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Common Arguments used by SDA's to Defend Mrs. White's Plagiarism

Mrs. White Acknowledged Using Sources

Mrs. White, who was an avid reader, acknowledged that she used the words of other authors when those words accurately portrayed the scenes she had witnessed in vision. Look at what she wrote in the introduction to her book The Great Controversy:

In some cases where a historian has so grouped together events...or has summarized details in a convenient manner, his words have been quoted; except in a few instances no specific credit has been given since the quotations are not given for the purpose of citing that author as authority, but because his statement affords a ready and forcible presentation of the subject. pp. xi, xii

Mrs. White wrote The Great Controversy to show how God had led the church since the times of the apostles. It was not her intent to write a whole history, but a summarization. In order to accomplish this she used primarily the writings of D'Aubigne's History of the Protestant Reformation, and Wylie's The History of Protestantism.

Interview with a Judge (The White Truth, p. 33)

QUESTION: "I would like to read you an explanation made by Mrs. White herself regarding her use of historical and religious writers in her day. [I read to the judge from the introduction to the 1888 edition of The Great Controversy.] Would that have been enough?"
ANSWER: "That was adequate for that day."

QUESTION: "Well, I understand she did considerable paraphrasing without specific credit. Would that have been a violation?"
ANSWER: "Paraphrasing of an entire work, perhaps, but not substantial portions. That was permitted. If several works were quoted, that would generally not be a violation, especially if a major portion was independent or a new slant was given. That would be permissible."

Mrs. White "Borrowed", not Plagiarized

The subject of literary borrowing is explained by Cambridge Scholar W.A. Edwards:

The practice of Homer, Sophocles, Bach, Burns and Moliere forces us to realise that borrowing may be the foundation of great art, that the mere fact of borrowing in itself tells us nothing. We must go further and ask what use has been made of the borrowed material or method. The White Truth, p. 26

Literary borrowing was somewhat more common during Mrs. White's time period. George C. Callcott writes in History in the United States, p. 136: "Historians usually felt flattered rather than insulted when their words were used by another. ... The period is remarkable for the lack of scholarly rivalry, and writers who borrowed from each other remained on the warmest of terms."

Mrs. White did not conceal sources for the Great Controversy

On Dec. 26, 1882, about a year before the fourth volume of Spirit of Prophecy (forerunner to The Great Controversy) was published Mrs. White wrote:

Provide something to be read during these long winter evenings. For those who can procure it, D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation will be both interesting and profitable. Review and Herald, Dec. 26, 1882.

If, Mrs. White was secretly stealing other author's writings and pretending they were hers, why would she recommend to the entire church that they read a book that she was planning to secretly steal quotes from? The fact the Mrs. White openly advised people to buy and read the books she was planning to use as sources in writing The Great Controversy shows that she was not concealing her sources for the Great Controversy.

SDA Researchers confirm as much as 90% was copied

Prior to Walter Rea's research, Adventists maintained that 8% to 10% of Mrs. White's work was copied. One figure widely used by Adventists defending Mrs. White is that only 2.6% of the Desire of Ages was copied. The 2.6% figure came from an SDA researcher who only counted words that exactly matched the sources. The church hired Adventist scholar Dr. Fred Veltman to examine the Desire of Ages and he found 30% or more, depending upon the chapter examined. After great expense and almost eight years of research, Veltman confirmed what other studies showed, that depending upon the material used from Mrs. White's writing, the copy work could be as much as 90%. Dr. Veltman noted:

Implicitly or explicitly, Ellen White and others speaking on her behalf did not admit to and even denied literary dependency on her part...
I must admit at that start that in my judgment this is the most serious problem to be faced in connection with Ellen White's literary dependency. It strikes at the heart of her honesty, her integrity, and therefore her trustworthiness." (Ministry, Dec. 1990, p. 11,14)

Dr. Don McAdams, an SDA scholar, stated in the 1980 Glendale meeting:

"If every paragraph in the book Great Controversy, written by Ellen White, was properly footnoted, then every paragraph would have to be footnoted."

Didn't Mrs. White's literary assistant, Fannie Bolton, condemn her?

Fannie Bolton was Mrs. White's literary assistant for many years. She made a statement that is often used to cast doubt upon Mrs. White's literary honesty. Walter Rea only printed a partial quote of what Fannie Brown said. Here is another part of it:

I rebelled in heart against what I considered the taking of undue credit on the part of Sister White in receiving unqualified commendations for books or articles upon which Marian Davis, myself and others had expended editorial work.
I thank God that He has kept Sister White from following my supposed superior wisdom and righteousness, and has kept her from acknowledging editors and authors. ... Had she done as I wished her to do, the gift would have been degraded to a common authorship, its importance lost, its authority undermined and its blessings lost to the world. ("A Confession Concerning the Testimony of Jesus Christ", Document DF 445, pp. 3,8)

Catholic attorney says White could not have been convicted of copyright infringement

The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists hired a Roman Catholic attorney to examine the legality of Sister White's work. This attorney admitted being predisposed to the belief that Mrs. White had plagiarized. After hundreds of hours of study the attorney, John Ramik, concluded, "If the issues had been court-tested between 1850 and 1915, Ellen G. White emphatically would not have been convicted of copyright infringement. …the writings of Ellen G. White were conclusively unplagiaristic." (Adventist Review, Sept. 17, 1981, p. 3).

Other Biblical Writers Copied Material

Other Biblical writers copied material:

Luke used the writings of others (see Luke 1:1,2)
Jude 6-13 is very similar to 2 Peter 2:4-17
Micah 4 and Isaiah 2 have similarities
The books of Kings and Chronicles appear very similar
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke have many similarities

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