Reformed Forum

Highlights from 2023

Christ the Center — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Since 2008, we have been taking time around New Year’s Day to bring you some of the top moments from the preceding year. We have several great clips lined up for you today.

The Top Episodes of 2023 (by YouTube views)

Dan Ragusa — Preterism and 2 Peter 3 (YouTube)
Gray Sutanto and Cory Brock — A Theological Introduction to Neo-Calvinism (YouTube)
Greg Beale — The New Testament Use of the Old Testament (YouTube)
Carlton Wynne — Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (YouTube)
Camden Bucey — The Importance of Cornelius Van Til for Today (YouTube)
Jim Cassidy — Introducing and Interpreting Karl Barth (YouTube)
Danny Olinger — Christianity and Liberalism: Introduction (YouTube)
Lane Tipton — Exitus and Reditus in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas (YouTube)
Jonathan Master — Reformed Theology (YouTube)
Michael Beck — Covenant Theology and Cultural Engagement in the Thought of Meredith G. Kline (YouTube)

Chapters

00:00:07 Introduction
00:03:26 The Top 10 Episodes of 2023
00:15:13 [Dan Ragusa] Preterism and 2 Peter 3
00:24:22 [Gray Sutanto and Cory Brock] A Theological Introduction to Neo-Calvinism
00:30:14 [Greg Beale] The New Testament Use of the Old Testament
00:39:28 [Carlton Wynne] Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion
00:46:58 [Camden Bucey] The Importance of Cornelius Van Til for Today
01:00:24 [Jim Cassidy] Introducing and Interpreting Karl Barth
01:12:16 [Danny Olinger] Christianity and Liberalism: Introduction
01:16:59 [Lane Tipton] Exitus and Reditus in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
01:25:09 [Jonathan Master] Reformed Theology
01:34:52 [Michael Beck] Covenant Theology and Cultural Engagement in the Thought of Meredith G. Kline
01:40:52 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Carlton Wynne, Cory Brock, Dan Ragusa, Danny Olinger, Greg Beale, Jim Cassidy, Jonathan Master, Lane G. Tipton, Michael Beck, Nathaniel Gray Sutanto

Machen’s Enduring Significance | Unfolding Redemption

Christ the Center — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 05:00:00 +0000

Lane Tipton and Camden Bucey reflect on the recent Reformed Forum Theology Conference on J. Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism before turning to a discussion of their new booklet, Unfolding Redemption: Exploring the History and Order of Salvation.

Chapters

00:00:07 Introduction
00:03:35 Reflecting on the 2023 Reformed Forum Conference
00:08:27 Machen and Denominational History
00:17:02 The Church and Culture
00:28:09 The History and Order of Salvation
00:35:41 The Unchanging Person of the Son
00:42:29 Jesus Declared to Be the Son of God in Power
00:55:05 The Benefits of Adoption
01:07:44 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

Christianity and Liberalism: Christ

Christ the Center — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 05:00:00 +0000

On the 100th anniversary of the publication of Christianity and Liberalism, we consider J. Gresham Machen’s critique of the liberal theological perspective on Jesus Christ, contrasting it with the traditional, orthodox Christian view. Machen argues that liberal theology often misrepresents Christ as a mere teacher of righteousness and neglects his divine aspects and teachings. He counters that Christ is not merely an example, but the very object of Christian faith. He also challenges liberal theologians’ struggle to reconcile Jesus’s sinlessness with their evolutionary worldview and argues against a deistic view of God, advocating instead for theism which allows for both God’s works of creation and providence. Machen discusses the issue of miracles in relation to Christian faith, asserting that one cannot selectively believe in parts of Christ’s life, such as dismissing the virgin birth. Ultimately, Machen invites the reader to believe upon Christ as portrayed in Scripture.

Chapters

00:07 Introduction
04:15 Reflecting on Machen and the Doctrine of Christ
10:47 Machen’s Writing Style
19:02 The Messianic Self-Consciousness
24:07 Modern Christologoy
32:16 Jesus Is Not a Mere Example but the Object of Faith
38:23 Miracles and the Supernatural Kingdom
44:41 Addressing Perennial Errors
48:40 Pastoral Considerations
56:34 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger, Lane G. Tipton

Machen and the PCA Today

Carlton Wynne — Mon, 15 May 2023 19:47:57 +0000

Subscribe Now to Receive the Latest Issue of Our Magazine

This article was published in the Spring 2023 issue of the Reformed Forum magazine. Subscribe now for free. If you provide a U.S. mailing address, we’ll mail complimentary copies of future issues to you. You’ll also receive a link to download a PDF version of our current issue.

This year is the centennial anniversary of the release of J. Gresham Machen’s classic work, Christianity and Liberalism, a most opportune time for all in Reformed denominations, not just Machen’s own Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), to reflect on the still relevant insights Dr. Machen has left us. My own denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), celebrates its 50^th anniversary this year. So PCA folks are providentially poised not only to give special praise to God for his grace to our expression of Christ’s kingdom, but also to assess how we can grow as a church that is “faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the great commission.”[1] With Machen’s famous book in hand, then, let us dare to ask: What can Machen teach the PCA that is useful in current days?

Asking this question requires that we first dig down to the varying roots of the OPC and the PCA. At the first General Assembly of the OPC in 1936, Machen described the thirty-four ministers and some five-thousand brave souls who had joined him as “members, at last, of a true Presbyterian Church.”[2] By claiming to represent a “true” Presbyterian church, Machen implicitly declared the northern Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A, infected as it then was with the rife spirit of modernism and liberal Protestantism, to be a false church. Over a decade earlier in Christianity and Liberalism, Machen had already been urging liberal ministers of the mainline denomination to withdraw from it in the interests of honesty, going so far as to suggest that the Unitarian Church is “just the kind of church that the liberal preacher desires—namely, a church without an authoritative Bible, without doctrinal requirements, and without a creed.”[3]

By contrast, the southern Presbyterian conservatives who founded the PCA nearly four decades after the birth of the OPC styled their new denomination a “continuing Presbyterian church loyal to Scripture and to the Reformed faith.”[4] That is, while the founders of the PCA observed that the southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) was traveling a liberal course that made division inevitable, many of them envisioned the PCA to be “distinctly mainline in orientation.”[5] Like Machen and the OPC, they wanted the PCA to preserve confessional Presbyterianism in America, but to do so in a way that could also achieve “the larger goal of evangelizing and renewing American culture.”[6] Notably, the PCA has not always trumpeted this dimension of its origin story, and there have always been those within its ranks who have resisted the mainline desire for cultural influence in favor of a more thoroughly Reformed identity.[7] This fact helps to explain the tension and, at times, the struggle, over the PCA’s identity and direction over the half-century since its founding.[8]

The PCA’s ambivalent relationship with the broader culture also gives a glimpse into the first lesson the PCA can learn from Machen: to be on guard, as a church, against using the Christian faith to achieve allegedly higher this-worldly goals. To be clear, this caution does not oppose Christian influence for cultural betterment per se. When Christ characterized his followers as “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world,” he was hardly calling them to a separatistic or quasi-monastic lifestyle.[9] What Machen warned against was regarding the Christian gospel more as a means for worldly influence than a message directing sinners towards the realm of heaven through faith in Christ. The danger, Machen believed, lay in the fact that the former orientation inevitably replaces the glory of God in Christ with the rehabilitation of this “present evil age” (Gal. 1:4) as the chief end of man. As Machen puts it in Christianity and Liberalism,

[I]f one thing is plain it is that Christianity refuses to be regarded as a mere means to a higher end. Our Lord made that perfectly clear when He said, ‘If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother . . . he cannot be my disciple’ (Lk. xiv. 26). Whatever else those stupendous words may mean, they certainly mean that the relationship to Christ takes precedence of all other relationships, even the holiest of relationships like those that exist between husband and wife and parent and child. Those other relationships exist for the sake of Christianity and not Christianity for the sake of them. Christianity will indeed accomplish many useful things in this world, but if it is accepted in order to accomplish those useful things it is not Christianity . . . Christianity will produce a healthy community; but if it is accepted in order to produce a healthy community, it is not Christianity.[10]

Many PCA churches come dangerously close to instrumentalizing the faith in directions Machen decried. PCA church vision statements routinely announce the aim of bringing “spiritual, social, and cultural renewal” to a neighborhood and to the world. One PCA church even seeks to “build a great city through a movement of the gospel that brings personal conversion and transformation, community formation, social justice, and cultural renewal.” Again, as common grace blessings pursued through sanctified Christian living—even as Spirit-wrought effects of the church’s efforts to gather and perfect the saints—certain cultural fruits are to be welcomed. But history testifies that when the institutional church puts the gospel of Christ into the service of worldly goals, evangelism becomes social work, preaching becomes cultural commentary, and Jesus becomes a partner in the pursuit of an earthly kingdom. At the very least, the desire for cultural influence reminiscent of the older mainline Presbyterians has affected how the PCA often articulates the faith to the world, which leads to a second lesson from Machen.

When it came to specific trends in American Protestantism, Machen stood as a paragon of theological clarity and unabashed conviction that the PCA would do well to emulate today. When his fundamentalist allies were scatter-shooting criticisms of religious modernism, Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism came in like a laser, cutting through the fields of distortion from which confessional Christianity has always struggled to escape. As he explained in the book’s introduction, Machen’s purpose was “to present the issue as sharply and as clearly as possible.”[11] At “issue” was the chasm of differences between the orthodox Reformed faith and theological liberalism.

Machen uncovered those disparities, in part, by recognizing how liberalism employed the same religious terminology as the orthodox but filled those terms with un-Christian content. For example, for the liberal, “God” had become synonymous with a world process, the incarnation was a symbol of man’s oneness with the divine, and the statement “Jesus is God” meant only that Jesus was and remains a most inspiring personality.[12] Such “double use” of words, Machen argued, violated the fundamental principle of truthfulness in language, promoted a false unity in the church, and, most importantly, sapped the ordinary Christian of the joy that the true gospel brings to the broken heart.

By calling my denomination to heed Machen’s concern for theological clarity, I am not suggesting that the same liberal practices and lamentable effects as Machen observed are widespread in the PCA today. The PCA as a denomination remains committed to the inerrant Scriptures and the Westminster Standards as containing the biblical system of doctrine for faith and life. And one will look in vain to find a PCA minister today who flaunts an unbiblical gender and sexual ethic. Nevertheless, there is a discernible tendency in the PCA to avoid (what many see as) unnecessary clarity when it comes to pressing challenges within the church.

In my view, one recent example is the PCA presbyteries’ failure to ratify by two-thirds majority an overture (i.e., a proposed amendment to the Book of Church Order) designed to prohibit self-described homosexuals from ordained office in the PCA.[13] Arguments against this overture at the presbytery level have been varied, but many have emphasized the deleterious relational and psychological consequences that would be inflicted on the sexually struggling candidate were the overture to pass into the Book of Church Order.

Another suggested reason for rejecting the overture has been terminological. It has been offered in print that the language of “describing” oneself or “identifying” as a homosexual is too unclear to be enshrined in an ecclesiastical standard delineating ordination requirements.[14] Whether or not this alleged linguistic obstacle plagues the PCA, most observers of and participants in the LGBTQ+ revolution would have little problem discerning the meaning of the phrase “I am a homosexual.” Could it be that now, a century after Machen’s day, those in the world are able to express their convictions on sexual morality more clearly than those within the church?

There is much that the PCA can learn from J. Gresham Machen. But the two lessons surveyed above—to prioritize the gospel of Christ for its own sake and to express clearly one’s confessional convictions on pressing matters within the church and the world—rise to the top. Machen believed the first of these tasks was (and is) vital to the existence of the church and the second was (and is) critical to the church’s long-term health. And he did so with firm resolve to submit his every engagement in the church and in the world to the law of love. After all, what kind of man can “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) in such a way that even his ardent opponent praises him at his death for his convictions and his grace?[15] Only one who follows in the footsteps of the King and Head of the Church, united to him in life, in death, and into glory. Perhaps, in the end, a whole-souled commitment to do just that is the greatest legacy that Machen leaves to the PCA today.

[1] “Presbyterian Church in America,” accessed February 2, 2023.

[2] J. Gresham Machen, “A True Presbyterian Church at Last,” Presbyterian Guardian (June 22, 1936): 110; emphasis added.

[3] J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, new ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009), 139–40.

[4] G. Aiken Taylor, “For a Continuing Church,” Presbyterian Journal (November 3, 1971): 7; emphasis added.

[5] Sean Michael Lucas, For a Continuing Church: The Roots of the Presbyterian Church in America (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2015), 3.

[6] Lucas, For a Continuing Church, 3.

[7] E.g., in his sermon at the first General Assembly of the PCA, Jack Williamson declared, “We have committed ourselves to the rebirth and continuation of a Presbyterian Church loyal to Scripture, the Reformed faith, and committed to the spiritual mission of the Church as Christ commanded in the Great Commission.” W. Jack Williamson, “To the Glory of God,” Presbyterian Journal (December 26, 1973), 11. It is odd that Lucas cites this sermon as evidence that those who formed the PCA were “profoundly interested in preserving American civilization through their efforts” (Lucas, For a Continuing Church, 2, cf. 313–14), since nowhere does Williamson call for this goal. Williamson did describe the visible church as “an institution in society,” but only to note that, like other institutions, the church possessed certain “distinguishing characteristics” or “marks,” namely, “the pure preaching of the Gospel; the Scriptural administration of the sacraments; and the exercise of discipline.” Williamson, “To the Glory of God,” 19.

[8] This struggle was recently evident in the contested decision of the 49th PCA General Assembly to withdraw from the National Association of Evangelicals. See Emily McFarlan Miller, “Presbyterian Church in America votes to leave National Association of Evangelicals,” Religion News Service, accessed February 4, 2023.

[9] See Craig Blomberg, Matthew,The New American Commentary 22 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1992), 102.

[10] Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, 127–28.

[11] Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, 1.

[12] See Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, 54, 94–95.

[13] The full overture, proposed to the floor of the 49th PCA General Assembly through a minority report of the Committee of Commissioners on Overtures and subsequently approved by a majority of commissioners, reads, “Men who describe themselves as homosexual, even those who describe themselves as homosexual and claim to practice celibacy by refraining from homosexual conduct, are disqualified from holding office in the Presbyterian Church in America.”

[14] For an earlier example of this argument, see @timkellernyc (Timothy Keller).Twitter, 23 Nov. 2021. It should be noted, however, that a 2020 PCA ad interim report on sexuality, co-authored by Keller, observed, “Even if ‘gay,’ for some Christians, simply means ‘same-sex attraction,’ it is still inappropriate to juxtapose this sinful desire, or any other sinful desire, as an identity marker alongside our identity as new creations in Christ.” The same report also argued that “Christians should not identify with their sin so as to embrace it or seek to base their identity on it.” Presbyterian Church in America, “Report of the Ad Interim Committee on Human Sexuality to the Forty-Eighth General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (2019–2020),” May 2020, 11–12.

[15] See Pearl S. Buck, “A Tribute to Dr. Machen,” The New Republic (January 20, 1937): 355.

Christianity and Liberalism: God and Man

Christ the Center — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 06:00:00 +0000

This is the 100th anniversary of the publication of J. Gresham Machen’s book, Christianity and Liberalism. Danny Olinger and Camden Bucey speak with Lane Tipton about the third chapter of Machen’s classic, which addresses the relationship between God and man.

In this chapter Machen responds to the theological views of Schleiermacher and Von Harnack, which focus on religious experience rather than God’s supernatural acts in history. Machen argues that the doctrine of God and man revealed in Scripture is the basis for the gospel. It forms the presuppositional substructure of Christianity, to which modern liberalism is diametrically opposed. He affirms a natural knowledge of God in conscience and history. Jesus’ use of the words of prophets and psalmists reveals the character of God and gives significance to the Old Testament heritage of Jesus’ teaching. Machen envisions this revealed theology as the “root of Christianity,” not a natural religion, and one that rests on the teaching of the Old Testament as interpreted by Jesus Christ and his apostles.

Chapters

00:00:07 Introduction
00:07:34 Machen and the Shorter Catechism
00:12:12 Schleiermacher and Von Harnack
00:30:15 Liberalism, Barthianism, and Knowing God
00:35:49 The Universal Fatherhood of God and the Universal Brotherhood of Man
00:44:54 The Problem with Liberalism’s Doctrine of God
00:53:00 Machen Considered Liberalism as Pantheistic
01:02:08 Christian Experience with the Living God
01:08:07 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger, Lane G. Tipton

Christianity and Liberalism: Doctrine

Christ the Center — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 06:00:00 +0000

This is the 100th anniversary of the publication of J. Gresham Machen’s book, Christianity and Liberalism. Danny Olinger and Camden Bucey welcome D. G. Hart to discuss the second chapter of Machen’s classic, which addresses doctrine. The heart of the matter is that Christianity is a supernatural religion built on the fact that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, accomplished redemption for his people in history. Machen understood that both are essential: the supernatural and the fact that it occurs in history. Machen wrote:

But if any one fact is clear, on the basis of this evidence, it is that the Christian movement at its inception was not just a way of life in the modern sense, but a way of life founded upon a message. It was based, not upon mere feeling, not upon a mere program of work, but upon an account of facts. In other words it was based upon doctrine (Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, 20).

And from the beginning, the meaning of the happening was set forth; and when the meaning of the happening was set forth then there was Christian doctrine. “Christ died”—that is history; “Christ died for our sins”—that is doctrine. Without these two elements, joined in an absolutely indissoluble union, there is no Christianity (Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, 27).

The Wonders & Woes of J. Gresham Machen’s Motorcars

Barry Waugh — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 20:52:36 +0000

Following invention of the first internal combustion engine driven motorcar by Carl Benz in Germany in 1886, there were many home-shop tinkerers creating horseless carriages as they anticipated prosperous careers manufacturing their vehicles. Ten years after Benz, Henry Ford constructed his first vehicle—the quadricycle—named for its four bicycle wheels. Continued experimental models and a few production failures yielded a viable vehicle in 1908 that would change the world, the Model T Ford. Also called the Tin Lizzie or Flivver, the T would constitute in the early 1920s more than half of all registered motorcars in the world and would make Ford one of the richest men of his era. Joining the growing crowd of Flivver fans in 1917 was Princeton Seminary professor and Presbyterian New Testament scholar J. Gresham Machen.

A 1917 Model T. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In a letter written from Philadelphia to his mother in Baltimore, Machen mentioned he had just completed the first of three lessons “learning to run a Ford car.” He purchased the car, probably the touring car version that has room for four people and a convertible top, to make more efficient use of time by driving instead of coordinating train and bus schedules for trips. One person he would visit with Lizzie was his redeemed alcoholic friend Richard Hodges who lived in Millville, New Jersey. But for him the primary purpose for Lizzie was transporting the family to their summer home in Seal Harbor, Maine. Machen commented respecting summer sojourns that when he finished the second and third lessons: “It is barely possible that I might complete my education as a chauffeur to Seal Harbor.” Why the limited confidence regarding driving? Even though the Model T had a low price, mechanical simplicity, and truck-like sturdiness, there were oddities of operation that challenged drivers.

The little car is proving to be an immense convenience, not only in going to Bar Harbor [Maine] and taking longer rides, but also in avoiding the tedious walk to the boat landing, which was always wearisome to Mother. I am afraid I am not a very skillful chauffeur; the water in my radiator displays a tendency to boil—especially when I took Mr. Woodworth and Mr. & Mrs. Duffy to the south end of Great Pond over a terrifically rough road—but I am learning something about the car. Most of the internal workings are still full of mysteries to me, though I do now know what is inside a carburetor, having watched it being repaired. Sometimes my motor will start when I crank it, and sometimes it won’t. I should like to recommend driving a car without a self-starter to my enemies. (Arly, July 3, 1917)

Machen wanted to understand the mechanism of his motorcar. How many of his seminary colleagues would care about the carburetor but instead would sit in a secluded spot reading the latest in theological literature? He not only sought understanding of topics relevant to his calling but delved into other areas. However, it was not the engine and its carburetor that made the Model T a quirky car—Ford was at his best when designing the powertrain components and contributed several innovations to their design. The trouble with the T was controlling the drivetrain components. Three lessons were needed to understand operation of the car because one had to master what was called the Model T Shuffle. Lizzie’s controls included two levers on the steering column—one regulated the ignition spark, the other controlled the throttle (a primitive cruise control without the safety of a brake interlock); three pedals with the left one used to shift from low to high speed, the middle one reversed the car, and the right one sort-of stopped the car; and then added to these was a lever beside the seat used for additional braking and clutch functions. If it was raining and a windshield wiper was installed, then a hand was needed to operate the wiper, or a passenger could reach over and flip the lever back and forth. Added to these was the manual engine starting mechanism accessed with a hand crank at the front of the car beneath the radiator. This device provided patients for the medical professions. The awkward body position needed to turn the crank misaligned many a back. But the crank had a quirk that was even more hazardous. Broken fingers, fractured wrists, or broken arms could result if the crank was not held properly when used. As the crank was turned, if the engine backfired, it could kick back suddenly and hit anything in its path causing contusions and fractures. The Model T Shuffle was tricky, but once mastered, the Flivver came to delight its owners with reliability. Cadillac introduced the self-starter in 1912, but if Machen had waited a year to buy his Ford, a self-starter would have been on the options list. But his use of the Ford would be limited because early in 1918, he sailed to France to work with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in the Great War (First World War).

Shahn, Ben, photographer. Cranking Model “T” Ford before the days of the self-starter, Worthington, Ohio. United States Ohio Worthington, 1938. Aug. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017732641/.

A Ford Expert in France

The Great War transitioned the way war was waged from charging cavalry brandishing sabers amongst infantry troops using firearms to new technology. The horse had been used in warfare for cavalry and to pull wagons, but as the war years passed, equine means yielded to engines. Troops were attacked with aircraft propelled by engines; they were terrorized by engine-powered tanks; and the motor vehicle gave new mobility to troops, ordnance, supplies, and the wounded. Machen had some experience transported by Ford.

To-day I was brought by a Ford out to my post. It was a trip of some fifteen miles. Many interesting things were to be seen— trenches, “abris,” [shelters] etc. It may amuse you to know of the benefit of my Ford experience last Summer. In the village where I am now located, but before we had gotten to the exact place where we were bound, “Fordy” refused to start. Crank as he could the driver could not make the engine go. At last your humble servant made the brilliant suggestion that she might be shoved a little down the grade, and thrown into gear. The thing worked like a charm. Brilliant, wasn’t it? (Mother, Letters from the Front, 28)

Machen’s method of starting the Ford was not so brilliant but a common practice for starting any motorcar acting like its transportation ancestor, the mule. Drivers of era motorcars would look for a grade to park their cars so starting could be achieved with gravity as described by Machen; the Flivver engine would turn over, sputter, and hopefully, once the spark was adjusted, run rhythmically with all four cylinders.

Machen’s work with the YMCA involved operating a hut where soldiers could write letters, play sports, enjoy music, and buy assorted items like cigarettes, candy, and hot chocolate in winter, but near the end of the war, he gave speeches to meetings held in Army camps. As he went from place to place, “The necessary trips were made in the Fords that are operated by the Y.M.C.A.” (Mother, June 20, 1918, Letters, 143–44).

Our supply is carried on by Ford camionettes which arrive in the evening at about nine o’clock, day travel being forbidden hereabouts. The stock has now been allowed to run down to almost nothing—compared at least with the good stock that we had ten days ago. At times I have sold some 1,900 francs worth of goods in the course of a day. One important part of the work is the filling of orders assigned by a sergeant or by an officer, for things to be sent to men in the lines. The demand for goods, however, is not nearly equal to that which prevailed at my last post. (Mother, Letters, 170).

The camionette Machen referred to is a panel truck. Many Model Ts were sold as truck chassis with only the firewall and engine complete, then a custom box or bed was built on the chassis. These self-propelled camionettes replaced horse-drawn wagons. But often the T was used for transportation as a predecessor of the Second World War era Jeep.

On last Sunday, I went out to speak at Bourron, south of the forest of Fontainebleau. The Ford that took me was scheduled to leave Paris at 8.30 A.M., but on account of some kind of trouble did not leave till about one. Then on the way out the chauffer proved to be incompetent; we ran out of gasoline; and so did not finish the forty-mile run till about six o’clock. I spoke at an evening service—without, as far as I could see, any great response. Contrary to the original plan we spent the night at the camp and limped along back the next morning. Danny drove the car in from the out skirts of the city. (Mother, November 28, 1918, Letters, 224–25)

Why the Ford “limped along back” is not noted, but it may have had something to do with the “incompetent” chauffer unfamiliar with the Model T Shuffle and the car’s other quirks. Part of the simplicity of the T was what it did not have. There was no speedometer-odometer, no heater for the passengers, and importantly for the incompetent chauffer, no gas gage. The only way to check the amount of gas in the tank was with a dipstick small enough in profile to fit through the filler opening and long enough to reach the bottom of the tank. Machen admired Ford’s wonderful little car, but its shortcomings were being addressed by other manufacturers whose cars required less knack to drive. When Machen made it back to the States, he went shopping for a motorcar.

Hopeful about a Hudson

By May 1920, Machen was driving a new Hudson. The motorcar was named for its chief financial backer, J. L. Hudson, the owner of a prosperous chain of department stores in Detroit. The Hudson was a step up from a Ford because it was designed with more comfortable seats and added conveniences to appeal to moderate income buyers and women. Until the invention of the self-starter, if a woman owned a motorcar it was likely powered by batteries—simply press a pedal or lever to go, no indignity suffered by bending over and cranking the engine. To improve the ride during the annual summer trips he ordered the Hudson with “Lovejoy shock-absorbers (125 dollars)” instead of “Westinghouse shock-absorbers (300 dollars).” He explained that the shock-absorber “principle is like that of the pneumatic arrangements which are fastened to doors to keep them from slamming.” (Mother, April 13, 1920) The new Hudson with a self-starter, comfy seats, and smoother ride was hoped to make driving more pleasant.

A 1919 Hudson Phantom. From Wikimedia Commons

After the PCUSA General Assembly concluded in 1920 having convened at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Machen and his friend Bobby Robinson set out on a tour. He recounted the journey to his mother in a lengthy letter, June 2, 1920. When they came to Princeton Seminary, professors Caspar Wistar Hodge and William Park Armstrong were invited to join the duo but declined. The two travelled on spending the first night in Katonah on the Hudson River in New York, before driving on to Saugerties then headed up the Catskill Mountains. The car did not fare so well because the “road was very steep and my car, which was in wretched condition displayed poor hill climbing qualities,” but despite the challenging climb they made it to visit Kaaterskill Falls, “which was really a very impressive thing.” (Mother, June 2, 1920, p. 2) Further motoring provided a foggy but lovely view of the Hudson River Valley as the two paused for lunch at a hotel called the Catskill Mountain House. On they continued to Albany then east through the Berkshire Hills to Pittsfield where they lodged for the second night. Despite the poor condition of the Hudson, the two enjoyed a wonderful trip. But things would unfortunately soon change.

Today at about eleven o’clock, the motor trip came, I am sorry to say, to an abrupt close. (Mother, June 2, 1920, pp.2–3)

Had the wretched condition of his car caused a breakdown? No. While the two were happily chugging along enjoying the beauty of God’s creation halfway from Egremont towards Sheffield, Massachusetts, a man and his wife in a Ford coming from the opposite direction wandered into Machen’s lane, and despite hard braking by both, they hit head-on at “but slight speed.” (Mother, June 2, 1920, p. 4) The couple was hauling vegetables and distracted by the design of a fence. They did not realize they had veered into Machen’s lane. This part of the letter is repetitive, and the script is more difficult to decipher than usual and may reflect his agitation while composing details of the crash. The woman was frightfully disturbed and suffered lacerations from shards of windshield glass (no safety glass then) but more significant was her fractured jaw. The man had the steering wheel forced into his torso leaving him sore and bruised. Bobby and Machen had some “very minor scratches.” (Mother, June 2, 1920, p. 4) The oncoming driver, Mr. Frehan, admitted to the constable that the accident occurred because he was not paying attention. A physician examined the woman and said her fracture would heal in a few months, but Machen was clearly shaken and learned a lesson.

I feel humbled by my very feeling of thankfulness to God that there is no unfavorable harm. Sympathy for those poor people in the other car is my dominant grief. (Mother, June 2, 1920, p. 14)

He added regarding himself,

One thing is certain—I shall be about the safest and most careful motorist in America. You need not be afraid of going out with me now. (Mother, June 2, 1920, p. 13)

After his trip Machen was to take his mother to Seal Harbor, so he precluded her thoughts of incompetence regarding his driving skills. He described the damage as serious and purposed to buy insurance for protection in future incidents. The mechanic in the garage in Egremont where the car was towed provided good news that the engine was not damaged, but then the bad news included replacement of the front fenders, radiator, radiator fan, headlights, and windshield. Machen was hopeful he could buy the necessary parts in New York and take them back to the garage when he and Bobby boarded the train into the city. Machen was hopeful the car could be repaired in time and the summer at Seal Harbor would not be lost.

The car was mended but continued to be a mechanical nightmare. He sent a letter composed on another of Machen’s favorite inventions, the typewriter, to the Hudson dealer the next year not long before the Seal Harbor trip expressing frustration while hoping for a solution.

After another three hundred miles my car has developed the same troubles as before—poor compression, enormously high consumption of oil. The block has already twice been removed, and the car has consistently failed to give satisfaction. . . .

I am writing therefore to learn whether there will be any possibility for trading this car for another Hudson car, new or second-hand. Even if this car should be patched up now I should be unwilling to risk taking it to Maine, if I can possibly secure another car, since I am now tremendously busy and have no time to test the car again. (Mr. Perkins, May 23, 1921)

Given his troubles and two failed repairs, why would he want another Hudson? Writing the letter made his complaint to Mr. Perkins clear and recorded Machen’s good faith attempt to work with him for resolution. Machen’s brother Arly (Arthur W. Machen II) was an attorney, and given the aggravation the Hudson caused him, legal action may have been in view if the dealer’s response was unsatisfactory. That resolution, if any, did not prevent motoring to Maine.

Seal Harbor 1921 was a frustrating experience for Machen. The Seaside Inn, where the Machens resided, had a garage that could make minor repairs and provide lubrication and gasoline. During the month of August, the car used 96 gallons of gasoline and 22 quarts of oil. Where was all that oil going? It was going out the tailpipe as the Hudson chugged along leaving a plume of black smoke. It must have been embarrassing. The following year Machen’s motorcar used only ten quarts for about a hundred gallons of gas—an improvement, but still pretty bad for the era. He must have obtained resolution of the Hudson’s problems from Mr. Perkins in the intervening time but still was driving an, at best, adequate Hudson.

Stepping Up to Studebaker

The next car was a Studebaker Big Six Touring car purchased in May 1924. The company was founded by the Studebaker brothers and for half a century manufactured wagons before producing its first motorcar in 1902. Magazine advertising in 1924 touted the car’s comfort with eye-catching banners such as “Coachwork to the American Aristocracy,” and “For Fine Coachmaking, Studebaker,” combined with text emphasizing the car’s “comfort and luxury.” Seats had deep cushion springs topped with upholstery of the finest Mohair, a fabric made from Angora goat hair. Clearly in mind for Machen was the most comfortable car he could afford—the Studebaker fit the bill. Anticipating his annual trip to Seal Harbor in 1924, he wrote to his mother about his new wheels.

Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. A Studebaker “President” Touring Car, displayed at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana. United States Indiana South Bend St. Joseph County, 2016. -09-18. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016632030/.

I have bought a Studebaker car. In some ways, I like it; in other ways not. I regard it as a great nuisance here. The main question is whether you will like it. I had your comfort especially in view in the choice of the Studebaker; but one can never tell before a trial. (Mother, May 4, 1924)

Machen had good reason to be skeptical about the new vehicle given his horrid experience with the Hudson. It being “a great nuisance here” refers to Princeton and the time and expense involved in keeping the vehicle running while teaching and writing. However, the new car was necessary for the important summer sojourns in Maine. His mother was 74 years of age, frail, and suffered a recurring respiratory affliction. Two years into the Studebaker story found him dealing with significant problems including replacing the fenders and headlights, likely from another accident; tire repairs—a way of life in the era; and the engine required a complete ring and valve job as well as rebuilding the carburetor. For the first third of 1926, the Studebaker spent more time in the Princeton Motor Shop than on the road. In mid-September, the car was again in the mechanic’s hands but this time in Maine for four days having the steering box rebuilt as well as the carburetor rejuvenated once again. Motorcars required constant attention due to their primitive but improving technologies for lubrication, fuel systems, electrical components, and drivetrains. In 1928, the Machens made it to Seal Harbor, but before returning home, it was necessary to take the car to a shop in Bar Harbor to have all the engine valves refaced, a shock absorber replaced, the muffler repaired, the clutch rebuilt, a radiator hose replaced, and the headlights adjusted with the bill tallying just over a hundred dollars; Machen was impressed with the work describing it as “excellent.” A few years later, Clement’s Garage in Maine rebuilt the engine, replaced an axle spring, installed new spark plugs, rebuilt the passenger heater, installed a new carburetor, and replaced a pair of shock absorbers. From 1924 to 1934 despite an abundance of problems, strange as it may seem, Machen enjoyed the Studebaker as an acceptably useful way to get around. He commented to his car insurance agent in 1933 regarding its condition just before he sold the car.

The car, though so old as to be an object of curious interest at gasoline stations, is a perfectly good car. It has not been driven hard, and so has had less wear and tear than most cars one-quarter of its age. (Mr. Howe, March 29, 1933).

The Studebaker was in its tenth year and had experienced many repairs that modern car owners would find unacceptable, but for Machen, the car was a good one and it would be a find for someone looking for a used car. The nation was early into the years of the Great Depression and Franklin Roosevelt had just been inaugurated for his first term a few weeks earlier, so would he buy another pricey vehicle like the Studebaker?

Full Circle to a Ford Flathead V8

The Great Depression separated the healthy auto manufacturers from the marginal and weak with many companies closing their doors for good by the time the Second World War began. The two leading survivors were Ford and Chevrolet. However, the Great Depression reduced annual total production of both companies to anywhere from a third to half of pre-collapse numbers. Louis Chevrolet aggressively marketed cars with newer technology and features that Henry Ford was unwilling to adopt because he tenaciously held to the keep-it-simple philosophy and was loathe to admit other manufacturers had a better idea. Ford responded to the competition in 1932 with his flathead V8 engine that produced 85 horsepower and raised the performance bar for other manufacturers. After exchanging the sales lead a few years with Chevrolet, Ford was the leader in 1934 with its V8 cars, and one of the new owners was Machen when he bought a Tudor sedan. In addition to the difficult economy, Machen had founded Westminster Theological Seminary with its first session in the fall of 1929 and was providing considerable funding for its operation. So, purchasing a new car is surprising unless the Studebaker just gave out. He despised the Model T’s crank starter, but the self-starter in his Tudor could have problems too. After only 314 miles of driving, the Tudor let him down. The self-starter was useless because the battery was dead leaving him stranded on a street corner in Baltimore resulting in a tow to Mount Royal Ford for repairs. Maybe Lizzie’s hand crank had some nostalgic appeal as he waited for the tow truck. The Tudor is believed to be the car Machen owned when he passed away January 1, 1937, from pneumonia in Bismarck, North Dakota. He had gone to the state in frigid weather on a speaking trip to extend the ministry of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. What happened to the Tudor? Paul Woolley may have become the new owner because Machen had loaned the car to him for four months in 1935, but it is more likely the estate sold the car.

1934 Ford Model 40 700 De Luxe Tudor Sedan. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Conclusion

What does Machen’s experiences with the motorcar show about him? Three attributes come to mind—curiosity, simplicity, and practicality. He was curious about the Model T, and curiosity is the beginning of learning. While the mechanic was rebuilding the carburetor, he watched and wondered about its mechanism. Owner’s manuals were different then because they provided not only operational information but repair instructions such as how to remove carbon deposits inside the engine and how to change crankshaft bearings, so Machen likely read the sixty-two-page manual cover to cover and learned about his car. Henry Ford built an automotive empire with a simple motorcar. Machen was a simple man, not simplistic, but simple in the sense of to the point and nothing more is needed than is required. As a minister and professor, it was simple questions he answered such as what is faith, what is Christianity, what is and what is not the gospel, and why supernaturalism is essential to the faith. Then there is practicality. Ford’s car was efficient and rugged—it got the job done. Machen’s purchase of the Hudson was both a practical concession to his mother’s frailty and relief to his back because it had a self-starter. His motorcars were for trips to Seal Harbor as well as tools for a more efficient ministry teaching, writing, and preaching as he continually answered the Philippian jailor’s question, “What must I do to be saved?”

Notes

Photocopies of correspondence and ephemera were provided by Archivist Grace Mullen (1943–2014) from the J. Gresham Machen Collection in the Montgomery Library of Westminster Theological Seminary; as I remember it, the Machen collection is filed according to date.

For additional information about Machen, see the biography by his friend and colleague, Ned B. Stonehouse, titled J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir (Willow Grove: The Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 2004, reprint of 1954); D. G. Hart, Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1995, reprint 1994); and Stephen J. Nichols, J. Gresham Machen: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought (Phillipsburg: P&R, 2004).

The story of Machen and Richard Hodges is provided in the author’s article “Mr. Machen’s Protégé,” in the Westminster Theological Journal, 71 (2009): 21–51; Letters refers to Barry Waugh, editor, Letters from the Front: J. Gresham Machen’s Correspondence from World War I (Phillipsburg: P&R, 2012); and finally, the story of the relationship with his cousin is told in the author’s article, “J. Gresham Machen and LeRoy Gresham: Cousins, Confidants, and Churchmen,” in The Confessional Presbyterian, 10 (2014): 3–12.

Automobile information was taken from: Bruce W. McCalley, Model T Ford: The Car that Changed the World (Iola: Krause Publications, 1994), just about anything one needs to know about the Tin Lizzie is likely in this massive book; G. N. Georgano, The New Encyclopedia of Automobiles 1885 to Present, Every Make of Car in the World (New York: Crescent Books, 1982); Ford Manual (Detroit: Ford Motor Company, 1919).

Christianity and Liberalism: Introduction

Christ the Center — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Danny Olinger and Camden Bucey discuss the preface and introduction to J. Gresham Machen’s book, Christianity and Liberalism. This is the 100th anniversary of the publication of this important work. In this episode, we discuss the historical circumstances that led Machen to address the Ruling Elders Association of Chester Presbytery. His address was eventually expanded to become this classic work.

Chapters

00:00:07 Introduction
00:01:55 The Significance of the Book
00:07:17 Historical Background
00:27:43 Conservatives and Moderates
00:40:19 Modernity
00:51:42 Modern Art, Science, and H. G. Wells
00:57:31 The Rights of Individuals
01:06:23 What Christianity Is
01:09:25 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger

Melvin Grove Kyle, J. Gresham Machen, and the League of Evangelical Students

Christ the Center — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Jeff McDonald discusses Melvin Grove Kyle and the growth of the League of Evangelical Students (LES) founded by J. Gresham Machen and Princeton Seminary students in 1925. Both Kyle and Machen were scholarly leaders in the LES and served on the organization’s board together. In his paper on the subject, Dr. McDonald establishes the importance of Melvin Grove Kyle as a leading evangelical scholar and biblical archaeologist. He also explains the origins and growth of the LES and how various Presbyterians influenced the organization and sought to advance a broader evangelical Protestant intellectual life in the difficult period of the 1920s and 1930s.

Dr. McDonald is pastor of Avery Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, Nebraska and the author of John Gerstner and the Renewal of Presbyterian and Reformed Evangelicalism in Modern America (Wipf & Stock, 2017).

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
09:39 Historical Context
11:34 United Presbyterians and Xenia Seminary
20:15 Evangelical Cooperation
26:52 Evangelicals and the Life of the Mind
32:26 Pan-Presbyterian Dissent from Theological Liberalism
39:50 The Enduring Legacy of Melvin Grove Kyle
47:22 Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism
51:09 Additional Projects
52:55 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff McDonald

Faculty Focus Interview with Lane Tipton

Ryan Noha — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 18:05:09 +0000

This the second installment of a quarterly series of interviews highlighting the Lord’s work in the lives and ministries of our Reformed Forum faculty. Lane Tipton, Fellow of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Reformed Forum and pastor of Trinity OPC in Easton, Pennsylvania, sits down with Ryan Noha to discuss his conversion through a Leviticus 16 sermon on TV, his zeal for Christian education and global missions, and his joyful service of the Lord in his family, church, and the work of Reformed Forum as the George Bailey of Glenside.

Lane, I’m familiar with your background and how you came to know the Lord, but it’s always a joy to hear of the old, old story of the gospel and how the Lord brings the finished work of Christ to bear effectually upon his people. Would you tell us how you were converted and then eventually became a minister in the OPC?

I grew up in a Southern Baptist home. My mother was a devout and godly woman. Her parents were both wonderful Christians. My father was not a believer, but my mother would have us attend worship with her every Sunday morning. From the earliest time I can remember, I was sitting under the gospel, but I did not accept and embrace it. After I hit about age 13, my mom did not require me to go to church but gave me the opportunity to either go or not go, and I decided I wouldn’t go. I went through my junior high and high school years without really going to church at all, without attending any worship services at all. I played a year of football on a scholarship out of Tascosa at Eastern New Mexico State University. I was thinking about pursuing a law degree and thought when I came home that summer that it would be a really wise thing to read my Bible and get a little bit of familiarity with the Judeo-Christian ethic, given the fact that I was wanting to pursue law.

I turned to Jesus’ denunciation of the Pharisees almost instantly where he was denouncing them in Matthew 23 and following for being whitewashed tombs, clean on the outside, but inside full of dead men’s bones. I recognized that he was speaking in his word to me, and that I was in danger of the judgment. A few days later on a Sunday morning, I turned on the television, and a man was preaching on Leviticus 16 and the Day of Atonement. He then talked about the blood of a sacrificial offering, a sin offering, being brought into the most holy place and satisfying the wrath of God. He talked about a scapegoat, having the sins of Israel confessed over its head and being driven outside the camp, bearing away the guilt of God’s people. He said these were types of Jesus. And I instantly recognized that my release from my sin, and my fear, and my guilt, and my burden was found in the wrath-propitiating, blood sacrifice of Jesus who bore away my sin. I saw instantly in that typology that Jesus was like the scapegoat, who had taken my sin away from me as far as the east is from the west. He had shed his blood for my sin and satisfied God’s wrath. And I repented of my sin; I asked the Lord to forgive me. I was elated. I thought, goodness, how could I have not seen this all of these years? I instantly told my mom who just came into the room and was weeping tears of joy. She had been praying for this for 19 years. And the Paul Harvey aspect of the story is that of all people to preach that sermon, it happened to be Jimmy Swaggart, believe that or not.

So I was converted and within a few months had found my way toward the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. I had received through some men, who were in Amarillo at the time, interested in Reformed theology, some literature that led me toward the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. As I read systematic theologies—Louis Berkhof, some B. B. Warfield, a little bit of Van Til—I was very quickly led by conviction to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. I came to appreciate immensely Machen’s commitment to the spirituality of the church, his critique of liberalism as a different religion, the militancy of the OPC, its self-conscious embrace of being a pilgrim people, maintaining faithfulness to the gospel, not seeking cultural influence or affluence, but seeking rather to worship the Lord as engaged pilgrims, taking every thought captive, making it obedient to Christ, seeking the things above by faith, entering Sabbath rest, and being concerned most of all for the worship of the Triune God and giving a consistent, faithful witness to the world and calling all men and women, boys and girls everywhere to repent. That sent me on a path toward going to seminary.

It was a strangely quick movement from my conversion to pursuing the OPC and coming to a profound appreciation of Machen and his militancy and humility, and the church as it has been called by Charlie Dennison, “the church of the brokenhearted,” the church that mourns. This is not the norm, this kind of policy and worship and doctrine and this heavenly-mindedness. I have been in the OPC years and years now. I joined the Abilene congregation in 1989, if my memory serves, so it’s been a while.

I rejoice to hear of the Lord’s grace in your life afresh, not only that he was pleased to raise you from the deadness of your sin, but to grant you such rapid growth and maturity, even that you would see Christ in all of Scripture from day one and then dive right away into the deep end of Reformed theology with Machen and all the greats. This is truly a wonderful grace and profound mercy. I’d love to hear about the Lord’s gracious work in your family, as well. Would you introduce us to the Tiptons and share with us how the Lord is leading you all through this current season of life?

I met my wife, Charlene, when I came back from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. She has five uncles who have been or still are Orthodox Presbyterian ministers. We met in Abilene, Texas in 1992. About 10 months later, we were married. Everyone was saying, you guys need to get married. And I was all excited about us—you didn’t have to encourage me! She’s a beautiful, godly, intelligent, wonderful woman. Soon after that, we went to seminary, Westminster California. And by the time 1998 came around, we had our first child, Lauren; a few years later, Lyle; a few years after that, Trevor; a few years after that, Katie or Kaitlyn. And so we have four children. The oldest, Lauren, is now married. Lyle and Trevor are at Geneva playing basketball. And I will admit, tearing it up, and I’m very thankful for that. They’re godly young men walking with the Lord. Katie is class president just flourishing at Phil-Mont school founded by Cornelius Van Til. It’s all worked out in an amazing way. Char and I are coming up on our 30th anniversary this next year. She works in the OPC home offices. She has been working there for several years now and does a fantastic job.

We’ve been here in Glenside since 1998, and it’s wonderful. I’m serving at Trinity OPC in Easton. It’s about 50 minutes from here. The family is doing great. They are a delight to my heart. They love the Lord and are all flourishing. I am so thankful. I’ve joked around before; I’ll adapt it, transpose it into this: I’m the George Bailey of Glenside, brother. I am just so thankful, so happy, and so richly blessed to have this family. They are, outside of the Lord, just the truest and purest joy of my heart.

Now as long as you mentioned Phil-Mont Academy and Van Til, I’ve got to ask, did you and Char have a devotional yet over that 1961 Van Til editorial I shared with you? The one that was published by Willow Grove Christian Day School, “The Whole Armour of God”?

Not yet. But talk about a letter that just states all that my wife has said before! Char has said before a number of times that she loves obviously loves Van Til. She and I married in part around a passionate commitment to Christian education. When I was in seminary out in California, Char taught at a Christian school. She taught years before that in Reformed Christian schools. She is just a fantastic teacher. We homeschooled our children. But when we first met, she and I read Van Til’s Essays on Christian Education as devotional literature and would marvel at the wonderful, robust, Reformed Trinitarianism, and Covenant Theology, and antithesis, and understanding of common grace, and the proper and indispensable role of Christian education from a Reformed world-and-life view. We fell in love around that. And so when we came to the Philadelphia area, and Phil-Mont was within ten minutes of our house, founded by Van Til—it’s just wonderful. So we’ll get around to that essay. I’m sure we’ll have numbers of discussions about it. Char has said, and I agree in certain ways with this, that Van Til might be at his very best when he’s talking about Christian education. You know, there’s a lot of “best” about Van Til, but one of his brightest points is talking about a consistently Reformed theological education for covenant children.

I couldn’t agree more. Now, you mentioned that you’re currently serving as pastor of Trinity OPC in Easton, Pennsylvania. What is your beloved congregation like and how is the Lord using the ordinary means of grace to gather and perfect the saints at Trinity?

I’ve been at Trinity in Easton for around a decade. Right before I arrived, the pastor left to join the Roman Catholic communion, which was a devastating blow to the congregation. For the past decade, I’ve had the unparalleled privilege of pastoring and shepherding and encouraging the saints in their walk with the Lord. As I said, apart from the Lord, my family is my chief delight, but just right in there, just as an unqualified delight is the service of the saints at Trinity. The elders, Charlie DeBoer, Joe Olliff, Luke DeBoer, Ian Parkin—a dear brother passed away about a year ago, went to be with the Lord—serving alongside those dear brothers in such a loving and giving congregation has been an oasis in the wilderness for me. I have delighted in my service, to know and love the congregation, to preach, teach, and serve alongside those brothers on the Session. The congregation over the years has grown to be what I would consider now to be a thriving, vibrant congregation filled with delightful people. I don’t want to overuse the George Bailey allusion, so I’ll change here, but I’ve been spoiled. And there is no end in sight from my side in terms of the service there. It continues to be an increasing joy for me. To see the way the Lord blesses through slow, steady, self-conscious means of grace, through Word and sacrament, through visiting and getting to know them as brothers and sisters in the Lord, walking beside them, bearing burdens, turning them to the sufferings and the comfort that are in Jesus Christ. I’ve always wanted to be a pastor; I was never initially aspiring to be a professor. And the Lord has granted me one of the deepest desires of my heart. Once again, I’m just so thankful for it.

That is tremendous, brother. To follow up for those who don’t know, who is George Bailey? And would your elaborate a bit upon what you’re preaching and teaching through these days and share any particular insights you might have from your studies in the Word?

If you remember, Jimmy Stewart played George Bailey in an all-time Christmas classic, It’s A Wonderful Life. And the long story short is that he finds that the money, the influence, the opportunity for notoriety, that all of those things pale mightily in comparison to having a group of people, family and friends, who gather around and love you and rejoice when you rejoice and mourn when you mourn. I don’t want to spoil it in case there are some younger folks out there who haven’t seen it, but at the end of the movie, when everyone’s coming into the house, doing something that’s just beautiful—I can’t resist the analogy. It’s delightful, whether it’s you brothers at Reformed Forum, whether it’s a number of dear brothers throughout the world, my loving family, the dear congregation, the Lord has just blessed me. And so I really do mean it, partly as a joke, but partly true: I’m like the George Bailey of Glenside, brother. I’m very thankful for it.

I’ve been preaching for some time on the book of Ephesians. I took about a one-year break and did some work on Hebrews 12 during the pandemic to talk about the unshakable kingdom. No matter what happens in this world, we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Over the past several months, I’ve been preaching through the armor of God and Ephesians 6, which is Christ, and have looked at how that armor is fundamentally putting on Christ, his ordinances, his Word, his Spirit, and by faith rising up with his people to fight against the principalities and powers of this present evil age, to set forth the truth of the gospel and its antithetical, full-orbed glory, and to recognize that no matter what happens in terms of the escalation of evil around us in the culture or in the world, Jesus Christ has established his Church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it because the Lord who is our armor has gone before us, destroyed his and our enemies and is in the process of making them a footstool for his feet, which will reach its climax in his glorious, visible second coming.

It’s been a delight to preach through that that book, and I’m kind of coming up on the end of it. You never know; I can’t ever calculate how many more sermons are in the hopper for it. But we’re moving toward the end of the Ephesians 6, and it has been an unusually rich feast for me to preach through. You think you understand the text until you work on it week in and week out for weeks, months, or years, and so it has been peculiarly rich for me. I’ve been very encouraged doing it. Of course, I have—I don’t want to diminish any other congregations in the world—but I might have the most patient and loving congregation in the OPC. They have stayed through it all, and we’ve taken a slow, careful look at that text and just feasted on the Christ who is revealed in it. It’s been a delight.

Now you’re a bit unusual as a minister in the OPC because you not only have the privilege of preaching twice every Lord’s day and doing Sunday school and visitation and serving the saints in Easton, but you’re also a Fellow of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Reformed Forum. How are you actively engaged in the Colossians 1:28 mission of Reformed Forum in that particular capacity?

Let me begin by saying Reformed Forum has been and always will be a pure labor of love for me. You do not find anything like it anymore. In the past, there were some that were striving for this, but the combination of militancy and love, distinctive commitments to the Confession, Van Til, Vos Kline, and the development of what you might call the old Westminster theology or the first generation OPC theology, enriched by people like Kline, Gaffin, Strimple, and others—that’s unique to Reformed Forum. The ministry is so distinctive, while at the same time not succumbing to these biblicist, mutualist perversions that you find in the evangelical and ostensibly “Reformed” world of contemporary vintage in the last 20 years. At Reformed Forum you’ve got a catholic, Reformed, robust ministry of Reformed theology with Colossians 1:28 as the mission, seeking to present everyone mature in Christ.

My service, whether it pertains to the Reformed Academy and teaching courses on Van Til, Reformed Forum conferences—we’ve got one coming up that I’m so excited I can barely contain myself over—or the books that I’ve been graciously given the opportunity to write for Reformed Forum—Foundations of Covenant Theology, the Van Til book [The Trinitarian Theology of Cornelius Van Til], and several on the way—all continues to be a joy in the Lord. I don’t feel like in any of this that I’m working. I’m serving with joy, gladness, and peace and would not want to be anywhere in the whole world serving in except Reformed Forum. So again, I said about pastoring that the Lord’s given me the desire of my heart. Serving with Reformed Forum, though, it’s just been a delight that the Lord has brought. There are people that I won’t mention by name, but they have engaged in extraordinary giving and continue to give in ways that astound me to enable this kind of ministry. They have my deepest gratitude and admiration in the Lord. So, brother, as long as the Lord continues to cause Reformed Forum to flourish, and I have the ability and capacity and strength to serve, the duty is delight. They go right together.

To have over 3800 students in 75 countries involved at Reformed Forum, and to see it exploding in terms of worldwide outreach and ministry and serving the global church so profoundly, that especially gives me unbridled joy in the Lord. I pray that the Lord will continue making Reformed Forum this growing servant of the universal, worldwide Church. I love everything about Reformed Forum, but that, in particular, really is close to my heart to be able to serve brothers and sisters in different countries, under great persecution, who otherwise don’t have access to this kind of theology. To be able to serve them with rich, Reformed theology in the way that Reformed Form enables, and with the quality in terms of the platform and the presentation, as men committed to the deeper Protestant conception, it’s very exciting. I’m thankful to be a part of it, and I’m thankful to see the way the Lord has been blessing it. I’ve been amazed at the way that the Lord is causing Reformed Forum’s ministry to explode throughout the world. And it’s all of the Lord, so we give him glory.

In terms of that worldwide explosion, would you at liberty to share about any of the work that you’ve done with our brethren in China or Cambodia?

I’ll give you just one example. I’ve had an opportunity with a dear brother to talk to numbers of brothers in China, engaging in the training of pastors. I’ve taught a course to brothers in the Lord who are serving and pastoring. I just recently recorded some sermons that will be a part of a conference coming up, and I believe that there are going to be around 1200 people attending. For the last decade, I’ve had opportunities pre-COVID to go to Hong Kong to engage in service of these Chinese brothers and sisters. I can just testify to this: the Lord is giving them extraordinary grace and deep conviction. If Reformed theology in seminaries in this country is on the decline, which it is, and if the broad evangelicalism of this country is strangling true piety and vibrant doctrine, which it is, if liberalism and Barth and the post-conservative evangelical, post-liberal movements are divesting the system of doctrine of its vitality and substance, which it is—as you see a relative decline in the West, these brothers are on fire. The persecution that they are receiving is only causing more and more joy and vigor and militancy to make Christ known and to have an opportunity to serve. I’m going to stop because this gets me choked up, brother, but to have the honor and the privilege to serve such brothers whose hearts are so clearly cruciform and cross-stamped, serving the Lord, not seeking treasure on Earth but in heaven, it’s amazing. That opportunity and ongoing attempts to partner with those brothers, it’s just a delight.

Amen, brother. What you’re saying resonates in a peculiar way with me as I’ve had the great joy of regularly corresponding and working with many brothers and sisters in mainland China and Taiwan through our Reformed Academy. I’m consistently blown away by how they are willing to joyfully lay their lives down for the gospel. They often suffer much hardship for the sake of our Savior in their families and work, and yet at the end of the day, they still have the Spirit-wrought energy and zeal do the difficult work of translation and subtitle correction for us at Reformed Forum. They labor for nothing but for the glory of God and to see the riches of the Reformed faith flourish in their land. I’m truly in awe of what the Lord is pleased to do in bringing Reformed Forum these connections with saints that weren’t on my radar, but they were on the Lord’s radar. He is bringing the Church, his global family, together even while the world is at war. Chinese believers and Western believers are loving one another and are growing unto perfection in Christ.

It is of the Lord. They are the dearest of brothers and sisters, so praise the Lord for them.

As we come to the close of our interview, how might our friends and supporters around the world pray for you and your ministry?

I really appreciate you asking. Pray for my wife to continue to flourish and for our relationship to grow; for my children to continue to flourish and walk with the Lord as they’re doing; for faithfulness in ministry at Trinity, preservation of the elders and growth of the congregation. Pray also for the work at Reformed Forum to move forward with people recognizing that we give all of our resources up front for free. Pray that the Lord would raise up people to support Reformed Forum’s work so that this global outreach, these 3800 plus students from 75 countries, could continue to be served. Pray that the Lord would make Reformed Forum faithful in serving the church and not be distracted by any other mission outside of the mission of Colossians 1:28, to seek to present everyone mature in Christ through the presentation of what the Scriptures teach as received and expounded and enriched in our Reformed confessional tradition. Prayer along all those lines, and that the Lord would make me personally faithful in love and in truth for the sake of Christ would be deeply appreciated.

Shall the Fundamentalists Win? 100 Years Later

Christ the Center — Fri, 20 May 2022 04:00:00 +0000

On May 21, 1922, Harry Emerson Fosdick preached a sermon titled “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” that helped spark the modernist-fundamentalist controversy.

Fosdick was a Baptist minister serving as an associate at First Presbyterian Church in New York and a faculty member at Union Theological Seminary. He was well-known and had published several popular religious books. Ned B. Stonehouse remarked, “the fact that a minister not even subject to the authority of Presbytery and General Assembly should have used a Presbyterian pulpit to make what was widely regarded as an attack upon the constitution disclosed a situation bordering on lawlessness” (Stonehouse, J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir, 302).

Dr. Darryl G. Hart joins Camden Bucey to speak about this infamous sermon and a new course on Machen that Dr. Hart recorded last week for Reformed Academy.

Chapters

0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:03 Dr. Hart’s Forthcoming Course on Machen
0:09:54 Harry Emerson Fosdick in Context
0:20:49 Presbyterians and Broad Ecumenism
0:23:53 New York and Philadelphia in Presbyterian History
0:28:25 A Baptist in a Presbyterian Pulpit
0:33:19 Fosdick Preaching from Acts 5:38–39
0:38:40 Fosdick and Modernity
0:45:07 The Soft Middle
0:50:02 Machen, Orthodoxy, and Modernity
0:56:17 The Spirits of Fosdick and Machen Today
1:08:06 Conclusion

Download the Sermon PDF

Participants: Camden Bucey, Darryl G. Hart

Faculty Focus Interview with Jim Cassidy

Ryan Noha — Fri, 20 May 2022 04:00:00 +0000

This the first installment of a quarterly series of interviews highlighting the Lord’s work in the lives and ministries of our Reformed Forum faculty. Up first is Jim Cassidy, president of the Reformed Forum board of directors and pastor of South Austin OPC in Austin, Texas. He sits down with Ryan Noha to discuss growing up Roman Catholic, giving up his life for the gospel, and serving the Lord in his family, church, and the work of Reformed Forum.

Jim, we have many longtime friends and supporters at Reformed Forum who know you well, but for those who are just meeting you for the first time or haven’t heard about your background, tell us how you made your way from Roman Catholicism into the OPC. How were you converted, and then how were you “born again” as one of Machen’s Warrior Children?

I appreciate that question. I think that growing up Roman Catholic has given me a particular perspective on the Reformation. When I was growing up Roman Catholic, the emphasis was very much upon the rules and doing what you’re supposed to do so that you don’t displease God. And if you don’t displease God, then you can get yourself out from underneath his wrath. So everything was geared towards this work of merit, whether it’s in the participation of the sacraments, going to church, not talking in church to your friends, kneeling properly, being an altar boy—you got some extra points for that. Now, they didn’t put it in those terms. But that’s sort of the message that was communicated.

As I was growing up and into college, I was under the impression that if you did enough good works, or if you did more good works than bad works, then you would go to either purgatory or heaven. But if you were a particularly nasty sort that did more bad deeds than good deeds, you would go to hell. Now, nobody I knew, despite the depravity that we exercised in our lives, thought that they were so bad as to be going to hell. And when they did something that was particularly bad, and they knew it, they would joke around and laugh and say, “Ha, I’m going to hell!” But it was not really taken seriously. I had this impression going into college.

It was there in college that I met a Baptist believer who was ministering to me and praying for me. His church’s youth group back home was also praying for me. And he was witnessing to me telling me about the gospel. When I told him my understanding of Christianity as I just explained it, he said, “No, that’s not how you get to heaven. You get into heaven by having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” And now, we know, and I know from hindsight, that that’s not itself the gospel: “Having a personal relationship with Jesus.” That’s more of an evangelical way of saying that it’s not on the basis of your works or your goodness that you get into heaven but by faith in Jesus Christ. And so I remember going to bed that evening and saying to Jesus that I wanted to have a relationship with him. I woke up the next day, and I began to read my Bible and basically haven’t looked back since.

Now at that time, I didn’t fully comprehend the gospel. I knew nothing of the Reformation. So my intent was to be a Catholic—a good Catholic—and to stay in the Catholic Church. My intent was to go around telling everybody that they need to have a “personal relationship with Jesus” because that’s what I was taught. At that point, a Reformed person who was part of a Protestant Bible study took me aside. He began to explain to me the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism, and he told me a little bit about the Reformation and “faith alone” and “grace alone” and all of that stuff. And when I went home over Christmas break during my sophomore year, I began to read Galatians. It blew my mind because Paul was articulating everything that I did not believe or that I was not taught growing up. In fact, it was the exact opposite of what I was being taught as I was growing up. It absolutely transformed and renovated my way of thinking about sin and salvation, the gospel—the whole nine yards. I quickly became very angry at the Catholic Church when I thought about the way that they were misleading me. My soul, and the souls of millions, was dependent upon the church proclaiming the truth and the true gospel, and Rome wasn’t doing that. It upset me very much.

I’ve gotten over my anger, but speaking to the issue of Machen’s Warrior Children, perhaps the reason that I am so dogmatically committed to Reformed theology is because I believe that it is as Warfield put it: “Christianity come to its own.” And if Reformed Christianity is “Christianity come to its own,” then we absolutely must stand for it; we must fight for it. Souls are at stake. I would never want our church to lose that message. I think Machen felt that way, too, even though he wasn’t raised Catholic. He was raised within the Presbyterian Church, but he was militant about the truth because he knew that it was a life-or-death situation. And I know it’s a life-or-death situation. So I believe in the Reformed faith and in zealously maintaining it, promoting it, preaching it, and teaching it because I believe truly that lives are at stake.

Amen, brother. I never tire of hearing how the Lord has brought a person to the understanding of that life-giving gospel: the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified, risen, ascended, and coming again. It’s only through union with him that we have any hope of salvation. It’s really that simple. We aren’t Reformed because we’re pugilistic, but because the Reformed faith is the only faith worth contending for. It’s radically consistent with Scripture, and that’s why we love it. That’s why we agree with Machen when he said on his deathbed, “Isn’t the Reformed faith grand?”

Yes. I think everybody has it within them to give their lives for something. We all know the brevity of our lives, and I think I think everybody wants to give their life to something that that counts, that makes a difference. Most of the time people identify the wrong thing to give their lives for. When I found and discovered the truth of the gospel as it was recaptured and re-articulated by the Reformers, I found something where I could say, I’m willing to die on that hill. I’m willing to surrender my life for the sake of that message because it has eternal consequences, even as the message itself is eternal as it says in the Book of Revelation, the “eternal gospel.” Without that understanding, we don’t have the gospel. We only have a man-made imitation of it as Paul says in Galatians, which is “no gospel at all.”

It’s really important for us to understand that we don’t want to be Machen’s Warrior Children, as it were, for the sake of making other people’s lives difficult. Or if we’re being just obnoxious, having a reputation for being that pugilistic guy who’s always looking to fight—we don’t want that. We don’t fight for the sake of the fight; we fight for the sake of the faith. We fight the good fight of faith. It’s important for us to keep our eyes on that because it’s that faith which will bring Christ’s children to maturity. And that’s part of what our goal is at Reformed Forum: to declare the whole counsel of God unto the people of God so that everyone in the church can be brought to the point of maturity in Christ, all to the glory of Christ, for the good of his church, and the evangelization of the lost. That’s something that we have to bear in mind.

We’re supporting the Great Commission of the church. We’re not the church; we’re not doing the Great Commission. Rather, we’re seeking to come alongside the church to support its mission to preach the gospel. And without understanding exactly what it is that the Scriptures teach about the gospel, we have nothing to offer the world. We have no evangel, no gospel to preach, unless we are clear, concise, and accurate in our proper reading of the Scriptures, aided by the Holy Spirit through the testimony of the church in the past and all the greats upon whose shoulders we stand. Without that, we don’t have a message that is worth living for. It’s not worth dying for. It doesn’t aid in the work of evangelism.

That’s right. Without that message, it’s not even evangelism at all. Now, on that note of discipleship, I’d love to hear how this all works out in your family life. Would you give us portrait of your family and then share a bit about how you seek to lead in such a way that the Lord would draw your wife and children into these glorious truths that we hold so dear?

My wife, Eve, is a great helpmeet to me. She has been there by my side in ministry for the last 20 years. I’m so very grateful. We’ve known each other longer than that, but we’ve been married in ministry for 20 years. We have three wonderful children, Caitlyn, Ian, and Anna, and they’re all great kids. I love them dearly. In terms of your question about discipleship, it’s a little bit different now because the kids are older. Eve has a job outside the home, and I have a job, of course. So we’re all going every which way, and our time together for regular, regimented family worship is not in the same pattern as it was when the kids were younger. We were very regimented. After our evening meal, we would have Bible reading, catechesis, and prayer. Now, my pastoral instinct to try to mitigate the awkward schedule of having older kids, one of whom is in college, is to take every opportunity to talk to them about the things of the Lord and to pray with them. I drive my daughter to school every day and we pray on the way to school; we talk about the things of the Lord and about the church. My kids are inquisitive, so they like to ask questions. I try to maximize those questions to illuminate the faith.

It’s much more dynamic, living as it is now in terms of ministry to the family, but I have to emphasize the importance of catechesis. My kids have a bedrock, a foundation, in the Catechism that they learned when they were younger. If I were to be honest and sober, I would say that they probably wouldn’t be able to recite word for word the vast majority of the Q and A’s that they learned as they were growing up, but the substance is there. And there are a few very key questions and answers that the kids still very much have burned or etched within their memories, such that it would go rote if I were to ask the question at random. Sometimes I’ll say, “What does every sin deserve?” in the course of conversation, and the kids instantly say, “the wrath and curse of God,” which is from the Children’s Catechism. There are some of those questions that are really familiar: Who made you? What’s your chief end? And however you might rephrase that question, they’ve got it; they know it. So it gives us something to build on as they as they grow older and as they mature in the faith.

Catechesis was the kind of thing that I did not grow up with. Catholicism would say, we do catechesis; the Catholic Church has a Catechism. But really, catechesis is a Protestant Reformational practice. When I was growing up, we read very little Bible. Even in Catholic parochial school, which I went to from first grade right through college, we studied very little in the Scriptures. And we certainly didn’t get regular, regimented catechesis, learning questions and answers in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We were not well instructed at all. Despite the fact that we had religious training all throughout, we didn’t learn the faith systematically.

Nonetheless, that’s a beautiful thing that you can look back on God’s faithfulness today and see how he has worked through the “foolishness” of catechesis in your own family, in the next generation. You can share in the great joy that the Apostle John spoke about when he heard that his children, his flock, were “walking in the truth.” Tell us about your own church, your own flock. Where do you serve and how is the Lord using the means of grace to gather and perfect his people there?

Thank you for that. I love my church very much. And it’s a joy to be able to talk about the congregation and the work here in South Austin. I came here in 2014. The congregation in Pflugerville, Texas, which is just to the northeast of Austin, not very far outside city limits—that was the original South Austin Presbyterian Church actually. They were originally meeting in locations on the south side of the city. Then they were able to get a piece of land and build a building, but it was to the northeast in Pflugerville. They ended up moving up there, leaving the south side somewhat untended in terms of Reformed witness. Glen Clary was the pastor there before I arrived at Providence in Pflugerville. And they had a group at that church that was meeting for Bible study down on the south side. There were about 20 to 25 people that were traveling north from South Austin up to Pflugerville for worship on Sunday, and they were desirous of starting a work on the south side.

That Bible study had been going on for five years when they finally called me to come as a church planter. We started worship services in July of 2014, and we became a particular congregation in 2015. From there we began to grow and to develop as the Lord continued to add to our numbers. A couple of years ago, we were able to purchase the building where we now carry out our ministry. Not long after we started worshiping, after we particularized, we had a couple of families come to our church from the New Braunfels area, which is about 45 minutes south of here towards San Antonio. We ministered to those families, and they were desirous of starting a work in New Braunfels. This was funny, because we were praying from the very beginning that the Lord would allow us to become a church-planting church plant. We didn’t want to wait very long to start praying and thinking about the next church plant. And so that’s what ended up happening. Within five years, we ended up starting the work down in New Braunfels. And now in a couple of weeks’ time, Lord willing, the New Braunfels church is going to particularize as a new and regular congregation. We’re really excited about that.

South Austin OPC itself is a very mature congregation. The folks are very serious about the word. They’re absolutely committed to Reformed worship, to the inclusion of Psalms in worship—not exclusively, but inclusive psalmody—and to Reformed orthodoxy. Our elders are very good shepherds. They take good care of the people and are very attentive, patient, kind, and loving. Our deacons are the same. They’re attentive to the needs of the congregation and have done a great job tending to the flock. Anyway, that’s a little bit about us. It’s a congregation that I’m so very much in love with.

What are you preaching and teaching through these days in terms of sermon series or Sunday school, and what fruit is your ministry bearing in the congregation?

In the morning, we are going through the book of James. That has been very useful for all of us, myself, especially. James’ exhortation with regard to the use of our words has been transforming for me, and I think for others, as well. As Reformed Christians, we are a very principled people, and rightly so. We believe that we are to live on the basis of God’s Word, and so we live in a very principled way. And we believe that we can know God and how he wants us to live. But sometimes, when a principled mindset combines with the old nature, we can very quickly allow our zeal to overtake our holiness, our self-discipline, and our restraint. Then sometimes we speak out of a desire to be principled, to stand for the truth, but we do so perhaps in a way that’s not loving and kind and proper and biblical.

James’ exhortations on what it means to suffer have also been a tremendous help to me personally. He’s one of the few places outside of the Book of Job that you can find reference to Job. James is very concerned to instruct the congregation who is obviously suffering. They are suffering persecution and opposition from the world, and James is concerned to teach them what it means to suffer righteously. Sometimes, suffering righteously means guarding your words in such a way that when you’re attacked, you don’t return attack for attack and so forth and so on. That’s been very helpful, I think, to the congregation.

In the evening, I’ve been preaching on 1 Chronicles. We’re going to get to 1 Chronicles 5 this Sunday, Lord willing. The congregation has been remarkably receptive to that series. I thought it would be a flop, quite frankly, because, as you know, the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles is just a list of names except in chapter four where you have the prayer of Jabez. Of course, much has been made of that by some. I did a two-part series on chapter four, focusing exclusively on the prayer of Jabez. There were some little polemics in those sermons, which is appropriate in this instance.

The emphasis that I’ve been trying to underscore, however, is that we are the people of God. Our identity in Jesus Christ is found with the people of God under the old covenant. So when we read these genealogies, we have to understand that they are our genealogies. We’re living in a day and age where there seems to be a renewed interest in family lineage and genealogy. You can take a prick of blood or saliva, send it to some company, and they’ll tell you who your people are. But that’s DNA. We’re talking about something that’s deeper than DNA, which is the covenant of grace. We’re emphasizing our unity in the covenant of grace with the people of old and now showing the way in which the people of God are a people of every tribe, nation, and tongue.

During Sunday school, we’ve been working through R. B. Kuiper’s book on the doctrine of the church, The Glorious Body of Christ. And I talked about that a little bit recently on a Christ the Center episode. That’s been really helpful, especially in the area of church authority and power. I think there’s a lot of confusion out there about what church power and authority is or is not. Kuiper gives us a tonic to avoid an evangelical sort of no-churchism on the one hand, and then a kind of Roman Catholic-authoritarian-dominating kind of approach to authority and power on the other. He gives us the Reformed position. That’s been very helpful and sparked a good deal of interesting conversation in our congregation.

Another area where Kuiper is so good is on the indestructibility of the church. Persecution not only does not destroy the church, but persecution is actually the seed bed of the church. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. The church grows from persecution. The world can’t destroy the church; rather persecution will only advance the cause of Christ in this world. When we suffer righteously, we are identifying most intimately with our savior in his sufferings. The pinnacle point at which we are to imitate Christ is precisely here, in our willing suffering. That doesn’t mean that we go out and ask for it or look for it. Some of the early church fathers were somewhat guilty in this regard, but normally nobody wants to suffer. At the same time, we are willing, like Jesus, and as he calls his disciples to do, to lay our lives down for our friends, the glory of Christ, and the building of the church.

That foolishness of the cross will never become less foolish to the world, but to those who are God’s elect, it is the power of God unto salvation. So keep preaching it, brother! Now we could continue discussing and rejoicing in the Lord’s good work through your ministry in the local church, but I’d love to hear how you are also striving to serve the church in her Colossians 1:28 work through your labors here at Reformed Forum.

My role at Reformed Forum is somewhat supportive, which is great because that’s what I think I’m good at that. I’m not the sort of person that excels at leadership and taking charge and making things happen. Our dear brother Camden, our Executive Director, is excellent at organization, administration, execution of tasks and what not. He’s got the big vision; he knows what he’s doing. I’m here simply as a board member, and as the president of the board, to support him and our faculty—to cheer everybody on and to assist in anything that needs to be done to accomplish our mission.

As a faculty member, I’ve been working on a number of things, including a class on the Gospel of John that I hope to be able to roll out sometime later this year. I also do blog posts and Christ the Center episodes. I try to encourage our Van Til cohort students on Discord (our chat platform). I just see myself as playing a supporting role, throwing myself in anywhere that the Lord opens up for me to encourage, help, and assist. Everybody over there at the new office is doing a great job in terms of getting my material for the Westminster Shorter Catechism classes [Qs. 1–38 and Qs. 39–107] into published, book form. I’ve been working on that manuscript, and hopefully that will come out later on this year.

With the busyness of the pastorate and family, finding time to be able to execute on those projects that I have on my desk is something that is moving along way too slowly. I wish that I was able to produce more as a faculty member, but I remain blessed. The Lord has been gracious and kind. I love what Reformed Forum is doing. To be involved at all is a privilege and an honor. I’m sort of like the free safety in football—just kind of standing by waiting to make an interception or to maybe a tackle. I’m looking to be there when I’m needed and then to fill in that gap as those needs arise. But really, if I aspire to anything, it’s to become the water boy.

That’s one thing that I love about working with you. And the same is true for the other brothers at RF. You have a servant heart. You’re just seeking to live coram Deo and to serve the church. I love that that’s in our mission statement. It’s in our blood, our spiritual DNA. We don’t want to be big shots or to replace the church; we want to be servants to her and to labor unto the glory of our Head, even Jesus Christ, who by his Spirit and word perfects his bride. It’s such a joy to labor with you as a like-minded brother in Christ, to know the bond of peace that we have by the Spirit.

Psalm 133. It’s better than the oil going down Aaron’s beard and robe. Amen, and amen. And the feeling is mutual brother. Thank you for the great work here that you’re doing for Reformed Forum. We are exceedingly grateful and regard you as a gift from the Lord.

All that I’ve received is from him, and I praise him for that. As we look together unto the Lord to provide the increase for all of our labors, are there any particular things that our listeners and supporters can lift up in prayer on your behalf?

We always covet prayers, the prayers of the saints wherever they may find themselves, for our church and ministry in South Austin. We covet the prayers of God’s people everywhere for the ministry of Reformed Forum for everything that we’re doing, from recording classes to rolling out books and blog posts. Pray that the work of Christ by His Spirit would continue. And I would ask even that it would increase in my heart, so that as I become more like Christ, I will be more effective at showing others how to walk with Christ.

Machen and the Era of Tragedy

Christ the Center — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 05:00:00 +0000

In 1992, Charles G. Dennison published three articles in the Mid-America Journal of Theology. These were based upon a series he delivered at Mid-America Reformed Seminary. Dennison identifies three eras between 1936 and 1962—tragedy, hope, and ambivalence. The era of tragedy is focused on the figure of J. Gresham Machen. Cornelius Van Til and Ned B. Stonehouse represent the eras of hope and ambivalence, respectively.

In this episode, Danny Olinger and Camden Bucey discuss this first article in the series while considering broader questions about the identity of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and its relation to other Reformed and Presbyterian churches and evangelicalism. Rev. Olinger serves as General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education for the OPC.

Chapters

0:00 Introduction
5:40 Ned Stonehouse
11:37 Machen and the Church’s Identity
30:16 The OPC and the CRC
37:51 Divisions among Fundamentalists
45:01 Ecumenical Relations with the CRC
56:25 The Church as a Pilgrim People
1:00:40 Machen, Culture, and the Church
1:15:52 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger

The Committee of Nine and Evangelicalism

Christ the Center — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Danny Olinger and John Muether join Camden Bucey to speak about the early history of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the forces within the young ecclesiastical body desiring broader influence throughout the culture.

J. Gresham Machen gathered a broad coalition of “fundamentalists” in leading a charge against modernism at Princeton Theological Seminary and then throughout the Presbyterian Church (USA). After many within this coalition were pushed out or left to form what would become the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, different agendas arose. A significant event—involving what would come to be known as the Committee of Nine—at the 1941 and 1942 General Assemblies would set the tone for the future of the young church.

For further study:

Hakkenberg, Michael A. “The Battle over the Ordination of Gordon H. Clark.” In Pressing toward the Mark: Essays Commemorating Fifty Years of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, edited by Charles G. Dennison and Richard C. Gamble, 329–50. Philadelphia: Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1986.
Woolley, Paul. “Discontent!” The Presbyterian Guardian 13, no. 14 (July 25, 1944): 213–14.
Minutes from the ninth General Assembly of the OPC (the reports of the committee begin on p. 28)

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger, John Muether

Loetscher, The Broadening Church: A Study of Theological Issues in the Presbyterian Church Since 1869

Reformed Media Review — Thu, 06 May 2021 18:17:13 +0000

Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton discuss Lefferts A. Loetscher, The Broadening Church: A Study of Theological Issues in the Presbyterian Church Since 1869 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1954). This book is indispensable as a thoughtful and well-researched rationale for the reorganization of Princeton Seminary in 1929. It is a history told from the perspective of the mediating conservatives, who viewed Machen and other fundamentalists as “extreme conservatives.”

From the Publisher:

The far-reaching social and intellectual changes in the United States since the Civil War have had a definite effect upon the religious thought of American churches. In this volume, a distinguished scholar and theologian has undertaken an inductive study of theological issues in one of the major denominations, the Presbyterian church in the United States of America. Since this church was in the thick of the social and intellectual ferment that changed the living and thinking habits of Americans, much that transpired in it finds broad parallels in other leading American churches. Thus, the story of the Presbyterian church is, in essence, a kind of theological barometer of American history. Avoiding sweeping generalizations, Lefferts A. Loetscher briefly traces the history of the Presbyterian church from its founding by New England Puritans on Long Island in the 1640s to the disruption of 1837 and the “wedding day” of Old School and New School Presbyterians in 1870, following the reunion of 1869. From this point, he examines in detail the development of the church, analyzing the controversies that occurred over the years, interpreting the various theological issues that led to disputes.

Lefferts A. Loetscher was Professor Emeritus of American Church History at Princeton University. He is the author of A Brief History of the Presbyterians.

J. Gresham Machen’s Theological Method

Christ the Center — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 05:00:00 +0000

Dr. William Dennison, pastor of Emmanuel OPC in Kent, Washington, speaks about J. Gresham Machen’s theological method as disclosed through his radio addresses just a few years prior to his death. Machen understood that the modern world and the church were in a state of emergency. While many of Machen’s listeners would have thought about the economic volatility of the depression or perhaps the political unrest of fascism and communism. Moreover, many of these listeners would have expected Machen to discuss solutions to these ailments along the lines of those advocated by progressive modernists. Yet, Machen called his listeners to Christ and his kingdom, which transcends this visible world.

Machen speaks often about the benefits of reason, experience, and common sense. In these radio addresses, however, he states clearly that all these elements are to be viewed in subordination to the truth of God’s Word. Specifically, they function in the manner that God, the Creator and Ruler over all things has created them to function. We know this from the Bible.
Dennison, “J. Gresham Machen’s Theological Method”

Machen rejected a general appeal to categories such as reason, experience, empirical facts, common sense, and rhetoric as a means of establishing common ground because of his deep understanding of the effects of sin upon all of man’s faculties. Dennison connects this aspect of Machen’s theology to that of his colleague at Westminster Seminary, Cornelius Van Til.

As a man whose theology appears to still be under development, Machen was neither blindly following the evidentialist tradition of Old Princeton leaning upon Thomas Reid and Scottish Common Sense Realism nor that later mature apologetic system of Van Til.

Christianity and Liberalism — Chapter 7

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 06:00:39 +0000

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob reads from his 1923 edition of J. Gresham Machen’s classic work, Christianity and Liberalism, Chapter 7, The Church.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Christianity and Liberalism — Chapter 6

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 06:00:20 +0000

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob reads from his 1923 edition of J. Gresham Machen’s classic work, Christianity and Liberalism, Chapter 6, Salvation.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Christianity and Liberalism – Chapter 5

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 15:16:59 +0000

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob reads from his 1923 edition of J. Gresham Machen’s classic work, Christianity and Liberalism, Chapter 5, Christ.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Christianity and Liberalism – Chapter 4

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 11:34:41 +0000

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob reads from J. Gresham Machen’s 1923 classic work, Christianity and Liberalism, Chapter 4, The Bible.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Christianity and Liberalism – Chapter 3

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 05:00:06 +0000

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob reads from J. Gresham Machen’s 1923 classic work, Christianity and Liberalism, Chapter 3, God and Man.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Christianity and Liberalism – Chapter 2

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 05:00:45 +0000

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob reads from J. Gresham Machen’s 1923 classic work, Christianity and Liberalism, Chapter 2, Doctrine.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism

Christ the Center — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 04:00:51 +0000

Darryl G. Hart speaks about J. Gresham Machen’s classic work, Christianity and Liberalism. In becoming familiar the content and historical context of this book, people will gain an understanding not only of twentieth century Presbyterianism but also of global Christianity to a degree. And in contemplating the lessons of this era, people will also be better equipped to meet the challenges that face the contemporary church.

Westminster Seminary Press has issued a new edition of Machen’s classic work and has included new essays by the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary, the institution Machen founded in 1929 after the reorganization of the board of Princeton Seminary.

Dr. D. G. Hart is Distinguished Associate Professor of History at Hillsdale College and the author or co-author of many books on American religious history, including Seeking a Better Country: 300 Years of American Presbyterianism, Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America, and The Selected Shorter Writings of J. Gresham Machen.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Darryl G. Hart, Jim Cassidy

Christianity and Liberalism – Chapter 1

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 17:07:45 +0000

This week on Theology Simply Profound, we begin a series of readings of J. Gresham Machen’s 1923 classic book, Christianity and Liberalism.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Christianity vs. Modern Liberalism ~ J. Gresham Machen

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 10:00:57 +0000

On February 5, 1923, J. Gresham Machen addressed the Moody Bible Institute Founder’s Week Conference in Chicago with a lecture entitled, “Christianity vs. Modern Liberalism.” This week on Theology Simply Profound, with Rob out of town, Bob reads this lecture from the Moody Bible Institute Monthly.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Geerhardus Vos and J. Gresham Machen

Special Edition — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 04:00:41 +0000

Rev. Danny E. Olinger lectures on the connection Geerhardus Vos and J. Gresham Machen. This lesson was taught at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois as part of the Reformed Forum 2018 Theology Conference.

Participants: Danny Olinger

The Deeper “Catholic” Conception: Vatican II, Protestantism, and the Ecumenical Future

Special Edition — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 04:00:49 +0000

Camden Bucey delivers the concluding address at the Reformed Forum 2018 Theology Conference at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois.

“Christianity and Culture”

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 11:07:23 +0000

On this week’s episode of Theology Simply Profound, Bob reads J. Gresham Machen’s address as printed in The Princeton Theological Review, Volume 11 issue 1, 1913, “Christianity and Culture.”

Participants: Robert Tarullo

The Active Obedience of Christ

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 04:00:47 +0000

This week’s Theology Simply Profound provides another reading from the works of J. Gresham Machen. Since we’ve begun a series on the Biblical teaching of the atonement, Bob is reading Machen’s, “The Active Obedience of Christ.” This was delivered on December 20, 1936 as part of a series of radio addresses given shortly before Machen’s death on January 1, 1937.

Participants: J. Gresham Machen, Robert Tarullo

The Doctrine of the Atonement

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 29 May 2018 04:00:28 +0000

With Rob nursing a cold, this week’s Theology Simply Profound provides another reading from the works of J. Gresham Machen. Since we’ve begun a series on the Biblical teaching of the atonement, Bob is reading Machen’s, “The Doctrine of the Atonement.” This was from a series of radio addresses given shortly before Machen’s death on January 1, 1937.

Participants: J. Gresham Machen, Robert Tarullo

The Responsibility of the Church in Our New Age

Theology Simply Profound — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 04:00:20 +0000

With Rob on assignment at the T4G conference, this week’s episode of Theology Simply Profound provides a reading of J. Gresham Machen’s essay, “The Responsibility of the Church in Our New Age.” This remarkably relevant work originally appeared in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science in 1933.

Participants: J. Gresham Machen, Robert Tarullo

Machen and the Media

Christ the Center — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 04:00:50 +0000

Darryl G. Hart speaks about J. Gresham Machen and his use of media throughout the modernist-fundamentalist controversy. Westminster Seminary Press has recently published a series of radio addresses by Machen titled, The Person of Jesus. Hart is Distinguished Associate Professor of History at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan. He is the author of numerous books, including Defending the Faith, Calvinism: A History, and Damning Words.

Previous Episodes with D. G. Hart

Participants: Camden Bucey, Darryl G. Hart

The Life and Ministry of Rev. John P. Galbraith

Christ the Center — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 04:00:55 +0000

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, we reflect upon the life and ministry of her oldest minister, 103 year-old Rev. John P. Galbraith. Galbraith was a student of J. Gresham Machen’s at Westminster Theological Seminary and present during the founding of the OPC, before it was called the OPC. In 1948, Mr. Galbraith was called to serve as general secretary of both the OPC Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension and the OPC Committee on Foreign Missions. He served as general secretary of both committees until 1961, when he became the first full-time general secretary of the Committee on Foreign Missions. He served in that role through 1978. Mr. Galbraith gave the next thirty years of his life to what was effectively a full-time retirement, serving on many committees and ecumenical organizations. Listen as Camden Bucey speaks with Rev. Galbraith and Rev. Danny Olinger about the life of a small, but vibrant denomination told through the ministry and experiences of one of her faithful servants.

Awakening the Evangelical Mind

Reformed Media Review — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 05:00:40 +0000

Darryl Hart reviews Awakening the Evangelical Mind: An Intellectual History of the Neo-Evangelical Movement written by Owen Strachan and published by Zondervan. Hart is Visiting Professor of History at Hillsdale College and is the author of many books on church history.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Darryl G. Hart

Machen’s Lost Work on the Presbyterian Conflict

Christ the Center — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 05:00:52 +0000

James W. Scott speaks about the question of whether Machen himself wrote a history of the Presbyterian conflict that led to his defrocking, and accidentally, his death. His articles “Machen’s Lost Work on the Presbyterian Conflict,” Parts 1 and 2, introduce the idea that Edwin Rian’s book, The Presbyterian Conflict, drew on heretofore undiscovered work by Machen himself. Jim Scott is Managing Editor of New Horizons in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Publications Coordinator for the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC. His first article is available online via Westminster. Edwin Rian’s book can be found online.

Participants: Camden Bucey, James W. Scott, Jim Cassidy

J. Gresham Machen on Church Unity

Jared Oliphint — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 19:38:45 +0000

In light of the recent discussion on “The Future of Protestantism,” I thought I would post Machen’s take on church unity as he deals with this topic in his classic work, Christianity and Liberalism:

We are not dealing here with delicate personal questions; we are not presuming to say whether such and such an individual man is a Christian or not. God only can decide such questions; no man can say with assurance whether the attitude of certain individual “liberals” toward Christ is saving faith or not. But one thing is perfectly plain—whether or not liberals are Christians, it is at any rate perfectly clear that liberalism is not Christianity. And that being the case, it is highly undesirable that liberalism and Christianity should continue to be propagated within the bounds of the same organization. A separation between the two parties in the Church is the crying need of the hour. Many indeed are seeking to avoid the separation. Why, they say, may not brethren dwell together in unity? The Church, we are told, has room both for liberals and for conservatives. The conservatives may be allowed to remain if they will keep trifling matters in the background and attend chiefly to “the weightier matters of the law.” And among the things thus designated as “trifling” is found the Cross of Christ, as a really vicarious atonement for sin. Such obscuration of the issue attests a really astonishing narrowness on the part of the liberal preacher. Narrowness does not consist in definite devotion to certain convictions or in definite rejection of others. But the narrow man is the man who rejects the other man’s convictions without first endeavoring to understand them, the man who makes no effort to look at things from the other man’s point of view. For example, it is not narrow to reject the Roman Catholic doctrine that there is no salvation outside the Church. It is not narrow to try to convince Roman Catholics that that doctrine is wrong. But it would be very narrow to say to a Roman Catholic: “You may go on holding your doctrine about the Church and I shall hold mine, but let us unite in our Christian work, since despite such trifling differences we are agreed about the matters that concern the welfare of the soul.” For of course such an utterance would simply beg the question; the Roman Catholic could not possibly both hold his doctrine of the Church and at the same time reject it, as would be required by the program of Church unity just suggested. A Protestant who would speak in that way would be narrow, because quite independent of the question whether he or the Roman Catholic is right about the Church he would show plainly that he had not made the slightest effort to understand the Roman Catholic point of view. The case is similar with the liberal program for unity in the Church. It could never be advocated by anyone who had made the slightest effort to understand the point of view of his opponent in the controversy. The liberal preacher says to the conservative party in the Church: “Let us unite in the same congregation, since of course doctrinal differences are trifles.” But it is the very essence of “conservatism” in the Church to regard doctrinal differences as no trifles but as the matters of supreme moment. A man cannot possibly be an “evangelical” or a “conservative” (or, as he himself would say, simply a Christian) and regard the Cross of Christ as a trifle. To suppose that he can is the extreme of narrowness. It is not necessarily “narrow” to reject the vicarious sacrifice of our Lord as the sole means of salvation. It may be very wrong (and we believe that it is), but it is not necessarily narrow. But to suppose that a man can hold to the vicarious sacrifice of Christ and at the same time belittle that doctrine, to suppose that a man can believe that the eternal Son of God really bore the guilt of men’s sins on the Cross and at the same time regard that belief as a “trifle” without bearing upon the welfare of men’s souls − that is very narrow and very absurd. We shall really get nowhere in this controversy unless we make a sincere effort to understand the other man’s point of view. J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009), 136–37.

Machen During World War I

Christ the Center — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 05:00:50 +0000

The Christ the Center panel met with Dr. Barry Waugh, editor of the recent publication Letters from the Front: J. Gresham Machen’s Correspondence from World War I, about the fascinating topic of Machen’s service as a YMCA secretary near the frontlines of action in France during WWI. Dr. Waugh discussed the content of some of the letters, Machen’s reasons for service, how Machen sought to situate himself in the midst of French culture, his desire to serve as a faithful gospel minister, and the discussion concluded with consideration of some of the legacy of Machen’s wartime service.

Participants: Barry Waugh, Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington

Machen’s Letters from WWI

Camden M. Bucey — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:16:12 +0000

I just received a copy of Barry Waugh’s new book of Machen letters. Letters from the Front: J. Gresham Machen’s Correspondence from World War I (P&R Publishing) looks to be a fascinating collection of letters Machen wrote while serving with the YMCA during the Great War. If you’re at all familiar with this type of work, you’ll know what an incredible service Waugh has done for us in transcribing and editing these letters for our benefit. I hope more volumes of this sort will be available in the future. We’ll certainly want to treat this in detail on Christ the Center, and I’m sure we’ll have opportunity to explore this significant time in Machen’s life with the usual suspects. But until then, listen to Darryl Hart’s series on Machen or get copies of his books Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestant and J. Gresham Machen: Selected Shorter Writings.

Machen’s Warrior Children

Christ the Center — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 05:00:36 +0000

Darryl G. Hart visits with the panel of Christ the Center once again. On this episode Dr. Hart speaks about his latest essay found in Always Reformed, a festschrift written in honor of Dr. Robert Godfrey.

Machen and Bultmann at Marburg

Christ the Center — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 05:00:56 +0000

Bill Dennison discusses the possibility of a personal acquaintance between J. Gresham Machen and Rudolf Bultmann. Both men are key figures in opposing wings of Protestantism. Machen being the figurehead of conservative Presbyterianism in the early 20th c. as he founded Westminster Theological Seminary and led the movement to begin the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Rudolf Bultmann, on the other hand, pioneered the Second Quest of higher biblical criticism. Dr. Dennison is Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA and Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology at Northwest Theological Seminary in Lynnwood, WA. Dennison is the author of The Young Bultmann: Context for His Understanding of God, 1884-1925.

J. Gresham Machen

Christ the Center — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:00:51 +0000

The Christ the Center panelists interact with Dr. Darryl G. Hart about Dr. Fundamentalis, J. Gresham Machen. Machen, erstwhile professor of NT at Princeton Theological Seminary until its reorganization in 1929, was the pioneer of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and the denomination that would become known as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Hart explains the historical and continuing contemporary significance of Machen as well intriguing details of his life and work. Among highlights of the conversation are Machen’s formation of the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions and the discussion of Machen’s literary legacy. While Machen was at the center of controversy with the establishment of Westminster, it was the founding of the IBPFM that led to his defrocking from the ministry in the PCUSA and his starting the OPC. Machen is well known for his popular and scholarly works. His best known scholarly tomes are The Origin of Paul’s Religion and The Virgin Birth. Machen produced many popular works such as What is Faith? and God Transcendent but the work he is best known for, and which still reads as fresh as it did when published seven decades ago is Christianity and Liberalism. Dr. Hart draws from his biography of Machen, Defending the Faith, and the edited work The Selected Shorter Writings of J. Gresham Machen. Listeners will go away from this program with a strong desire to enlist among Machen’s warrior children!

Panel

Darryl G. Hart
Gary L. W. Johnson
Jeff Waddington
Nick Batzig
Camden Bucey

Bibliography

Blake, Thomas. The Covenants Sealed. Or, A treatise of the sacraments of both covenants, polemical and practical. Especially of the sacraments of the covenant of grace … Together with a brief answer to Reverend Mr. Baxter’s Apology, in defence of the Treatise of the covenant. London: Printed for A. Roper, 1655.

Fesko, J. Justification : Understanding the Classic Reformed Doctrine. Phillipsburg N.J.: P&R Pub., 2008.

Fosdick, Harry Emerson. Shall the Fundamentalists Win? : A Sermon Preached at the First Presbyterian Church, New York, May 21, 1922. New York, 1922.

Gamble, Richard C. The Whole Counsel Of God. Presbyterian & Reformed Pub Co, 2008.

Hall, David. A Theological Guide to Calvin’s Institutes: Essays and Analysis. Phillipsburg N.J.: P&R Pub., 2008.

Hart, D. Deconstructing Evangelicalism: Conservative Protestantism in the Age of Billy Graham. Grand Rapids MI: Baker Academic, 2004.

Hart, D. G. “Doctor Fundamentalis”: An Intellectual Biography of J. Gresham Machen, 1881-1937, 1988.

—. A Secular Faith: Why Christianity Favors the Separation of Church and State. Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 2006.

—. Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America. P & R Publishing, 2003.

Johnson, Gary L. W., and Ronald N. Gleason. Reforming or Conforming? : Post-Conservative Evangelicals and the Emerging Church. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2008.

Macartney, Clarence Edward Noble. Shall Unbelief Win?: A Reply to Dr. Fosdick. Philadelphia: Wilbur Hanf, 1900.

Machen, J. Gresham. Christianity and Liberalism. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1923.

—. The Christian Faith in the Modern World. New York: Macmillan Co., 1936.

—. The Christian View of Man. New York: The Macmillan company, 1937.

—. What is Christianity? and Other Addresses. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951.

—. What is Faith? New York: The Macmillan company, 1925.

Machen, J. Gresham, and D. G. Hart. Selected Shorter Writings. Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R Pub., 2004.

Machen, J. Gresham, and Dan G. McCartney. New Testament Greek for Beginners. 2nd ed. Prentice Hall, 2003.

Machen, J. Gresham, and John Hamilton Skilton. Machen’s Notes on Galatians: And Other Aids to the Interpretation of the Epistle to the Galatians. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co., 1972.

Nichols, Stephen. Jesus Made in America: Cultural History from the Puritans to the Passion of the Christ. Downers Grove Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2008.

North, Gary. Crossed Fingers : How the Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church. Tyler, Tex.: Institute for Christian Economics, 1996.

Reynolds, John Mark, Roger Overton (eds.). The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2008.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Darryl G. Hart, Gary L. W. Johnson, Jeff Waddington, Nick Batzig

Reformed Forum

Highlights from 2023

The Top Episodes of 2023 (by YouTube views)

Chapters

Machen’s Enduring Significance | Unfolding Redemption

Chapters

Christianity and Liberalism: Christ

Chapters

Machen and the PCA Today

Subscribe Now to Receive the Latest Issue of Our Magazine

Notes

Christianity and Liberalism: God and Man

Links

Chapters

Christianity and Liberalism: Doctrine

Links

The Wonders & Woes of J. Gresham Machen’s Motorcars

A Ford Expert in France

Hopeful about a Hudson

Stepping Up to Studebaker

Full Circle to a Ford Flathead V8

Conclusion

Notes

Christianity and Liberalism: Introduction

Links

Chapters

Melvin Grove Kyle, J. Gresham Machen, and the League of Evangelical Students

Links

Chapters

Faculty Focus Interview with Lane Tipton

Shall the Fundamentalists Win? 100 Years Later

Chapters

Faculty Focus Interview with Jim Cassidy

Machen and the Era of Tragedy

Chapters

The Committee of Nine and Evangelicalism

Loetscher, The Broadening Church: A Study of Theological Issues in the Presbyterian Church Since 1869

Links

J. Gresham Machen’s Theological Method

Further Reading

Christianity and Liberalism — Chapter 7

Christianity and Liberalism — Chapter 6

Christianity and Liberalism – Chapter 5

Christianity and Liberalism – Chapter 4

Christianity and Liberalism – Chapter 3

Christianity and Liberalism – Chapter 2

Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism

Christianity and Liberalism – Chapter 1

Christianity vs. Modern Liberalism ~ J. Gresham Machen

Geerhardus Vos and J. Gresham Machen

The Deeper “Catholic” Conception: Vatican II, Protestantism, and the Ecumenical Future

“Christianity and Culture”

The Active Obedience of Christ

The Doctrine of the Atonement

The Responsibility of the Church in Our New Age

Machen and the Media

Links

Previous Episodes with D. G. Hart

The Life and Ministry of Rev. John P. Galbraith

Links

Awakening the Evangelical Mind

Machen’s Lost Work on the Presbyterian Conflict

J. Gresham Machen on Church Unity

Machen During World War I

Machen’s Letters from WWI

Machen’s Warrior Children

Links

Machen and Bultmann at Marburg

Links

J. Gresham Machen

Panel

Links

Bibliography