John Harvey Kellogg And His Anti-Masturbation Cereals
The controversial life of America’s cereal king
John Harvey Kellogg was born February 26th, 1852, in Tyrone Michigan. To say that he was a complicated man doesn’t quite do him, or the controversy surrounding him, justice. While we might imagine him as a devoted industrialist praying at the altar of 19th capitalism, he was, in fact, a deeply flawed, troubled and religious man, riddled with enigmas.
J.H Kellogg
To understand J.H Kellogg’s beliefs about the world he found himself in, it helps to look at his personal beliefs. A vocal member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, after gaining his medical degree the now Dr Kellogg would go on to lead the Battle Creek Sanatorium in Michigan, which was owned and operated by The Seventh Day Adventist Church.
The Church stands outside many mainstream Christian viewpoints, focusing much of its attention on the Second Coming, as well as promoting healthy eating and vegetarianism, and encouraging members to be chaste, to abstain from alcohol or smoking and, critically for Kellogg, from masturbation.
It may seem an odd thing for a church to fixate on, but they were by no means the first and generations of theologians had debated the issue before them. Kellogg was distinctly on…
