Machen, John Gresham - Timeline Biography
Time Period
07-28-1881 - 01-01-1937
Description
John Gresham Machen was a strong defender of traditional Christian beliefs within the Presbyterian religious body. Machen received his bachelor’s of divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1905 and returned a year later to Princeton as a New Testament instructor. He produced scholarly works like The Origins of Paul’s Religion (1921) and The Virgin Birth of Christ (1930). However, it was his book entitled Christianity and Liberalism (1923) that sparked controversy when he denounced modernist ("liberal") interpretations of the Bible and questioned whether modernists should even call themselves Christian. Machen later withdrew from Princeton Seminary in 1929 and formed Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.
Machen’s conflict with modernists continued as he charged the Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions of straying from teaching Christ as the exclusive means to salvation. After arguments persisted, Machen and other upset Presbyterians left the Presbyterian Church to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1936.
On January 1, 1937, Machen caught pneumonia and died.
Machen’s conflict with modernists continued as he charged the Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions of straying from teaching Christ as the exclusive means to salvation. After arguments persisted, Machen and other upset Presbyterians left the Presbyterian Church to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1936.
On January 1, 1937, Machen caught pneumonia and died.
Interactive Timeline(s)
Browse Related Timeline Entries
Religious Groups
Presbyterian-Reformed Family: Other ARDA LinksPresbyterian-Reformed Family: Religious Family Tree
Events
Christianity and Liberalism PublishedOrthodox Presbyterian Church Founded
Publication of Shailer Mathews's The Faith of Modernism
Movements
Christian FundamentalismRelated Dictionary Terms
Bible, Christian, SeminaryPhotographs
J Gresham Machen portrait- Wikimedia Commons
J Gresham Machen portrait- Internet Archive- from A Brief History of the Bible Presbyterian Church and its Agencies by Margaret G. Harden
J Gresham Machen portrait- Internet Archive- from Carl McIntire's 50-year ministry in the Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood, New Jersey
Book/Journal Source(s)
Queen, Edward, Stephen Prothero and Gardiner Shattuck, 1996. The Encyclopedia of American Religious History New York: Facts on File.Reid, Daniel, Robert Linder, Bruce Shelley, and Harry Stout, 1990. Dictionary of Christianity in America Downers Grove, IL.
Web Page Contributor
Benjamin T. GurrentzAffliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in Sociology
