Robert Brinsmead

Robert D. Brinsmead (Australia, 12 August 1934—) is a formerly controversial figure within the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the 1960s and 1970s, known for his diverse theological journey. Richard Schwarz wrote in 1979, "Although there had been dissident groups in the church from its start, none was more troublesome to Adventist leaders than [Brinsmead's]". (The Glacier View controversy regarding Desmond Ford also had a large impact, occuring the year after this statement was made). This is despite the fact he was never employed by the church in an official capacity, such as a minister.

During the 1960s he advocated a form of perfectionism which he described as the "[Sanctuary] Awakening" message, aligning with historic Adventism. During the 1970s he abandoned this position and strongly emphasized the the 16th century Protestant principle of justification by faith alone. His representation of justification by grace through faith alone was derived substantially from the writings and thinking of Martin Luther. He founded the magazine Present Truth in 1972.

Later he rejected many orthodox Christian teachings, seeing God's interaction with mankind not limited to just the history of the Bible, but an ongoing continuing interaction with humanity towards a positive future. Brinsmead rejects the teachings of an apocalyptic world-destroying God, which he believes to be the polar opposite to the very definitions all religions give to the Creator. As of 2007, Brinsmead runs Tropical Fruit World, a theme park in northern New South Wales, and also continues his theological research. He also has environmental and political interests, and argues for a human centered approach to ecology.

Biography

Brinsmead was born on 12 August, 1934 in Australia, the youngest of eight children. During his early childhood his parents were a part of the Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement, a German splinter group that broke away from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the World War I era over military service and conscription. They rejoined the mainstream church when he was 10. According to Schwarz, this background gave him a disposition skeptical towards church leadership. He received high marks from Murwillumbah high school. As a youth he ran a large family banana plantation (near the location of what would become the tropical fruit theme park), and later sugar cane and banana plantations deep in the Queensland jungle. He spent his personal time doing study and research into theology.

Avondale College

Brinsmead enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts in theology at Avondale College in 1955 when he was in his mid-twenties. One of his older brothers, John, also enrolled at the college in this year. In his final year, Brinsmead studied under Dr. Burns, then head of theology, and was leading a great interest in spiritual things among his fellow students. The college was in full revival mode with room meetings until midnight on many nights. There was such a ground swell among students the church leadership began to take notice of Brinsmead.

In his final months of school, Brinsmead wrote a book, which a relative published against his wishes and knowledge. The book ended by quoting a Bible prophecy that the abomination would enter the Holy Land. Adventist church leadership took this to mean that Bob was teaching that "the abomination that maketh desolate" was in the church. He was dis-fellowshipped from the church, and was denied graduation from Avondale, although he did receive his BA in theology.

The week prior to Robert being dismissed from Avondale, Desmond Ford, then a theology professor, said he was sitting on the platform ready to take the Sabbath (Saturday) church service at Avondale, "when a voice directed him to look at Brinsmead". The voice said to Ford, "this young man is my chosen vessel", although Ford fought this conviction for many years. Ford later spent time in Brinsmead's extended family during the months when Ford's wife was dying of cancer. Ford had many hours of dialogue with Brinsmead and eventually joined forces with Brinsmead in delivering the gospel to Adventists in the 1980s. Ford was dismissed from ministry subsequent to the events of the Glacier View controversy in 1980, regarding his rejection of the investigative judgment teaching. According to a presentation given in a 2005 Sydney Adventist Forum meeting, Ford's dismissal was partly due to accusations of collaboration between Brinsmead and Ford to harm the church.

Perfectionist era (1960s)

Brinsmead's early views were an expression of "historic Adventism". His primary opponents were Desmond Ford, for sixteen years head of the Department of Religion at Avondale College, and Hans LaRondelle of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Michigan, United States; who both strongly emphasized salvation by faith alone. In the 1960s he advocated a form of perfectionism which he described as the "Sanctuary Awakening" or "Awakening" message. He visited the United States throughout the 1960s, holding retreats and seminars to teach his message. The "sanctuary" element referred to the distinctive Seventh-day Adventist theological understanding of events believed to have begun in the year 1844 in a heavenly sanctuary, of which the earthly sanctuary in the Old Testament was understood to be a figure and type. Like other "historic Adventists", Brinsmead and his colleagues were convinced that they were recovering the original core message of the founders of 19th-century Seventh-day Adventism.

Evangelical era (1970s)

In the early 1970s, he abandoned this position, turning to a view more in line with the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther and Luther's understanding of the New Testament gospel message of Paul the Apostle. By late 1971 Brinsmead had reversed his ideas on the nature of Christ and perfection. After contacts with Neal C. Wilson and other General Conference leaders, he focused on renewing interest in righteousness by faith amongst traditional Protestant circles. In 1977 he was joined by Australian Anglican Geoffrey Paxton, who later wrote The Shaking of Adventism (1978) regarding Brinsmead and the struggle over righteousness by faith within the Adventist church.

In 1972, Brinsmead and his wife Valorie purchased the property which they developed into "Tropical Fruit World" in northern New South Wales.

In 1972 Brinsmead created the journal, Present Truth, to champion a more evangelical Christian message, with a central focus on the Protestant principle of justification by faith alone. A survey of Present Truth throughout the 1970s indicated that he studied a wide range of 16th century Protestant Reformation scholars, including John Calvin, Philipp Melanchthon, and Martin Chemnitz. Present Truth's name was changed to Verdict in 1978. In 1979, as a result of extensive research into the doctrine of the Investigative Judgment (regarded by many Seventh-day Adventists as the theological foundation of its very existence), he wrote a monograph, "1844 Re-Examined," in which he provided detailed arguments to support his claim of its spurious nature. Brinsmead's interests and the journal's emphasis had already expanded into areas of theology and biblical study that reached beyond the areas of theological interest of the Seventh-day Adventist Church at the time.. He was a prolific writer and public speaker in the United States (and occasionally Europe) throughout the 1970s, engaging a variety of interested lay and professional audiences.

Later views

Later, Brinsmead rejected many Adventist beliefs such as the Sabbath, and later many standard Christian beliefs as well.

He later became well versed in John Dominic Crossan and Robert W. Funk, co-founders of the Jesus Seminar; as well as Karen Armstrong, Bart D. Ehrman, and other modern biblical scholars. Brinsmead's personal theological library is exhaustive. His search of texts for truth led him to the writings of Michael Morwood, a former Australian Catholic priest whose own spiritual journey mirrors Brinsmead rough and tumble experience in Adventism. Morwood and Brinsmead remain close friends. Robert is also a fan of secular writers Howard Bloom and Michael Crichton, the later of which posits that environmentalism is the new religion - because it is no longer tolerates science. Brinsmead is a prolific writer and public speaker.

He entered politics as a Councillor for the Tweed Shire Council.

In 1976 Brinsmead claimed that his magazine, Present Truth had a readership of 100,000. Typically, 45,000 to 70,000 copies were printed for circulation. The issue dedicated to Righteousness by Faith realized a circulation of over one million copies.

In 2006, Brinsmead became a Hall of Fame Winner of the Tweed Business Excellence Award.

On August 7th, 2007, Robert Brinsmead's wife Valorie died at age 68.

Current beliefs

Brinsmead's last major publication before a decade long hiatus, was an article titled "A Christian Atheist Manifesto", in which he said he declared himself an atheist to human created concepts of God that made a monster of the Deity. He once said in defense of atheists "people are often atheist not because they take the concept of a God so lightly, but rather because they take it so seriously". According to Brinsmead, atheists often ask the questions the pious are afraid to ask.

Brinsmead later wrote, of the late 1980s and early 1990s, "I found myself in the trenches on my long spiritual journey, I had questions for which I had no answers, so I stopped writing until I had answers." During this period of reflection on the meaning of the crucifixion and resurrection event, Bob thought it more honest to wait for answers than presume he had them. He returned to horticulture. A major theological change was regarding the divinity of Jesus. Brinsmead came to believe that the Jesus born of a virgin, by divine celestial impregnation, was merely a Greco-Roman heroic overlay of the Jewish man's history. He claims the virgin birth was unknown to Jesus' followers. Mithra, Caesar, and others were also attributed such circumstances of birth in their time, as was the historic custom of writers of that time. You might say that the superheros of that time were expected to wear their capes. Joseph Campbell calls this phenomenon "the Hero with a thousand faces". Yet the story of the Jesus of History is so compelling a story, so unique in its place in time, it can only be genuine. The reality of Christian teaching is that it is not built just built upon the words of Jesus, but also on the words and opinions of the Apostle Paul and writings attributed to Paul along with the thoughts and interpretations of early Church Fathers and scribes.

Brinsmead sees the salvation story of Jesus in a new light. It's not one of an incarnated God giving himself to die for the sins of mankind (hence the requirement for the incarnational theology and the incomprehensible baggage of the trinity - to retain the claim of monotheism). As a result, Brinsmead moved toward a Unitarian position on the Deity. When asked if he believed that Jesus was the son of God, Brinsmead replied "only in the sense that you and I and every human are the sons of God and the incarnate expression of God in this physical world".

According to Brinsmead, the story of Jesus is that of a man God loved who was the first fully human man—A man not motivated by revenge and payback justice (If Jesus taught to turn the other cheek would not also the Father teach and practice that?) Brinsmead characterizes the teaching of Jesus as a message about "the scandalous generosity" that is our inheritance as the children of God that includes a relationship with an "Abba" (literally "daddy") Father. There was no fall from God. Where can we go where God is not? Death did not enter the world through Adam, dinosaurs were ripping flesh from limb and bone long before Adam and Eve. There was no perfect past paradise we lost. We are given everything we need, and God's forgiveness and compassion and generosity are beyond our comprehension. We come from God, we return to God, and our sole requirement of life, is as Jesus said of his followers "That they love one another". In this sense of God and Jesus, Brinsmead and Michael Morwood find a high degree of resonance. It's a straight on theology with the maker of all things.

Brinsmead increasingly saw the message of Jesus in terms of serving humans, and that there was no such thing as "loving God" in the abstract. All we know about love, expressing love, giving love, comes from the human contacts we have made. None of us have seen God. None of have talked face to face with God. Yet humans insist arrogantly that we love God through abstractions of ritual and dogma. Brinsmead posits that humans only show love towards God when humans show love towards each other. Jesus was conflating the two great laws (which even the Pharisees understood) yet they thought they could love God before humans.

"There is no concept such as loving God in the abstract, none of us know what God is like, and our very definitions of God preclude we ever will as humans know what God is in totality. Every evil of religion has come from putting 'God' before the needs of Humans. Every suicide bomber thinks he's honoring God. Every religious persecutor is doing it in the name of their God. Every religious war is in the name of God",

Brinsmead argues. Brinsmead believes religion gets it wrong when it puts loving God at a higher priority than loving humans. "It is impossible to love God in the abstract!", Brinsmead is well known for saying.

Brinsmead's current research interests are the similarities between environmental Global Warming apocalyptic thinking and the apocalyptic thinking of Christendom. In religion, God strikes back at a fallen sinful mankind, in deep ecology global warming rhetoric, nature strikes back at her disrespectful child.

Both viewpoints long for a long lost paradise that never existed. Nature has become the new God. Particularly disturbing to Brinsmead is the deep ecology thinking of Arne Næss who views that mankind has no more right to this planet than mosquitoes. He views this new environmental apocalyptic thinking as a mutated meme of Christian apocalyptic thought and that both are antagonistic to human needs.

Brinsmead remains an unabashed free enterprise proponent and sees mankind as the pinnacle of this earth's biological development, echoing the progressive element of Modernism. He does not believe applying totalitarian governmental principles or taxes to the environment will work any better at protecting it than it did for Russia and China, who already have the most appalling environmental records. Brinsmead, like most Christians, does believe in the wise stewardship of the creation and its resources. He makes his living as a horticulturist on a farm with over 500 species of tropical fruit trees. Brinsmead sees the current witch hunt attitude towards global warming skeptics having much in common with the heresy hunts of religion. Such hunts are never about arriving at truth, they are about protecting dogma and those who teach dogma. Brinsmead has toppled his own dogmas (much to consternation of those who want pidgeon hole him) on several occasions when he felt it no longer represented what he felt was true. Life and understanding, he feels, is a journey. Environmental science should be as brave.

Brinsmead believes we do not live in a zero sum game when it comes to the environment or the economy. He believes science needs to be used where possible to determine truth. God has already given us everything we need - but its often up to us to figure out how to use what has been given. That is the God given role of mankind on the planet. To do what nature could never do for itself. Modern research into nanotechnology points to new ways to use limited resources. Research into zero point energy by physics seems to indicate that we are literally swimming in a sea of energy - without the use of fossil fuels - if we can figure out how to harness it.

Other impact

Brinsmead's writings against the Sabbath (Sabbatarianism Re-examined) inspired other former Adventist Desmond Ford to research the matter and subsequently write The Forgotten Day which argues for Sabbath observance.

Brinsmead's writings were influential in the 1995 decision by the Worldwide Church of God that Sabbath-keeping was not necessary for the Christian.

In 1980, Brinsmead wrote a plea to the judge in the murder case of Lindy Chamberlain. Chamberlain, an Australian Adventist, lost her baby to a wild dingo in the Australian outback. Because of media bias, and false rumors spread by those ignorant (or intolerant) of Adventist teachings, she was convicted of murdering her baby in 1980. False rumors were spread by media outlets that Adventists sacrificed children. Her murder case and appeal was the most publicized trial ever in Australia.. Brinsmead argued in support of Lindy and why he believed she was innocent. He argued that her case should not be judged based on misinterpretations and misrepresentations of Adventist belief and lingo but rather on the facts of the case itself.

See also

• Historic Adventist
• Progressive Adventist
• Seventh-day Adventist theology
• History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
• Desmond Ford

External links

• Present Truth Magazine, started by Brinsmead. As of August 2007, Bill Diehl is publishing editor. According to its charter, "This web site and the material contained herein are produced and sponsored by the 'Gospel Friends Christian Fellowship', an association of evangelical Seventh-day Adventists... These views do not necessarily reflect the current views of Robert Brinsmead."
  • 1844 Re-Examined by Brinsmead
  • Robert Brinsmead, A Review of the Awakening Message, Part I (first published May 1972), Part II (first published April 1973); his own assessment of his earlier "historic" views
  • The Shaking of Adventism by Anglican Geoffrey J. Paxton, in which Brinsmead features prominently in 5. Off to an Auspicious Start: The 1950's, 6. Pain and Progress: The 1960's, 7. Advance and Retreat: The 1970's, and the Conclusion: The Shaking of Adventism
• Quango Networks, which contains articles by Brinsmead, including Verdict articles
  • "Sabbatarianism Re-examined". Verdict 4:4, June 1981
    • Ford, Desmond (September 1981). "The Sabbath: Brinsmead's Polemic" (PDF). Spectrum. 12 (1). Association of Adventist Forums. ISSN 0890-0264. (a response to Brinsmead)
    • A further response by Brinsmead, and then again by Des Ford in Spectrum 12:2 (December 1981)
• Outlook by Worldview Publications, publishing editor, Norman Jarnes, a former editor of Present Truth/Verdict.
• May/June 1999 issue of Adventist Today, containing articles about Brinsmead:
  • Where is Robert Brinsmead? by Larry Pahl
  • Whither, Robert D. Brinsmead? by Raymond F. Cottrell
• Return of the Prodigal Pastor, a personal testimony by Dennis Sellers in the Adventist Review, 1995. Sellers followed Brinsmead's teachings for a while and left Adventism, before returning to the Adventist church
• Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index (SDAPI) search for "Brinsmead, Robert"

Offline resources

• Defense Literature Committee (precursor to the Biblical Research Institute), The History and Teaching of Robert Brinsmead, 1961
• Biblical Research Committee (also a precursor to the BRI), The Brinsmead Agitation, 1969
• Richard Schwarz, Light Bearers to the Remnant, p. 456–61