“Have you, or someone you know, been burned by the hot-potato issues that Seventh-day Adventists are facing today?” That opening sentence drew me into The Reformation and the Remnant: The Reformers Speak to Today’s Church (Pacific Press, 2016), hopeful to find a path forward on some of the most controversial topics that have been polarizing Adventism. In it Nicholas Miller, Professor of Church History and director of the International Religious Liberty Institute at Andrews University, argues that the polarization stems largely from fundamentalist and progressive influences in the Church that tend to make a lot of noise, broadcasting their positions, yet fail to enter into fruitful dialogue with each other. However, Miller believes that the majority of the Church is rather moderate, resisting the label of either extreme, and that there is safety in remembering that “we need each other” since other believers often offer perspective and insight that we may be missing in our individual understanding of Scripture. Moreover, he emphasizes that voices removed from our immediate cultural context can reveal the prejudices and biases we bring with us to Scripture. As such, he advocates that we let the Reformers inform our thinking, modeling throughout the book how they may speak to current controversies. Of course, Miller is strategic in the lessons he draws from the Reformers, making the work not immune from his own bias, yet his strong scholarship combined with pastoral concern makes The Reformation and the Remnant an important step towards elevating the level of Adventist discourse and establishes Miller as a needed voice of clarity.Full review: [...]