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Edgar Douglass, Jr. (27 May 1927- 15 Dec 2014) was a Seventh-day Adventist
theologian. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts as the oldest of
five children (all sons) to Herbert Edgar Douglass Sr (1904–1983) and
Mildred Jennie Munson (1908–1988).
He earned his Doctorate in
Theology at Pacific School of Religion in 1964.
From 1954 to 1957
Douglass wrote commentaries for five books for, and served on the staff
that edited, the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary. From 1967 to 1970
he served as president of Atlantic Union College; from 1970 to 1976 as
associate editor of the Review and Herald magazine (now the Adventist
Review); from 1979 to 1985 as associate Book Editor and vice-president for
Editorial Development at the Pacific Press Publishing Association; from
1985 to 1992 as president of Weimar Institute, and from 1997 to 2001 as
vice-president for philanthropy at Adventist Heritage Ministry. From 2003
to 2005 Douglass was a consultant for Amazing Facts ministry. As of 2008,
he has authored over 24 books and numerous articles. He currently resides
in Lincoln, California.
Douglass was a key figure in the 1970s due
to his advocacy of Last Generation Theology (LGT), a controversial
theological position held by a segment of Seventh-day Adventists.
A
key contribution by Douglass was his articulation of what came to be known
as The Harvest Principle. Pointing to Mark 4:26-29 and Rev 14:14-16,
Douglass argued that God is waiting for a ripe harvest, and as soon as
that harvest "is fully ripe", He will thrust in His sickle and reap the
earth - the Second Coming of Christ will at last come to pass.
Douglass promotes the Great Controversy theme (GCT) as the conceptual key,
the organizing principle that leads to an understanding of humanity’s
greatest questions: How did life begin? Why good and evil, and how does
one know the difference? What happens after death? Why suffering and
death? The Great Controversy Theme provides the background for the
development of evil – the story of Lucifer’s (Satan’s) rebellion against
the government of God. The thrust of Satan’s argument is that God cannot
be trusted, that His law is severe and unfair, and thus the Lawgiver is
unfair, severe, and arbitrary.
For Douglass, the Great Controversy
Theme ties together the plan of redemption, Bible truth, and the peril and
triumph of Jesus’ entry into humanity and His death upon the cross. It
holds together Christ’s death for us with the application of His power
within us. It shows why God purposes to demonstrate through His end-time
people the ultimate fruition of what His grace can do, and clarifies how
Satan’s charges will be finally negated. At the end of time God has called
a people to understand, live out, and present to the universe God’s love
through our individual opportunities in the climax of the great
controversy.
In 1998 Douglass published Messenger of the Lord: The
Prophetic Ministry of Ellen G. White after being commissioned by the Ellen
G. White Estate. It is a comprehensive treatment of how Ellen White's
prophetic gift functioned in her life and ministry. The book does not
contain any concepts of Douglass' Last Generation Theology
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