Ellen G. White’s Life of Christ: An Episode in the History of Early Adventist Translation Work

In the late 1880s and early 1890s a book on the life of Jesus Christ was published in various foreign languages in Europe and North America. Ellen G. White was given as the author of the book. It generally was known under the English working title The Life of Christ, although an English counterpart to these foreign language editions has never been published. The circumstance of those editions raises the question of their textual basis, background, and significance. The following article shows that the Life of Christ is an adapted version of Spirit of Prophecy, vols. 2 and 3, which also influenced the chronology and content of the later Desire of Ages. Published in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, German, French, and Finnish, the Life of Christ had a major impact on evangelistic work and on the principles followed in the preparation of Ellen White’s books in later years.