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From the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists:Emmanuel Missionary College, an Adventist institution of higher education located in Berrien Springs, Michigan, operated from 1901 to 1960. Founded as Battle Creek College (BCC), the Adventist denomination’s first institution of higher learning, the school relocated to the southwestern corner of the state in search of more space and a rural environment. Over its nearly sixty-year history, Emmanuel Missionary College (or EMC) developed from a small, experimental program to a fully accredited, four-year liberal arts college. In 1960 the original Seventh-day Adventist college merged with Potomac University, which included the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary and other graduate programs, on the Berrien Springs campus and underwent another name change, becoming Andrews University.
So when Battle Creek College moved in search of more space the Emmanuel Missionary College was formed. But in 1960 the Seminary and other graduate programs were merged in and they called it Andrews University.From later in the same article:
In the fall of 1958, at the Annual Council of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, the body voted to move the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary and the graduate programs that comprised Potomac University to the Berrien Springs campus of Emmanuel Missionary College. Initially, even after the graduate programs began their physical move to Michigan, many regarded the university and the college as two separate entities simply existing side by side. Neither wanted to lose its identity: the university as a General Conference institution and EMC as the Lake Union college. However, logistical concerns, the demands of accreditation, and the State of Michigan all pushed the institutions toward official integration.
At the same time, the church and the institution wrestled with the question of a name for the new entity. Potomac University did not seem appropriate for a midwestern school. On April 4, 1960, the university board voted to “adopt the name Andrews University,” and on April 6 the Spring Council of the General Conference voted the same, saying, “This name was chosen because it honors our first missionary, a scholarly, dedicated man, J.N. Andrews . . . "In November the institution filed an amendment for a name change with the State of Michigan, for a $5 legal fee. On November 23, 1960, Emmanuel Missionary College became Andrews University.
I can understand why two schools merging might want a fresh start. But why did they name the school after Andrews who did not represent the church's beliefs, being a non-Trinitarian? Since the namesake is not in line with the current Adventist Fundamental Beliefs, should it be renamed?Here are some statements by Andrews. In the first he lists the Trinity as a characteristic of Babylon that should cause people to come out of her. In the second he discusses Melchizedek, and in so doing describes Jesus as having a beginning.
The doctrine of the Trinity which was established in the church by the council of Nice, A. D. 325. This doctrine destroys the personality of God, and his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The infamous, measures by which it was forced upon the church which appear upon the pages of ecclesiastical history might well cause every believer in that doctrine to blush.
And as to the Son of God, he would be exeluded also, for he had God for his Father, and did, at some point in the eternity of the past, have beginning of days. So that if we use Paul's language in an absolute sense, it would be impossible to find but one being in the universe, and that is God the Father, who is without father, or mother, or descent, or beginning of days, or end of life.
Adventists, would you support the name being changed, perhaps back to Emmanuel Missionary University so that it refers to Jesus' incarnation, or perhaps naming the college after a missionary who held to views in line with Adventist Fundamental Beliefs?
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