1952 Bible Conference

The 1952 Bible Conference was a Seventh-day Adventist conference in the Sligo Church in Takoma Park, Maryland from September 1–13, 1952. There were 498 people listed as attending this meeting with worldwide representation (with at least 3 people from every division of the General Conference). From published reports it appears that there were on average 450 people in attendance during the presentations. The Conference was the second major Bible Conference held by Adventists during the twentieth century, and the next major meeting of its kind after the 1919 Bible Conference. According to the then General Conference president, W. H. Branson, these meetings were regarded as “one of the most important meetings in our history.”

In 1943, Seventh-day Adventist college bible teachers formed the Bible Research Fellowship. According to Raymond Cottrell, secretary for the fellowship, a misunderstanding of the group's relationship to the church led to its discontinuation and to the "official" 1952 Bible Conference.

In the July 1952 issue of Ministry magazine, W. H. Branson, President of the General Conference, listed three reasons for the bible conference:

There were 82 presentations with a devotional lecture each day at noon; Sabbath (Saturday) programs were open to the public. The meeting commenced with a communion service on Friday afternoon and a "revival" church service on Sabbath led by the former General Conference (GC) president, J. L. McElhany. The sessions were chaired by the General Conference president, W. H. Branson, and fellow GC Vice-presidents.

A planning committee of 23 members asked participants to present. Potential speakers were asked to write up their presentations and submit them to the committee. They were then “preached” (as opposed to reading them). In only a “few” cases were individuals asked to leave things out of their prepared presentations, and most of the suggestions were given to help avoid repetition among presenters. The planning committee consisted of W. H. Branson, L. K. Dickson, E. D. Dick, H. L. Rudy, A. V. Olson, R. R. Figuhr, W. B. Ochs, R. A. Anderson, C. L. Torrey, D. E. Rebok, L. E. Froom, W. A. Spicer, Glenn Calkins, E. E. Cossentine, J. E. Weaver, M. V. Campbell, L. L. Moffitt, T. H. Jemison, W. E. Read, F. D. Nichol, M. L. Rice, F. H. Yost, and C. L. Bauer.

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