J. Gresham Machen
Presbyterian) | |
---|---|
Church | |
Ordained | 1914 |
Offices held | Moderator of the General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (1936)[a] |
Academic background | |
Influences | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | |
Sub-discipline | New Testament studies |
School or tradition | Princeton theology |
Institutions | |
Influenced |
John Gresham Machen (
Machen is considered to be the last of the great
Machen's influence can still be felt today through the existence of the institutions that he founded:
Early life
Machen was born in
Machen attended a private college and received a classical education including Latin and Greek. He also learned to play the piano.[citation needed]
Early adulthood
In 1898, the 17-year-old Machen began studying at
Despite having some indecisiveness about his future, in 1902 Machen opted to study theology at
He also pursued theological studies in Germany for a year in 1905. In a letter to his father, he admitted being thrown into confusion about his faith because of the liberalism taught by Professor Wilhelm Herrmann. Although he had an enormous respect for Herrmann, his time in Germany and his engagement with Modernist theologians led him to reject the movement and embrace conservative Reformed theology more firmly than before.
Pre-war period
In 1906, Machen joined the Princeton Seminary as an instructor in the New Testament, after receiving an assurance that he would not have to sign a statement of faith. Among his Princeton influences were
Machen did not serve "conventionally" during the
Post-war period
Princeton, 1918–1926
After returning from Europe, Machen continued his work as a New Testament scholar at Princeton. During this period he gained a reputation as one of the few true scholars who was able to debate the growing prevalence of modernist theology whilst maintaining an evangelical stance. The Origin of Paul's Religion (1921) is perhaps Machen's best known scholarly work. This book was a successful attempt at critiquing the Modernist belief that Paul's religion was based mainly upon Greek philosophy and was entirely different from the religion of Jesus. Christianity and Liberalism (1923) is another of Machen's books that critiqued theological modernism. The book compared conservative Protestantism to the rising popularity of modernist (or "liberal") theology. He concluded that "the chief modern rival of Christianity is Liberalism". In What Is Faith? (1925) he set before him the pastoral task of anchoring faith in the historical fact of Christ's atonement. He found liberal theology anti-intellectual, insofar as it spiritualized Christianity and treated it as merely an expression of individual experience, thus emptying the Bible and creeds of all definitive meaning. These books, along with a number of others, placed Machen firmly in one theological camp within the Presbyterian Church. His work throughout the 1920s was divided between his time at Princeton and his political work with evangelical Presbyterians. Despite his conservative theological beliefs, Machen was never able to fully embrace popularist fundamentalism either. His refusal to accept premillennialism and other aspects of fundamentalist belief was based upon his belief that Calvinist theology was the most biblical form of Christian belief—a theology that was generally missing from fundamentalism at the time. Moreover, Machen's scholarly work and ability to engage with modernist theology was at odds with fundamentalism's anti-intellectual attitude.[original research?]
Controversies
In 1924 and 1925, relations among the Princeton faculty deteriorated when The Presbyterian questioned if there were two different parties on the faculty. In response Machen remarked that his differences with
Westminster Theological Seminary
The 1929 General Assembly voted to reorganise Princeton Seminary and appointed two of the Auburn Affirmation signatories as trustees. The Auburn Affirmation was a response by liberals[4] within the Northern Presbyterian Church that condemned the General Assembly's response to the controversy arising out of Harry Emerson Fosdick's May 1922 sermon "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" Machen and some colleagues withdrew and set up Westminster Theological Seminary to continue reformed orthodox theology.
Orthodox Presbyterian Church
In 1933, Machen, concerned about liberalism tolerated by Presbyterians on the mission field, formed The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. The next Presbyterian General Assembly reaffirmed that Independent Board was unconstitutional and gave the associated clergy an ultimatum to break their links. When Machen and seven other clergy refused, they were suspended from the Presbyterian ministry. The controversy divided Machen from many of his fundamentalist friends including
In his book The Great Evangelical Disaster, Francis Schaeffer details the theological shift in American Christianity from conservatism to liberalism. In that discussion, Schaeffer describes how Machen's "defrocking" rightly became front-page news in the secular media of the country. Schaeffer concludes: "A good case could be made that the news about Machen was the most significant U.S. news in the first half of the twentieth century. It was the culmination of a long trend toward liberalism within the Presbyterian Church and represented the same trend in most other denominations" (p. 35).
Religion and politics
Machen was suspicious of mixing religion and politics. He found attempts to establish a Christian culture by political means insensitive to minorities.
Historian George Marsden has described Machen as "radically libertarian. He opposed almost any extension of state power and took stands on a variety of issues. Like most libertarians, his stances violated usual categories of liberal or conservative."[7] He opposed the establishment of a federal Department of Education, suggesting before a joint Congressional committee that government control of the children was the ultimate sacrifice of freedom (he was also opposed to the Child Labor Amendment, proposed in 1924).[8] He was not against locally operated public schools per se, but feared the influence of materialist ideology and opposition to higher human aspirations.[9] He also opposed Prohibition—a costly stance in an age when abstinence was almost a creed among Protestants.[7] He was opposed to a foreign policy of imperialism and militarism.[10]
Death
Much to the sadness of those who had been involved in the movements that he had led, Machen died on January 1, 1937, at the age of 55. Some commentators (notably Ned Stonehouse) point out that Machen's "constitution" was not always strong, and that he was constantly "burdened" with his responsibilities at the time.[citation needed]
Machen had decided to honor some speaking engagements he had in North Dakota in December, 1936, but developed
The Baltimore-born journalist
Machen left half his considerable estate to Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. Giving $10,000 outright to the seminary, Dr. Machen provided that half of the balance, after certain bequests to his brothers and others were cared for, should be placed in the hands of five trustees to be held for the benefit of Westminster Seminary. Ten percent of the residuary estate was to go to the Independent Board. The will was drawn in 1935, before the establishing of The Presbyterian Guardian and before the organization of the new Church. The gross estate was estimated at $175,000.[14]
Works
In addition to those mentioned in the main article, Machen's works include:
- "Christianity and Culture". Princeton Theological Review. 11. 1913. Archived from the originalon 2003-07-31.
- The Literature and History of New Testament Times (1915)
- Recent Criticism of the Book of Acts (1919)
- The Origin of Paul's Religion. 1921. Archived from the original on 2003-05-02.
- Teaching the Teacher: A First Book in Teacher Training (1921) (Contributing author)
- A Brief Bible History: A Survey of the Old and New Testaments (1922)
- New Testament Greek for Beginners (1923)
- Christianity and Liberalism. New York: Macmillan. 1923. Archived from the original on 2017-05-06. Retrieved 2005-05-18. New ed. 2009 ISBN 9780802864994
- What Is Faith? (1925)
- The Virgin Birth of Christ (1930)
- Things Unseen: A Systematic Introduction to the Christian Faith and Reformed Theology (1936-36) Three series of radio addresses given in Philadelphia
- The Christian Faith in the Modern World (1936)
- The Christian View of Man (1937)
- God Transcendent (1949) edited by Ned B. Stonehouse from Machen's sermons, ISBN 0-85151-355-7.
- What Is Christianity? And Other Addresses (1951) edited by Ned B. Stonehouse
- Stonehouse, Ned B., ed. (1951). "The Necessity of the Christian School". What Is Christianity? And Other Essays. Grand Rapids.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - The New Testament: An Introduction to Its Literature and History (1976) edited by W. John Cook from two sets of Machen's course materials, ISBN 0-85151-240-2
See also
- Cornelius Van Til
- Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy
References
Notes
Citations
- ^ ISSN 1931-7115. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
- ^ Charles Earle Funk: What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.
- ^ Jones III, Douglas M. (1991). "J. Gresham Machen Was Right About the Gulf Crisis". Antithesis. 2 (1).
- ^ "The Auburn Heresy" at opc.org
- ^ Machen 1923, pp. 149, 151.
- ^ Machen 1951, The Necessity of the Christian School.
- ^ a b Marsden 1991, p. 196.
- ^ "Testimony before the House & Senate Committees on the Proposed Department of Education" Archived 2003-05-02 at the Wayback Machine February 25, 1926.
- ^ Machen 1923, pp. 13-.
- ^ Laurence M. Vance (August 22, 2008). "J. Gresham Machen on Imperialism, Militarism, and Conscription". Lewrockwell. LewRockwell.com.
- ^ "J. Gresham Machen's Response to Modernism" at www.desiringgod.org.
- ^ H. L. Mencken, "The Impregnable Rock", American Mercury, v. 24, no. 96 (December 1931) 411–412.
- ^ H. L. Mencken, "Dr. Fundamentalis", an obituary of Rev. J. Gresham Machen, Baltimore Evening Sun (January 18, 1937), 2nd Section, p. 15.
- ^ "The Presbyterian". 21 January 1937.
Sources
- Coray, Henry W. (1981). J. Gresham Machen: A Silhouette. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications. OL 4255596M.
- Gatiss, Lee (2008). Christianity and the Tolerance of Liberalism: J.Gresham Machen and the Presbyterian Controversy of 1922–1937. London: Latimer Trust. OCLC 315063459.
- ISBN 0-87552-563-6.
- ISBN 0-8028-0539-6.
- ISBN 0-8308-1400-0.
- ISBN 0-934688-97-4.)
External links
This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. (December 2018) |
- Works by John Gresham Machen at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about J. Gresham Machen at Internet Archive
- A Brief Bible History: A Survey of the Old and New Testaments Archived 2017-04-29 at the Wayback Machine by Machen and James Boyd
- On the Deity of Christ by Machen
- A Short History of the Life of J. G. Machen by Professor Craig S. Hawkins
- Works by J. Gresham Machen at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)