Dear Brother ___________,
Thank you for getting back in touch. Marketing often drives decisions about size, title, cover art, etc. Who is the target audience? Seventh-day Adventists know this book by its title, The Great Controversy, though the complete title, as found on the title page, is The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan: The Conflict of the Ages in the Christian Dispensation. People today outside of our church, who are not acquainted with the book, may be more attracted to it under a different title. The large colporteur edition goes under the title, The Triumph of God's Love. Other editions for sharing may have other titles, if the publishers think this will help get the book read. The one you asked about, The Great Controversy Ended, has the word "ended" in small type in a balloon under the larger title The Great Controversy, in the edition that I have here. This injects a hopeful expectation into the title and may help someone decide to read the book. At the same time, in this case, the title is so much like the one you and I are used to that few Adventists would think it was actually something totally different.
I see nothing suspect in the church's publishing houses issuing editions like this with different titles. Do they do it in hopes that they can "double sell" the books to the same people? No, I don't think that for a minute. They are hoping to increase the book's attractiveness to a new audience, to expand its reach and readership. The motivation is at least as much evangelistic as it is revenue, though they must think about the revenue side if they expect to keep operating. There is nothing wrong with that. But I find no effort to foist anything on someone here or to trick church members into buying books they wouldn't otherwise buy. I just don't think that is a part of the marketing plan at all. And, I should point out, the two independently-published volumes you asked about add to the potential for misunderstanding on this point. One of them has a totally different title, America in Prophecy, which represents only a portion of the contents of the book and is a bit sensational, and it uses an earlier edition of the book. The other uses the same title but for a different edition. These, it seems to me, are more open to concerns about multiplying the number of publications.
I hope this may help. Thanks for checking. God bless!
William Fagal
Associate Director
Ellen G. White Estate
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600 U.S.A.
Phone: 301 680-6550
FAX: 301 680-6559
E-mail: mail@WhiteEstate.org
Web: www.WhiteEstate.org
Thank you very much for the explanation.
Could you please explain the different title - from the review and herald approved Great controversy books. Over the years many titles have been presented such as The great controversy between Christ and Satan. Now it is called ' The Great Controversy ended'.
Additionally, lingering at the back of my mind is this question.
Why has the writings of EGW been duplicated in so many different books. Some might say this is an attempt to generate revenue - by rehashing the information in numerous different publications.
___________,
Thank you for contacting the Ellen G. White Estate. After writing her first version of The Great Controversy in 1858 (a little 219-page book that we now call Spiritual Gifts, vol. 1), and in it covering the whole controversy from the fall of Lucifer to the end of sin, Mrs. White spent the rest of her life enlarging on that theme. She added two more Spiritual Gifts volumes in 1864 that filled in more of the story, then determined in 1870 to enlarge the presentation into four larger volumes (now called "Spirit of Prophecy), which she did between 1870 and 1884. The fourth volume of that set (1884) corresponded in coverage to our current volume of The Great Controversy, telling the part of the story that begins at the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and goes to the end of sin. The colporteurs found that they could sell the book very well to the general public. Mrs. White went to Europe in 1885 and stayed until 1887. While she was there, the brethren there asked her for permission to translate this fourth volume into the European languages. She declined, because she knew now that she wanted to revise it??revise the whole set, actuallyinto a fuller presentation and write it with the general public in mind. When she returned home to the USA, the first project she did was to revise and expand volume 4 into a larger volume, also called The Great Controversy, which was published in 1888. The other three volumes of the Spirit of Prophecy set she enlarged into four bigger volumes: Patriarchs and Prophets (1890), The Desire of Ages (1898), The Acts of the Apostles (1-1), and Prophets and Kings (1-7, published after her death). In 1-1 she also revised the 1888 edition of The Great Controversy, for purposes of clarifying certain points, removing expressions to which Catholics would take unnecessary offense, adding references, etc. You will find an explanation of such things in Appendix A of Selected Messages, book 3, where a couple of letters from W. C. White are reproduced which tell what was done.
With that background, you are in a position to understand the nature of the three books you asked about. The Great Controversy Ended is the final version that Mrs. White produced, about which she expressed great satisfaction (see 3SM 123, 124). This is the copy that I would want to give a person today. America in Prophecy is produced by an independent ministry whose leader, last I knew, was Charles Wheeling, who I believe is no longer an Adventist minister. I don't know the reasons for that, but I do know that he has taken positions about the prophecies that differ from those of Ellen White, and he simply says that in those areas where his views differ from hers, she is wrong. The back of the title page says that the book is the 1888 version of The Great Controversy, but it appears to have some, but not all, of the 1-1 changes put in. I would be reluctant to distribute this book for two reasons: 1) it is not her final version, and 2) I would be worried that a person who was impressed with the book would contact Wheeling's ministry and be misdirected. The other version you asked about, from Harvesttime Books, says on p. 2 that it is the 1884 edition. It, too, is issued by an independent ministry, whose leader, Vance Ferrell, is often critical of the church. I used to read his monthly publication, and I usually found myself on his side of the situations he reported on, about which I knew little or nothing. But once he reported on a situation that happened where I was, and I knew a lot about it. This time, as I read what he wrote, it was clear to me that he had not checked his facts and was presenting his own surmises as if they were fact, when I knew that they were not. It was eye-opening to me. I wondered how many other issues he had presented that way, and had sucked me in because I didn't know better. I wrote to him about the situation, but he never responded. He lost his credibility in my eyes at that time. I have the same two problems with circulating his book as I have with Charles Wheeling's.
To me, it makes sense to give the general public the version of The Great Controversy that has the benefit of Ellen White's reflection and work down to the close of her life, the one that she polished for the public. Why would I want to give them anything less than that? That's how I see it.
I hope this may be helpful to you. Thank you for writing, and God bless!
William Fagal
Associate Director
Ellen G. White Estate
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600 U.S.A.
Phone: 301 680-6550
FAX: 301 680-6559
E-mail: mail@WhiteEstate.org
Web: www.WhiteEstate.org
