What do you think?
Rate this book
God's Strange Work: William Miller and the End of the World
The fascinating story of an intriguing -- and little understood -- religious figure in nineteenth-century America
Calvinist Baptist preacher William Miller (1782–1849) was the first prominent American popularizer of using biblical prophecy to determine a specific and imminent time for Christ's return to earth. On October 22, 1844 -- a day known as the Great Disappointment – he and his followers gave away their possessions, abandoned their work, donned white robes, and ascended to rooftops and hilltops to await a Second Coming that never actually came.
Or so the story goes.
The truth -- revealed here -- is far less titillating but just as captivating. In fact, David Rowe argues, Miller was in many ways a mainstream, even typical figure of his time.
Reflecting Rowe's meticulous research throughout, God's Strange Work does more than tell one man's remarkable story. It encapsulates the broader history of American Christianity in the time period and sets the stage for many significant later the founding of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the tenets of various well-known new religious movements, and even the enduring American fascination with end-times prophecy. Rowe rescues Miller from the fringes and places him where he rightly belongs -- in the center of American religious history.
Calvinist Baptist preacher William Miller (1782–1849) was the first prominent American popularizer of using biblical prophecy to determine a specific and imminent time for Christ's return to earth. On October 22, 1844 -- a day known as the Great Disappointment – he and his followers gave away their possessions, abandoned their work, donned white robes, and ascended to rooftops and hilltops to await a Second Coming that never actually came.
Or so the story goes.
The truth -- revealed here -- is far less titillating but just as captivating. In fact, David Rowe argues, Miller was in many ways a mainstream, even typical figure of his time.
Reflecting Rowe's meticulous research throughout, God's Strange Work does more than tell one man's remarkable story. It encapsulates the broader history of American Christianity in the time period and sets the stage for many significant later the founding of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the tenets of various well-known new religious movements, and even the enduring American fascination with end-times prophecy. Rowe rescues Miller from the fringes and places him where he rightly belongs -- in the center of American religious history.
279 pages, Paperback
First published July 15, 2008
8 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 14, 2014
Was a very interesting book. William Miller is often associated with false prophets but in reality, he was an ordinary Baptist laymen who studied the Bible and concluded that Jesus would return in 1843. He based this on his studies in Daniel 8:14 and using the modern calendar concluded that the Bible was predicting the return of Christ in 1843. Of course, he was wrong.
I was interested to read how the Millerites would react to their disappointment that Christ did not return. After all, they hold sold their farms, stop working, had stopped saving money, etc. in preparation for Christ's return (something Miller never told them to do by the way). Miller himself was with his family at his farm on the date in both 1843 and 1844 when they thought Christ would return but He did not. Miller died five years later still disappointed that Christ did not return but he never lost faith in Christ nor in His return till his death.
After 1843 failed, Miller was going to give up his views that Christ would return but another man convinced him that he had been off by one year and so the Millerties prepared for October 21, 1844. Christ did not return and the Millerites seemed to be done. While Miller was content to let all this go, some held on steadfastly and began to teach that Christ had done something invisible in 1844. The rise of Adventism led to people such as Ellen G. White rising to claim her place.
Miller never embraced the Seventh-Day Adventism of White. I believe that Miller will be among the faithful disciples of Christ in eternity. While he misled people by the return of Christ, I don't see him as a false prophet. He never claimed to be speaking for God nor did he say that God had told him this. While he became angry toward those who doubted, he never said that only the Millerites were saved. He was wrong no doubt about the return of Christ and his shame for this, I believe, led to his death.
I was interested to read how the Millerites would react to their disappointment that Christ did not return. After all, they hold sold their farms, stop working, had stopped saving money, etc. in preparation for Christ's return (something Miller never told them to do by the way). Miller himself was with his family at his farm on the date in both 1843 and 1844 when they thought Christ would return but He did not. Miller died five years later still disappointed that Christ did not return but he never lost faith in Christ nor in His return till his death.
After 1843 failed, Miller was going to give up his views that Christ would return but another man convinced him that he had been off by one year and so the Millerties prepared for October 21, 1844. Christ did not return and the Millerites seemed to be done. While Miller was content to let all this go, some held on steadfastly and began to teach that Christ had done something invisible in 1844. The rise of Adventism led to people such as Ellen G. White rising to claim her place.
Miller never embraced the Seventh-Day Adventism of White. I believe that Miller will be among the faithful disciples of Christ in eternity. While he misled people by the return of Christ, I don't see him as a false prophet. He never claimed to be speaking for God nor did he say that God had told him this. While he became angry toward those who doubted, he never said that only the Millerites were saved. He was wrong no doubt about the return of Christ and his shame for this, I believe, led to his death.
Read
March 26, 2012Incredibly, this 2008 publication is the first scholarly biography of William Miller, the Deist-turned-Baptist farmer who touched off one of the major religious movements of the Second Great Awakening. David L. Rowe's book, therefore, fills a significant gap in the literature on this period of American history, and on American religion in general. It's good, then, that it also happens to be a work of quality, one that sympathetically portrays its subject without whitewashing his flaws, and one that at the end leaves the reader with the sense of having encountered a fully-rounded human being--of having "gotten to know" Miller. Though it builds on the work of earlier scholars, including Mark Noll, Whitney Cross, and George Knight, the work impresses particularly in its extensive primary research, which much of the narrative propelled by quotations from Miller's own letters and from contemporary sources both sympathetic to and critical of Miller.
At 235 pages, the text is relatively slim. One wonders if a bit more heft in the volume would have allowed Rowe to draw out further some of his interesting insights into Miller's development. As a student of the intellectual history of this period--and as a teacher constantly looking for new approaches to share with my students--I found particularly interesting Rowe's discussion of Miller's thought as representing the transition from the objective, orderly, and systematic worldview of the Enlightenment to the personalism and affective emphases of romanticism. For instance, Rowe quotes two different descriptions by Miller, written three years apart, of his own conversion; the first emphasizes the Bible as rule and light, while the second finds in Jesus a comfort and a friend. Unfortunately, this discussion is fairly brief. Granted that the book is a biography and not an intellectual history, I would still have relished a more thorough reflection on this aspect of Miller's development.
Rowe's treatment of the Great Disappointment of Oct. 22, 1844, at first struck me as too restrained. I had expected, I suppose, that this event would take up more space in a book like this than it actually does. In reality, though, Rowe gives us a very good (if rather brief) picture of both the Disappointment itself while also exploring the conflicts within Miller himself and within his movement in the aftermath. The picture of Miller that emerges here--a man whose diffidence and uncertainty helped to create much of the confusion and many of the divisions among his followers--is very compelling. Disciples like Joshua Himes, though sometimes frustrated by these qualities in Miller, remained faithful to the cause, and Rowe's portrayal of this relationship in particular is quite moving.
God's Strange Work is highly recommended for students of American religion and American history. Psychologists and philosophers of religious experience will also find it useful. It contains much that is of benefit to scholars, but it is clearly meant to be a book suitable for non-specialists as well.
At 235 pages, the text is relatively slim. One wonders if a bit more heft in the volume would have allowed Rowe to draw out further some of his interesting insights into Miller's development. As a student of the intellectual history of this period--and as a teacher constantly looking for new approaches to share with my students--I found particularly interesting Rowe's discussion of Miller's thought as representing the transition from the objective, orderly, and systematic worldview of the Enlightenment to the personalism and affective emphases of romanticism. For instance, Rowe quotes two different descriptions by Miller, written three years apart, of his own conversion; the first emphasizes the Bible as rule and light, while the second finds in Jesus a comfort and a friend. Unfortunately, this discussion is fairly brief. Granted that the book is a biography and not an intellectual history, I would still have relished a more thorough reflection on this aspect of Miller's development.
Rowe's treatment of the Great Disappointment of Oct. 22, 1844, at first struck me as too restrained. I had expected, I suppose, that this event would take up more space in a book like this than it actually does. In reality, though, Rowe gives us a very good (if rather brief) picture of both the Disappointment itself while also exploring the conflicts within Miller himself and within his movement in the aftermath. The picture of Miller that emerges here--a man whose diffidence and uncertainty helped to create much of the confusion and many of the divisions among his followers--is very compelling. Disciples like Joshua Himes, though sometimes frustrated by these qualities in Miller, remained faithful to the cause, and Rowe's portrayal of this relationship in particular is quite moving.
God's Strange Work is highly recommended for students of American religion and American history. Psychologists and philosophers of religious experience will also find it useful. It contains much that is of benefit to scholars, but it is clearly meant to be a book suitable for non-specialists as well.
September 17, 2017
William Miller is an oddly understudied influence on American religion. A Baptist farmer, self-taught and sincere, his conviction that the world would end in the early 1840s influenced what was to become the Adventist denomination, as well as the Jehovah's Witnesses movement. This isn't an exciting story—Miller was a farmer who prospered—but it is riveting. How did this one man become a major influence in what we today recognize as Fundamentalism? Even more astounding, how was it that he was almost completely forgotten?
Step by step, Rowe takes us through Miller's family and neighbors in the Burnt Over District during the Second Great Awakening. Miller, although influenced by others, used only his Bible, concordance, and natural eloquence to convince many others that the end was nigh. He was a star attraction, being called to far locations to speak. He gathered a loyal following that grew large enough to splinter even within his lifetime.
There is a definite element of the undiscovered in this book. Those looking to understand the strange landscape that is American religion must take account of Miller and his views. Rowe provides a great introduction to an important figure who is generally overlooked. This book is a non-hagiographic consideration of a most interesting individual.
For those interested, I wrote a bit more about it on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.
Step by step, Rowe takes us through Miller's family and neighbors in the Burnt Over District during the Second Great Awakening. Miller, although influenced by others, used only his Bible, concordance, and natural eloquence to convince many others that the end was nigh. He was a star attraction, being called to far locations to speak. He gathered a loyal following that grew large enough to splinter even within his lifetime.
There is a definite element of the undiscovered in this book. Those looking to understand the strange landscape that is American religion must take account of Miller and his views. Rowe provides a great introduction to an important figure who is generally overlooked. This book is a non-hagiographic consideration of a most interesting individual.
For those interested, I wrote a bit more about it on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.
July 8, 2021
It's clear that the writer thinks the world of William Miller, and consistently is trying to apologize for Miller's behavior. "Yes, he could be sarcastic, but that just made him FUN!!!" That sort of thing.
It's also clear that the writer isn't a formally trained historian. He starts to get some momentum in his story, then he bounces around to a couple of different time frames, then starts to move, but you're never quite sure what time frame you're at. It was a bit of a chore finishing this one, not gonna lie.
It's also clear that the writer isn't a formally trained historian. He starts to get some momentum in his story, then he bounces around to a couple of different time frames, then starts to move, but you're never quite sure what time frame you're at. It was a bit of a chore finishing this one, not gonna lie.
November 9, 2025
"For Miller and many of his followers, the world did indeed come to an end on October 22, 1844, not melted in divine fire but dissolved in bitter tears. Hope did not necessarily die, but expectation did. Previous predictions had been sufficiently vague or contingent that the disappointed could renew their confidence in the face of prophetic recalculation based on 'new light' on the Scriptures. But this 'true midnight cry' offered no escape. Jesus was to have come back to earth, the righteous dead raised from their graves, and the world consumed by fire on that day--and nothing happened."
Read
March 15, 2024The mid-nineteenth century was a time of revivalism, reform movements, and Jacksonian democracy, and into this world stepped William Miller who was convinced that Jesus would return to earth in 1843 or 1844. “God's Strange Work: William Miller and the End of the World,” by David L. Rowe, describes the “Great Disappointment,” and the heterodox groups that came out of it, as people came to grips with the fact that “no man knows the day or the hour” of Christ’s return. (280 pages)
October 13, 2013
It's quite refreshing to read about Miller apart from his religion, as a human being. I personally had never realized just how old he was by the time the Millerite movement began, and what a sharp distinction there was between the Millerite movement and early Adventism. It's unusual, to say the least, that a person can begin a total new life in middle age like that, especially when the person is someone as rationalistic, thoughtful, and careful as William Miller. Any one of those ingredients, in any one else, would have resulted in the opposite reaction, but in Miller they added up to more than the sum of their parts. It's clear that he had frequent second thoughts about what he was doing, and it obviously pained him to see himself become the subject of controversy and sectarianism, but he could conscientiously do nothing else. There's a lot to admire there.
However, the writing style of this biography is not very impressive. It's a little bit out of order, and I can't help but think it could be improved and expanded. Nevertheless, so far this is only non-church based biography available, so we take what can get.
However, the writing style of this biography is not very impressive. It's a little bit out of order, and I can't help but think it could be improved and expanded. Nevertheless, so far this is only non-church based biography available, so we take what can get.
November 22, 2012
Very interesting look at this sort of phenomenon and its influence on society
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews