Desmond Ford, described by "Time magazine" as "a prominent Australian theologian", had been lecturing in theology at Avondale College in Australia. However due to criticisms of his theology the church moved him to the United States in 1977, where he began lecturing at Pacific Union College. Though Ford and Brinsmead had known each other on friendly terms since their student days at Avondale in the 1950s, Ford had spent years in his capacity as a minister and theology professor employed by the Adventist church being asked to respond to Brinsmead's views and opposing his perfectionistic doctrines. When Brinsmead repudiated his earlier views by the early 1970s and embraced more traditional Protestant views of salvation that had been championed by Ford, the men found themselves in substantial agreement on many points.