Questions on Doctrine
We have been asked whether the new book just off the press, Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine, represents the work of one man, a small group, or the combined work of a large representative body.
Probably no other book published by this denomination has been so carefully read by so large a group of responsible men of the denomination before its publication as the one under consideration. Some 250 men in America and in other countries received copies of the manuscript before it was published. The preliminary manuscript work by a group of some fourteen individuals had been so carefully prepared that only a minimum of suggestions of improvement were made. There was, however, a remarkable chorus of approval.
The material that went into the book, together with what criticisms came in, were then put into the hands of a smaller editorial committee, with instructions to do the regular routine editorial work that is always done on such manuscripts before being printed, but that no change of any importance was to be made without further consultation with a larger representative group, to which instructions the editorial group carefully adhered.
In the preparation of the material that appears in this book the counsel and light of the Spirit of prophecy was assiduously sought and carefully followed. In the ample Appendix, generous quotations are made from Mrs. White, particularly on Christ, His nature and ministry. These quotations appear under such headings as "Deity and Nature of Christ," "Eternal Preexistence of Christ," "Three Persons in the Godhead," "The Mystery of the Incarnation," and "Perfect Sinlessness of Christ's Human Nature." There are also valuable quotations on the atonement, stressing its importance, under such headings as "Centrality of the Atoning Cross," "Complete Sacrificial Atonement Made on Cross," "Christ Both Sacrificial Offering and Officiating Priest," "The Cross Central in the Atonement," "Christ's Ministering in Heavenly Sanctuary," "Wondrous Results.- of Christ's Priestly Ministration," and others.
This book representing, as it does, the careful work of a large group of responsible leaders, and containing such valuable quotations from the Spirit of prophecy, is unique and, we believe, fills a needed place among our published works.
R. R. F