White, Ellen Gould Harmon (1827-1915)

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Ellen Gould Harmon was born on 26 November 1827 in Gorham, Maine, and died on 16 July 1915 in St. Helena, California. Her prophecies and teachings were formative of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, of which she was a founder. White is explicit in her stance on the immorality of eating meat; she links gluttony, flesh-foods, and sin. While White clearly believes that humans are superior to animals, and makes frequent reference to animal passions and impulses that must be controlled by human reason, arguing that abstaining from a flesh diet will help humanity become “pure, refined, and holy” (Ministry of Healing), she also clearly states (in Ministry and Counsels on Health and Instruction to Medical Missionary Workers) that it is a sin to be cruel to God’s non-human creatures. Her primary concern is that eating flesh foods over-stimulates the mind and body, promoting disease and preventing one from being in peak physical and mental fitness to accomplish what God requires, thereby sinning against God by abusing the body. In Counsels on Health she describes

The light given me is that it will not be very long before we shall have to give up using any animal food. Even milk will have to be discarded. Disease is accumulating rapidly. The curse of God is upon the earth, because man has cursed it. The habits and practices of men have brought the earth into such a condition that some other food than animal food must be substituted for the human family. We do not need flesh-food at all (495).

Thus, her main concern is with veganism, though she concedes that more harm than good will be accomplished by pushing a strict reform diet on the poor and those who are not ready or capable of following it. She also promotes Temperance (including tea and coffee as well as alcohol and drugs), exercise, and dress reform. The author of the “Preface” to Counsels on Health summarizes White's position well: “She it was who exalted the sacredness of the body, and the necessity of bringing all the appetites and passions under the control of an enlightened conscience. Others emphasized science in health; to her it was left to impress the spiritual in the treatment of the temple of the body” (4).

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