Conventional history of the millennialist faith. Jordan adopts a strictly neutral approach to her subject, making this read like an encyclopedia article. As she ably reports, the history of the Seventh-Day Adventists began with William Miller, a New York farmer who announced that the world would end on October 22, 1844. Miller's prophecy failed (Adventists call this ""The Great Disappointment""), but many of his followers--including one Ellen Harmon White--believed that he had merely flubbed the date. Through a series of visions, White learned that she was a messenger of God, anointed to proclaim Christ's return. In 1863, various groups influenced by Miller and White--who by this time had turned into a prominent preacher--coalesced into the Seventh-Day Adventists. Jordan runs down the group's beliefs and history, both of which lean heavily on healthy living--Adventists, who don't smoke, drink, or eat junk food, have founded 239 hospitals and clinics and pioneered baby heart transplants and baby ICUs. No mistakes, no surprises--except perhaps in the concluding chronology, which lists the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake as an event in Seventh-Day Adventist history. In all, though, a handy guide. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Jordan's lucid study of the rise and development of the Seventh-Day Adventists offers a sympathetic discussion of an often-overlooked sect with worldwide membership of less than five million. Jordan outlines the roots of Seventh-Day Adventism in the Millerite movement in early-nineteenth-century Methodism. She depicts the transformation of the Millerites after ``The Great Disappointment'' (in October 1844) as a result of the prophetic vision of Ellen Gould Harmon. The author further traces the merger between the ``Sabbathkeepers'' of Joseph Bates and the Adventists of Harmon and James White. Jordan also outlines the worldwide educational, medical, and missionary work of the sect since its origins. A welcome addition to active religion collections. Notes, bibliography; to be indexed. SEM.