To appreciate the weight of the arguments presented in the text, one must first understand the unique academic journey of its author. Samuele Bacchiocchi (1938–2008) was an Italian-born Seventh-day Adventist scholar. His academic credentials were impeccable; he earned a doctorate in Church History from the prestigious Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome—a Jesuit institution. This fact alone lent a unique credibility to his work. As the first non-Catholic to be awarded a gold medal by the university for his doctoral dissertation, Bacchiocchi demonstrated that his research met the rigorous standards of the very institution that has historically been the guardian of Sunday sacredness.
Early Christians had two types of days: feast days (Eucharist, celebration) and fast days (penance, sorrow). The Sabbath (Saturday) was often observed as a fast day—a somber memorial of Christ in the tomb. Sunday, by contrast, was a feast day celebrating the resurrection. Over time, the fast became associated with "Jewish" legalism, and the feast became the primary day of worship. from sabbath to sunday samuele bacchiocchi pdf