Christianity and Liberalism: The Bible

This is the 100th anniversary of the publication of J. Gresham Machen’s book, Christianity and Liberalism. Danny Olinger and Camden Bucey speak with Alan Strange about the fourth chapter of Machen’s classic, which addresses the Bible. In this chapter, Machen addresses those who would seek to maintain that what we hold in our hearts about Christ can remain true no matter what the facts of history actually show. These people subjectivize Christianity—making it a function of personal experience. Machen, however, emphasizes the importance of the historical fact of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection and the Bible’s inspired, inerrant, and infallible testimony to this work. In the course of conversation, the panelists discuss several liberal theologians and the events in American Presbyterianism that led up to 1923, when Christianity and Liberalism was published. These include Friedrich Schleiermacher, Albrecht Ritschl, Wilhelm Herrmann, and the case of Charles Augustus Briggs. Dr. Alan Strange is Professor of Church History and Theological Librarian at Mid-America Reformed Seminary in Dyer, Indiana and an associate pastor at First Church (OPC) in South Holland, Illinois. Links Alan Strange, The Doctrine of the Spirituality of the Church in the Ecclesiology of Charles Hodge Camden Bucey, Karl Rahner (Great Thinkers) Danny Olinger, Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theology, Confessional Presbyterian Mid-America Reformed Seminary’s Round Table podcast The OPC Ruling Elder Podcast New Horizons Chapters 00:07 Introduction 02:12 Machen on the Bible 05:56 Liberalism and the Bible in 19th and 20th Century Presbyterianism 14:05 The Supernatural in History 17:41 Hodge and Liberalism’s Approach to the Bible 31:13 Machen, Hodge, and the Spirituality of the Church 33:52 Experience, Tradition, and Scripture 38:42 What Jesus Believes about Scripture 41:51 Addressing Liberals within the Church 50:22 Machen Thought the Liberalism Might Leave 52:42 Without the Bible, We are Left with Chaotic Anthropology 57:06 Conclusion Participants: Alan Strange, Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger