Some Thoughts on Nonconformity in the Adventist Ethos

The theological and practical dynamics of living nonconformity in a worldwide organization committed to mission are complex; but the tension is a potentially healthy and balancing one. This paper will discuss four aspects of Adventist life and thought which have contributed to the way in which this tension is dealt with: the Adventist historical experience, the shape of God’s grace, the normative nature of Scripture, and the relationship between distinctive Adventist theology and praxis. These four factors have together led Adventism to deal with the mission-separation tension primarily through calling people out in significant ways from their dominant culture, rather than seeking to reorient culture or to merge into culture or participate in the local civil religion