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While those who would eventually form the Seventh-day Adventist Church were Millerites, only one was influential in both that his work after the Great Disappointment would standout and provide the underpinnings of the eventual largest Adventist denomination.  Joseph Bates: The Real Founder of Seventh-day Adventism by George R. Knight is a comprehensive look at one of the most important men in the Adventism movement before and after October 1844.

Beginning with a young boy looking for adventure as a sailor, Knight fully covers the life of Joseph Bates until his death as a senior statesman of the Church he helped to found still looking to serve Christ.  In covering Bates career at sea, Knight pulls out traits—both potentially benefital and harmful—that would serve him as he preached the soon coming of Christ as part of the Millerite movement and later his development of Sabbatarian Adventism.  After retiring, Bates who had already shown a keen interest in reform, firstly himself and then his own ship’s crew, launched himself into numerous reform movements until he heard Advent message of William Miller and seeing it as the ultimate reform movement wholeheartedly went to spread the good news.  Though not a primary leader, he was a major secondary leader within the Millerites that both chaired conferences and went out preaching.  After the Great Disappointment of October 1844, Bates began studying and joined those Adventists that believed something did occur though not the fanatics that tainted this group of post-Disappointment Millerites.  It is at this point in which Knight carefully covers Bates life over a decade, though focused on a four year span in particular, in which Bates became both the first theologian and then first historian of Sabbatarian Adventism and would lay the foundations of essentially all major doctrines that set the Seventh-day Adventist Church apart from other denominations.  Knight covers Bates relationship with both James and Ellen White in full during this period and after as the trio would guide the “little flock” over the next two decades until his death.

In approximately 220 pages of text and reference, Knight use Bates’ own autobiography as well as research first discovered others including two of his own students to give the reader a full sense of the life of Joseph Bate as can be expected.  Though the book is not strictly chronological, Knight structures the book in such a way as to give an overview in a certain period of Bates life in one chapter and in the subsequent one focus on a particular aspect during that period with it most typically being theological in nature.  This keeps the book engaging for the general reader and not getting them bogged down or overwhelmed with detail of having a strictly chronological book from beginning to end.  Yet while these choices by Knight create a very good and readable book, there just seemed to be something off with his writing that made me feel that it was up to other books that he had authored.

Joseph Bates: The Real Founder of Seventh-day Adventism is a very good book for those, whether Seventh-day Adventists or not, looking to understand the history of denomination that Bates helped to found.  As the preeminent Seventh-day Adventist historian, George R. Knight presents the Bates the man of both virtues and flaws and how he shaped the Advent movement.  I highly recommend this book for those interested in SDA Church history.

TITLE:  Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen:  Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians

AUTHOR: Margaret C. Jones

EXPECTED PUBLICATION DATE:       

30 August 2018

FORMAT: ARC ebook

ISBN-13: 9781526733962

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NOTE: I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion of the book.

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This biography is about Alfred the Great's daughter, Aethelflaed; about ther life and achievements, as well as the world that made her.  Aethelflaed was a remarkable women who led armies in battle against the vikings, negotiated treaties, founded shrines and churches, planned towns, and ruled a kingdom in her own right, which involved tax collection and law administration.  She also attempted to pass the rule of Mercia to her daughter Aelfwynn.  This well-written and well researched book covers the cultural and familial world that shaped Aethelflaed's personality and beliefs.  It covers her early life, the years of her marriage, and the world she made after her husband's death.  An interesting chapter deals with Aethelflaed's legacy and legand.  The book also includes a section of notes that provides a guide of places around the Midlands that still bear traces of Aethelflaed's life and work or have memorial tributes to her, which may be of interest to anyone travelling to this part of England.  There are many maps and illustrations, however this book lacks a locality map of where Mercia fits into Greater England and also lacking is a timeline.  While I found this biography interesting and accessible ( narrative was distinctly story-like), there was too much speculation on the part of the author, though this appears to be due to the lack of reliable source material for this time period.  All-in-all, this is an entertaining and informative, if somewhat superficial, biography of Aethelflaed, Queen of Mercia.

OTHER BOOK:

A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation by Geoffrey Hindley

"Mercy" is a short biography of ASPCA founder Henry Bergh, aimed at the mid-grade set. Because it deals with animal cruelty, it is not always an easy or pleasant read.

Nevertheless, it paints a picture of the times in which Bergh lived and how unusual it was for anyone in his high social position to speak up on behalf of animals.

The book also contains some informative sidebars about contemporary historical figures like P.T. Barnum and Louisa May Alcott, as well as things like the history of political cartoons and circuses.

The watercolor illustrations are appropriate for a book aimed at younger readers, and there are also some excellent historical photographs included to show the basis for the interior paintings.

Nicely done, and a good introduction to the historical importance of the anti-cruelty movement.