J. Gresham Machen s The Gospel and the Modern World

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1 Machen(Nichols).Modern 9/20/07 2:22 PM Page 1 J. Gresham Machen s The Gospel and the Modern World And Other Short Writings Introduced and edited by Stephen J. Nichols R

2 Machen(Nichols).Modern 9/20/07 2:22 PM Page by Stephen J. Nichols All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise except for brief quotations for the purpose of review or comment, without the prior permission of the publisher, P&R Publishing Company, P.O. Box 817, Phillipsburg, New Jersey All illustrations appear courtesy of the Machen Archives, Montgomery Library, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Machen, J. Gresham (John Gresham), J. Gresham Machen s the Gospel and the modern world and other short writings / edited and introduced by Stephen J. Nichols. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN (pbk.) 1. Baccalaureate addresses Hampden-Sydney College. 2. Installation sermons Pennsylvania Pittsburgh. 3. Sermons, American 20th century. 4. Presbyterian Church Sermons. 5. Machen, J. Gresham (John Gresham), Correspondence. 6. Ockenga, Harold John, 1905 Correspondence. 7. Presbyterian Church United States Clergy Correspondents. 8. Christianity and culture United States. I. Title: Gospel and the modern world. II. Nichols, Stephen J., 1970 III. Title. BX9225.M24A '.051 dc

3 Machen(Nichols).Modern 9/20/07 2:22 PM Page 3 CONTENTS Introduction 5 The Gospel and the Modern World 9 Select Correspondence between J. Gresham Machen and Harold John Ockenga 28 Preaching the Gospel in the Modern World : Charge to Harold John Ockenga 34 Skyscrapers and Cathedrals 44 Notes 47 For Further Reading 48 3

4 Machen(Nichols).Modern 9/20/07 2:22 PM Page 4

5 Machen(Nichols).Modern 9/20/07 2:22 PM Page 5 INTRODUCTION By many accounts, J. Gresham Machen towers as one of the most significant figures in twentieth-century American religion. His activities made front-page news in The New York Times. Popular pundits like Walter Lippman and H. L. Mencken listened when Machen talked. And his books Christianity and Liberalism, The Origins of Paul s Religion, and The Virgin Birth of Christ among them are classics, continuing to draw readers many decades after they were first published. Yet these books only scratch the surface of Machen s many writings. This booklet brings together three texts and selected correspondence with Harold John Ockenga, a member of the first graduating class of Westminster Theological Seminary. One text was published in Machen s lifetime. The other was also published, although in a slightly different version. The third text, Ockenga s pastoral charge, as well as the correspondence between Ockenga and Machen, has never before been published. In order to provide a context for these crucial texts, brief discussions of each follow. The Gospel and the Modern World In 1921, largely because of the influence wielded by The Origin of Paul s Religion and New Testament Greek for Beginners, both published by Macmillan, Hampden- Sydney College in Virginia awarded Machen an honorary doctor of divinity degree. He maintained contact 5

6 Machen(Nichols).Modern 9/20/07 2:22 PM Page 6 Introduction with the college throughout the next decade, speaking there often. In 1929, he was invited to deliver the baccalaureate address. The spring of 1929 was a difficult time for Machen. He was strongly opposing the reorganization of the two boards of Princeton Seminary. The reorganization would have the effect of shifting the control of the seminary from the conservatives to the moderates and the liberals. Machen s efforts were to no avail. The 1929 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. approved the reorganization in the final days of May and the early days of June. Thus, the baccalaureate address at Hampden- Sydney came on the heels of the assembly s decision. A saddened Machen took the train south to Virginia to deliver his address. He would return to Princeton, but only to resign, pack his belongings from 39 Alexander Hall, his room for decades, and undertake the formation of Westminster Theological Seminary. Preaching the Gospel in the Modern World When Machen left Princeton, he did not go alone. A few colleagues from the faculty and some students went with him. Among the latter group was Harold John Ockenga. As can be expected, the mutual sacrifice and risk they all took forged a deep bond between them. Machen once wrote that his comrades at Westminster, faculty and students alike, gave him the most comfort, and he often referred to Westminster as our little company. Ockenga, as a member of the first graduating class, represented Machen s hopes of filling the denomination with ministers faithfully proclaiming the gospel in response to liberalism. Ockenga went on to quite a ca- 6

7 Machen(Nichols).Modern 9/20/07 2:22 PM Page 7 Introduction reer of his own, with Machen playing a key role in his formative years. After pastorates in Pittsburgh, Ockenga, largely due to Machen s recommendation, ascended to the pulpit of Park Street Congregational Church in Boston, Massachusetts. From there he assumed the first presidency of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He served as an absentee president, retaining his ministry at Park Street throughout his tenure. He, along with Nelson Bell, Billy Graham, and Carl F. H. Henry, played a crucial role in the formation of Christianity Today, and he was the first president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). After serving as president of Fuller, he served as president of another seminary, this time closer to his home, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. During his seminary years and his early pastorates, Ockenga followed Machen, closely aligning himself with theological conservatives. Machen preached at Ockenga s ordination on January 28, 1931, in Pittsburgh, and a few months later, Machen delivered the Charge to the Pastor at Ockenga s installation at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in the same city. A few letters that passed between Machen and Ockenga concerning the occasions of Ockenga s ordination and installation are included here. Machen was an avid letter writer, to put it mildly. Some estimates place the number of his letters at around ten thousand pieces. The letters to Ockenga are representative of reams of letters to students. Machen spent the better part of his life training and mentoring a generation of ministers, at a time and circumstance of great challenge to the gospel of Christ. Through his letters, Machen continued that training long after his students left his classroom. 7

8 Machen(Nichols).Modern 9/20/07 2:22 PM Page 8 Introduction Skyscrapers and Cathedrals Although it is a very short text, Skyscrapers and Cathedrals offers Machen s insight into the hope and promise of the gospel for the modern age. Contrasting skyscrapers the symbol of the city in the modern age with cathedrals the counterpart for the medieval age Machen points to the anemic life of the modern age, having the power to uplift the body but lacking power to uplift the soul. He further sees in skyscrapers an obsession with materialism and potentially a symbol of human pride, a modern-day tower of Babel. Machen points his readers beyond such temporal feats to consider the eternal things. This text, originally serving as a sermon illustration, first appeared in McCall s magazine. Machen was a subject of intense interest within the church, but he also garnered attention outside of it. He was a frequent contributor of letters to the editor of a number of metropolitan newspapers, and his writings also appeared in the Forum and Century, Women s Home Companion, and, as here, McCall s. Machen persuasively and concisely presents a mostly secular audience with something to consider. He challenges the assumption that modern culture, with all of its technological advances, is self-sufficient. Against such sentiment, he raises the question that there might be more than meets the eye. The impressive accomplishments of the modern world, Machen points out, only mask humanity s inability to meet its true needs. In a mere few paragraphs, Machen pulls back the mask. 8

9 Machen(Nichols).Modern 9/20/07 2:22 PM Page 9 THE GOSPEL AND THE MODERN WORLD Baccalaureate Address Hampden-Sydney College June 9, 1929 The manuscript of this text is housed in the Machen Archives, Montgomery Library, Westminster Theological Seminary. Machen reused a significant portion of this text in his article Christianity and Liberty, first published in The Forum and Century 85 (March 1931): That article was first reprinted in What Is Christianity? And Other Addresses, edited by Ned B. Stonehouse (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1951), and is also reprinted in J. Gresham Machen, Selected Shorter Writings, edited by D. G. Hart (Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R, 2004), The introduction, the conclusion, and some elements of the baccalaureate address, however, differ from Christianity and Liberty. The address was first an oral text, whereas the other was a written text, and the texts were intended for different audiences. z But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, 9

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