John Gresham Machen.
-(1881-1937)
-Theologian, Professor, and Minister
-Presbyterian
Machen was raised Presbyterian and graduated from Johns Hopkins, where he majored in classics. He was indecisive about his future, and he studied for a summer at the University of Chicago, where he learned international law and banking. He then enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary while also taking graduate philosophy classes at nearby Princeton University. He spent a year in Germany studying under liberal Wilhelm Herrmann, who also taught Rudolf Bultmann and Karl Barth. Sitting under the teaching of German liberals, Machen had a crisis of faith. Still, he survived the challenge to his orthodoxy, became determined to help raise the intellectual standard of American theological training, and devoted his life to teaching against it….read more at The Machen Seminar.
In his most known work, Christianity and Liberalism, Machen argues that Christianity is not just a set of moral teachings or ethical principles but a supernatural religion based on historical facts and that liberalism undermines the very foundation of Christianity. He also criticizes the liberal view of salvation, which he sees as being based on self-improvement and social activism (which is a false gospel) rather than on faith in Jesus Christ.
“The truth is that the life-purpose of Jesus discovered by modern liberalism is not the life purpose of the real Jesus, but merely represents those elements in the teaching of Jesus—isolated and misinterpreted—which happen to agree with the modern program. It is not Jesus, then, who is the real authority, but the modern principle by which the selection within Jesus’ recorded teaching has been made. Certain isolated ethical principles of the Sermon on the Mount are accepted, not at all because they are teachings of Jesus, but because they agree with modern ideas.”
Christianity and Liberalism (webpage) - In this book, J. Gresham Machen defends essential Christian doctrines and exposes liberalism as a false religion. Modernists in the early twentieth century thought the church needed to be rescued from irrelevance, so they laid aside unpopular teachings from the Bible and recast Christianity simply as a way of life. Machen responded unbendingly: Christian doctrine isn’t the problem—unbelief is.
Machen and the OPC by D.G. Hart (article) - Machen was the principal figure in founding the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). He defended the historical reliability of the Bible. He became the chief spokesman for Presbyterian conservatives by issuing a devastating critique of Protestant modernism in the popular books Christianity and Liberalism (1923) and What is Faith? (1925).
The Ecclesiastical Trial of J. Gresham Machen (article) - following Machen's plea of "Not Guilty" to all the charges, the commission ruled that it would not admit evidence bearing on several crucial matters and would not accept or hear any arguments concerned with the Auburn Affirmation, the question of the soundness of the Board of Foreign Missions, or the history of the Princeton-Westminster controversy. Thus, it ruled out much of the argument Machen was prepared to present to defend his position.
J. Gresham Machen by Robert Godfrey (article + video) - Machen was recognized as the most influential scholarly voice on the fundamentalist side of the controversies emerging in America in the first half of the 20th century.
J. Gresham Machen: God’s Forgotten Libertarian by Lawrence Reed (article) - Pearl S. Buck, author of The Good Earth, wrote of Machen, “The man was admirable. He never gave in one inch to anyone. He never bowed his head. It was not in him to trim or compromise, to accept any peace that was less than triumph. He was a glorious enemy because he was open and direct in his anger and hatred. He stood for something, and everyone knew what it was.”
J. Gresham Machen’s Concern for Liberty by Richard Brown (article) - in Machen’s body of work on the relationship between the Church and State and on liberty itself was informed. In line with Samuel Miller, Machen carried a kind of optimism that God was working within the world to a healthy extent. He recognized a distinct need for the preservation of the gospel message’s articulation, which the exercise of religious liberty promoted when guided by God’s unchanging law and in light of the authority of Christ over all earthly powers.
Christianity in Conflict by Machen (free ebook) - if we are Christians, we can still be confident and joyous in these sad days. This is not the first time the Church has experienced unbelief. Other times have been equally or almost equally dark, yet God has brought His people through. Our absolute confidence rests not in the signs of the times but in God's great and precious promises.
The Literature and History of New Testament Times by J. Gresham Machen (free ebook) - There is a tendency in the modern Church to neglect the study of Bible history. Such neglect will inevitably result in a loss of power. The gospel is a record of something that has happened, and uncertainty about the gospel is a fatal weakness. Furthermore, the historical study of the apostolic age—when divine revelation established the great principles of the Church's life—is the best corrective for a thousand vagaries. Much can be learned from modern pedagogy, but after all, what is fundamental, both for the teacher and for the student, is an orderly acquaintance with the Bible facts.
The Origin of Paul's Religion by J. Gresham Machen (free ebook) - The following discussion is intended to deal, from one particular point of view, with the problem of the origin of Christianity. That problem is an essential historical problem and also a significant practical problem. It is an important historical problem not only because of the prominent place that Christianity has occupied in the medieval and modern world but also because of certain unique features that even the most unsympathetic and superficial examination must detect in the beginnings of the Christian movement. The origin of Christianity is also a significant practical problem. Rightly or wrongly, the Christian experience has ordinarily been connected with one particular view of the origin of the Christian movement; where that view has been abandoned, the experience has ceased.
A Brief Bible History: A Survey of the Old and New Testaments by Boyd and Machen (free ebook) - This book surveys the history of God's redeeming grace. It reviews Old Testament history, disclosing the stream of God's redeeming purposes flowing down through the older times. It reviews New Testament history, revealing the broadening and deepening of that purpose for us men and mankind in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and his Church.
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In an age when theological liberalism sought to sway the church, J. Gresham Machen took a definitive stand for truth. Stephen Nichols tells us about this 20th-century advocate of the central doctrines of Christianity.
In the episode on BB Warfield's sermon "The Example Of The Divine Incarnation," Warfield stood up to theological liberalism. A few years pass, and Machen does the same. In his last sermon at Princeton, he warns and encourages the students to fight the good fight to the end against the corrosion of the faith.
Audiobook: Machen's book caused a significant stir in the religious world when it was published, and it continues to be a famous and influential work among Christian thinkers today. In "Christianity and Liberalism," Machen presents a passionate defense of traditional Christian beliefs and a strong critique of the liberal movement that seeks to redefine and water down those beliefs.
This is the first section (preface, chapters 1-4) of a reading of "The Significance of J. Gresham Machen Today," a work by Machen student and colleague Paul Woolley. This odd, personal little book was published in 1977 by Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Co. and is now out of print.
This is the second section (chapters 5-8) of a reading of "The Significance of J. Gresham Machen Today," a work by Machen student and colleague Paul Woolley. This odd, personal little book was published in 1977 by Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Co. and is now out of print.
“A terrible crisis unquestionably has arisen in the Church. In the ministry of evangelical churches are to be found hosts of those who reject the gospel of Christ. By the equivocal use of traditional phrases, by the representation of differences of opinion as though they were only differences about the interpretation of the Bible, entrance into the Church was secured for those who are hostile to the very foundations of the faith.”
This classic defense of orthodox Christianity, written to counter the liberalism that arose in the early 1900s, establishes the importance of scriptural doctrine and contrasts the teachings of liberalism and orthodoxy on God and man, the Bible, Christ, salvation, and the church. J. Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism has remained relevant since its original publication in 1923. It was named one of the top 100 books of the millennium by World magazine.
Things Unseen is an accessible systematic theology and a masterclass in evangelistic apologetics. On a Sunday afternoon in 1935, J. Gresham Machen stepped into a broadcast booth at WIP Radio in Philadelphia and began something no one had tried before teaching Reformed theology over the radio. Machen’s addresses are a crystal-clear articulation of the basics of the Christian faith, unfolding into an exceptional and persuasive explanation of Reformed theology.
"Machen wrote on Galatians to inform his students and to help Sunday School teachers. It is written with delightful clarity and incidentally introduces us to what Machen did very well: teach the New Testament to students at Princeton and Westminster Seminaries. It is wonderfully lucid, a pleasure to read, and a model for anyone who preaches the Bible."—Geoff Thomas.
Following three chapters devoted to Machen’s life, Nichols examines Machen’s writings on theology, the Bible, culture, and the church (including several sermons). A select guide to books by and about Machen, a bibliography, and indexes conclude this accessible introduction to one of the twentieth century’s most influential theologians.
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