:
With this "partial independent," we have only one significant
strictly verbatim word, "promise," which was used by Ellen
White to refer to Enoch and by Kennedy to refer to Genesis 49:10. To the
178 sentences of this category we can add 1612 "strictly
independent" sentences and 189 non-dependent Bible quotations,
making a total of 1979 sentences showing independence from the
sources—75% of the 2624 sentence units. Looking
at the "dependent" sentences in the sampling we have
considered, one is left wondering how most of the borrowed expressions
could be appropriately marked or footnoted—even by today's standards.
The sentences of the largest category of "paraphrases" say
basically the same thing as their source, though with an original
thought. Even the modified "verbatims" demonstrate
originality, as Mrs. White[13]
composed new meaningful sentences from select verbatim words and phrases
in the sources. An
evolving concept of literary property
Since
the time of the original study, we have had opportunity to discover some
interesting things about literary borrowing among the other authors who
wrote on the life of Christ. We have discovered, for example, in a
comparison of book chapters paralleling The Desire of Ages chapter
58,[14]
that Daniel March, who was one of the more readable writers, used
expressions from earlier works without acknowledgment as frequently as
Ellen White, and that Farrar, Geikie, and Edersheim borrowed more
frequently than either Daniel March or Ellen White. Why wasn't this considered plagiarism? For one thing, the concept of literary property was evolving during this period. At the beginning of the 1800s, "nineteenth-century literary ethics, even among the best writers, approved of, or at least did not seriously question, generous literary borrowing without giving credit."[15] By the mid–1800s, opinions had begun to change. The
more readers and writers revered "originality" as an absolute
artistic virtue, the more the spectre of guilt floated over the
"influenced" writer's horizon.[16] One can detect a proliferating concern with plagiarism in the mid-nineteenth century. ... American writers of the antebellum period were attempting to work out the limitations and the possibilities of proprietary authorship ...[17] For
another thing, the phrases that the various life of Christ authors were
borrowing are what one might consider to be "community
property." In our study of chapter 77 (which was not one of the
chapters selected for the original research project), we discovered
that, among life of Christ authors, there appears to be something of a
common pool of vocabulary from which life of Christ authors drew in
telling the story of Jesus' trial. They speak of the
"vacillating" Pilate,[18]
of Pilate's considering Jesus a "religious enthusiast,"[19]
of Jesus answering "not a word,"[20]
of the "curiosity" of Herod and Pilate,[21]
of Pilate's wife's "warning,"[22]
of the condemnation of Jesus as an "innocent man,"[23]
of the "burden of the cross,"[24]
of the "robber and murderer" Barabbas,[25]
of the "place of execution,"[26]
of the "stupefying potion"[27]
offered Jesus, of those "at the foot of the cross,"[28]
of the "penitent thief," and of Jesus' "ignominious
death."[29]
Such expressions appear to be a type of "community property"
that was used without necessity of acknowledgment. Dr. Veltman noted
this overlapping of phrasing among sources: At times the parallels between the sources were so strong that we had difficulty deciding which one Ellen White was using.[30] If
it was so difficult to decide which source Ellen White may have used,
could there not have been another explanation for the verbal similarity
between works besides the intentional lifting of a word here and there
from various sources? An answer to this question can be found as we
explore the original composition of The Desire of Ages and what
its dependency means. The
composition of The Desire of Ages
We
know from her own testimony and from that of her assistants that Ellen
White did not sit down with blank paper and write out from the first
page of The Desire of Ages to the last the things contained in
the final form of the book. Although Mrs. White did write numerous fresh
manuscripts on various subjects in preparation for the book, such
material was only used, with choice expressions from Mrs. White's
articles, letters, and journals, to replace the wording of the
earlier-written Spirit of Prophecy chapters on the life of
Christ. The enhanced volume was to be sold to the general Christian
readership. Both Marian Davis and Mrs. White describe Marian's
assembling of copies of Mrs. White's writings in scrapbook form so that
Marian would have material from which to freshen the earlier narrative.
When the chapters were completed, Mrs. White always "read over all
that is copied to see that everything is as it should be. [She also]
read all the book manuscript before it is sent to the printer."[31]
Why was such a method of composition necessary? Up
until the 1870s, James White had assisted his wife in the editing of her
writings. During the early 1870s, Mrs. White indicates that she faced a
crisis brought on by her husband's declining health and his consequent
inability to help her in the preparation of her writings. We rose early to prepare to go to San Francisco. My heart is inexpressibly sad. This morning I take into candid consideration my writings. My husband is too feeble to help me prepare them for the printer, therefore I shall do no more with them at present. I am not a scholar. I cannot prepare my own writings for the press. Until I can do this I shall write no more. It is not my duty to tax others with my manuscript. (Friday, January 10, 1873).[32] We
rested well last night. This Sabbath morning opens cloudy. My mind is
coming to strange conclusions. I am thinking I must lay aside my writing
I have taken so much pleasure in, and see if I cannot become a scholar.
I am not a grammarian. I will try, if the Lord will help me, at
forty-five years old to become a scholar in the science [of writing].
God will help me. I believe He will. (San Francisco, Saturday, January
11, 1873).[33] Keenly
sensing her lack of education (only three years of formal schooling) and
her deficiency in putting into words what she had been called to write,[34]
Mrs. White turned to the language of more gifted writers to help her
express her thoughts. Notwithstanding
all the power that God had given her to present scenes in the lives of
Christ and His apostles and His prophets and His reformers in a stronger
and more telling way than other historians, … she always felt most
keenly the results of her lack of school education. She admired the
language in which other writers had presented to their readers the
scenes which God had presented to her in vision, and she found it both a
pleasure and a convenience and an economy of time to use their language
fully or in part in presenting those things which she knew through
revelation, and which she wished to pass on to her readers.[35] Some
of this language she gathered in her free-form journals. Ellen
White maintained extensive diaries or journals. Not only did she
(generally) keep daily records but often she amplified her thoughts,
seemingly without any particular reason except to let her mind flow out
on paper. These entries included both personal impressions and thoughts
from her reading. At such times, without any attempt to organize under
specific headings, Mrs. White copied or paraphrased those items from her
extensive reading that she wanted to remember. From these journals her
editorial assistants would gather material for periodical articles. As
time passed, many of these early jottings became part of her published
books.[36] Evidence
of her scrapbooks can be seen in an 1877 letter addressed to her
children: Do
not neglect to send my selections for I want them to use. Send my scrap
books also.[37] That
Ellen White would occasionally gather from the writings of others for
her writing should not surprise us. Ellen White was, after all, a
consummate gatherer. In her cupboard stocking "bank," she
saved up enough coins to print an edition of The Review in 1852.
From various periodicals she collected character-building stories for
publication in the "Home Circle," a department of the Signs
magazine (1876f). From periodicals on health she gathered material for
"Mrs. White's Department" in the Health Reformer from
March 1871 to March 1874. Her carefulness in the use of resources was
put into words in the 1890s. She was told: "Gather up the
fragments; let nothing be lost." W. C. White explains: About
four years ago the word came to her, "Gather up the fragments, let
nothing be lost," and this has been repeated many times since.[38]
But not till Sister Peck came were we able to do more than keep copies
of the newly written documents. For
some months Sister Peck has devoted a portion of her time to sorting,
filing, reading, and indexing all of Mother's manuscripts within our
reach, and Mother has been looking over her old diaries and manuscripts
that were never copied on the typewriter. In these she finds many
precious things that are being copied, filed, and indexed with the rest.[39] Though
the object of this command initially had to do with the preservation and
organization of her own writings, it also had a bearing on the
"thought gems" that she gathered from the writings of others. …
Gems of thought are to be gathered up and redeemed from their
companionship with error; for by their misplacement in the association
of error, the Author of truth has been dishonored. The precious gems of
the righteousness of Christ, and truths of divine origin, are to be
carefully searched out and placed in their proper setting, to shine with
heavenly brilliancy amid the moral darkness of the world. Let the
bright jewels of truth which God gave to man, to adorn and exalt his
name, be carefully rescued from the rubbish of error, where they have
been claimed by those who have been transgressors of the law, and have
served the purposes of the great deceiver on account of their connection
with error. Let the gems of divine light be reset in the framework
of the gospel. Let nothing be lost of the precious light that comes from
the throne of God. It has been misapplied, and cast aside as worthless;
but it is heaven-sent, and each gem is to become the property of God's
people and find its true position in the framework of truth. Precious
jewels of light are to be collected, and by the aid of the Holy Spirit
they are to be fitted into the gospel system. … Jesus has said,
"Gather up the fragments, . . . that nothing be lost."—Ellen
G. White, Review and Herald, 10-23-1894, emphasis supplied. (See
also DA 287–288.) This
does not mean that her books consist of paragraph after paragraph of
selections from other authors. The 61 percent of "registered
independence" and the original
thought employed in the paraphrased and modified verbatim sentences in
the chapters of the Life of Christ Research Project alone mitigate
against such a conclusion. Ellen
White did grow in her understanding of truth, yet her new insights were
consistent with and extensions of the revelations she had previously
received from God.[40] Color-coded discoveries¨
The prominence of green
tells us that she used a lot of Scripture, which may or may
not have been suggested by the works of others. Scripture is
"community property," and Ellen White's acquaintance with
Scripture certainly explains many of the apparent literary parallels in
her telling of the Gospel story. ¨
The presence of blue
tells us that she has paralleled the narrative of another work on the
life of Christ. In some cases, parallels to the sources have seemed to
follow them quite closely. In other cases, Ellen White's "loose
paraphrase," which includes additional insights or a different
point of view from the supposed source, leaves us wondering if she
wasn't rather covering the same "literary ground" without
dependence on the supposed source. Should we not expect her to describe
the same set of events with similar words as other writers from time to
time?[41] ¨
The smattering of red
tells us, in a few rare instances, that she has gathered a nearly
exact quotation from a particular source. Here
are a few quotations that were gathered and incorporated into The
Desire of Ages. ► "Nearly two thousand years ago, a voice of mysterious import was heard in heaven, from the throne of God, 'Lo, I come.' 'Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me. … Lo, I come (in the volume of the Book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God.' Heb. 10:5–7." DA 23.1. Source: "Nearly two thousand years ago, a voice of strange and mysterious import was heard in heaven; and the more mysterious, because it issued from the throne itself. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. | ||
