Category Archives: Machen, J. Gresham

Machen: how important is the Virgin Birth?

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In 1930, the redoubtable scholar and apologist J. Gresham Machen published his 400-page defence of The Virgin Birth of Christ.

Towards the end of his book, Machen deals with the question of the importance of this doctrine.  Helpfully, he steers a path between saying, on the one hand, that belief in the Virgin Birth is essential to salvation, and, on the other hand, saying that it is of relatively little significance.

Machen maintained that belief in the Virgin Birth is not simply a matter of private judgement, but is, rather ‘essential to the corporate witness of the Church.’…

One language, two religions

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It was J. Gresham Machen, in Christianity and Liberalism, who commented that thorough-going theological liberalism is actually a different religion from orthodox Christianity.  It is, in fact, a different kind of religion.

This observation was borne out in a recent discussion on Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable? show between Ben Witherington III and Stephen Thornton.  Ben is an evangelical biblical scholar, Stephen a retired URC minister of liberal persuasion.

The topic under consideration was the narratives of Jesus’ birth as recorded in Matthew and Luke. …

Doctrine

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J. Gresham Machen, in his classic 1923 book, Christianity and Liberalism (ch 11), notes a commonly-held objection to doctrine: creeds (it is often said) are merely the changing expressions of a unitary Christian experience, and insofar as they express that experience they are equally good.

But, replies Machen, this objection will not stand.  After all, liberalism itself has its doctrines, as tenaciously held as those embraced by orthodox believers.  Such, for example, are the liberal doctrines of the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. …

Machen and fundamentalism

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J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937) was seen as an ally by the fundamentalists, but he did not accept the term for himself. According to John Piper, Machen’s criticisms of fundamentalism were:-

  1. the absence of historical perspective;
  2. the lack of appreciation of scholarship;
  3. the substitution of brief, skeletal creeds for the historic confessions;
  4. the lack of concern with precise formulation of Christian doctrine;
  5. the pietistic, perfectionist tendencies (i.e., hang ups with smoking, etc.);
  6. one-sided other-worldliness (i.e., a lack of effort to transform culture); and
  7. a penchant for futuristic chiliasm (or: pre-millenialism).
…

Mountains and why we love them

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Well, it’s off to Zermatt with my son David for some skiing early in the New Year. I’ve visited that gorgeous Swiss resort a few times now with various members of the family, but this will be the first time in the middle of winter, with lots and lots of snow to play in.

When I’m not dreaming of skiing in the mountains in winter, I’m dreaming of walking in them in the summer. Which brings me to a fascinating account of mountain-climbing by that redoubtable evangelical apologist, J.…