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CHRISTIANITY AND LIBERALISM: The 100th Anniversary Edition
J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937)
“Indifferentism about doctrine makes no heroes of the faith.” —J. Gresham Machen
"In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the things that are least worth holding; THE REALLY IMPORTANT THINGS ARE THE THINGS ABOUT WHICH MEN WILL FIGHT." —J. Gresham Machen, from his original introduction
How will the Christian faith survive in a skeptical world? Modernists in the early twentieth century considered the solution to be clear. Thinking the church needed to be rescued from irrelevance, they laid aside unpopular teachings from the Bible and recast Christianity simply as a way of life. Resisting these attempts, J. Gresham Machen gave an unbending response: Christian doctrine isn’t the problem—unbelief is.
This one-hundredth anniversary edition of Christianity and Liberalism shows a new generation that God’s message of salvation is timeless. In defending essential Christian doctrines and exposing liberalism as a false religion, Machen reminds the church that we are entrusted with the truth that the world needs most.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
General Introduction
Preface
1. AUTHOR'S ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION- "The Purpose of this book is not to decide the religious issue of the present day, but merely to present the issue as sharply and clearly as possible, in order that the reader may be aided in deciding it for himself." (p. 1)
2. DOCTRINE- "The character of Christianity as founded upon a message is summed up in the words of the eighth verse of the first chapter of Acts-"Ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." From the beginning Christianity was a campaign of witnessing...Christianity is based, then, upon an account of something that happened, and the Christian worker is primarily a witness. But if so, it is rather important that the Christian worker should tell the truth. When a man takes his seat upon the witness stand, it makes little difference what the cut of his coat is, or whether his sentences are nicely turned. The important thing is that he tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." (pp. 48,49)
3. GOD AND MAN- "It has been observed in the last chapter that Christianity is based on an account of something that happened in the first century of our era. But before that account can be received, certain presuppositions must be accepted. The Christian gospel consists in an account of how God saved man, and before the gospel can be understood something must be known (1) about God and (2) about man. The doctrine of God and the doctrine of man are the two great presuppositions of the gospel. With regard to these presuppositions, as with regard to the gospel itself, modern liberalism is diametrically opposed to Christianity." (p. 51)
4. THE BIBLE- "The Christian message has come to us through the Bible. What shall we think about this Book in which the message is contained? According to the Christian view, the Bible contains an account of a revelation from God to man, which is found nowhere else...The Christian man finds in the Bible the very word of God. Let it not be said that dependence upon a Book is a dead or an artificial thing. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was founded upon the authority of the Bible, yet it set the world aflame. Dependence upon a word of man would be slavish, but dependence upon God's word is life. Dark and gloomy would be the world, if we were left to our own devices, and had no blessed Word of God. The Bible, to the Christian, is not a burdensome law, but the very Magna Charta of Christian liberty.
It is no wonder, then, that liberalism is totally different from Christianity, for the foundation is different. Christianity is founded upon the Bible. It bases upon the Bible both its thinking and its life. Liberalism on the other hand is founded upon the shifting emotions of sinful men." (pp. 67,76)
5. CHRIST- "In their attitude toward Jesus, liberalism and Christianity are sharply opposed. The Christian attitude toward Jesus appears in the whole New Testament...The truth is, the witness of the New Testament, with regard to Jesus as the object of faith, is an absolutely unitary witness...But by modern liberalism He is regarded in a totally different way. Christians stand in a religious relation to Jesus; liberals do not stand in a religious relation to Jesus--what difference could be more profound than that?" (pp. 77,81,82)
6. SALVATION- "It has been observed thus far that liberalism differs from Christianity with regard to the presuppositions of the gospel (the view of God and the view of man), with regard to the Book in which the gospel is contained, and with regard to the Person whose work the gospel sets forth. It is not surprising then that it differs from Christianity in its account of the gospel itself; it is not surprising that it presents an entirely different account of the way of salvation. Liberalism finds salvation (so far as it is willing to speak at all of 'salvation') in man; Christianity finds it in an act of God." (p. 113)
7. THE CHURCH- "It is only by a baseless caricature that Christian missionaries are represented as if they had no interest in education or in the maintenance of a social life in this world; it is not true that they are interested only in saving individual souls and when the souls are saved leave them to their own devices. On the contrary true Christians must everywhere be united in the brotherhood of the Christian Church.
Very different is the Christian conception of brotherhood from the liberal doctrine of the 'brotherhood of man.' The modern liberal doctrine is that all men everywhere, no matter what their race or creed, are brothers. There is a sense in which this doctrine can be accepted by the Christian. All men have the same Creator and the same nature. But the Christian knows also of a relationship far more intimate than that general relationship of man to man, and it is for this more intimate relationship that he reserves the term 'brother.' The true brotherhood, according to Christian teaching, is the brotherhood of the redeemed." (pp. 153,154)
Notes
Subject Index
Scripture Index
J. GRESHAM MACHEN (1881-1937) was a biblical scholar, theologian, and apologist who defended Christian orthodoxy. He was instrumental in founding Westminster Theological Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He was despised by the modernists of his day, but came to be known as Mr. Valiant for the Truth by those who loved the truth as it is revealed in Jesus Christ.
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*Counsels and Thoughts on the Spiritual Life of Believers by Thomas Moor
*LECTURES ON PILGRIM'S PROGRESS & THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN BUNYAN by George Cheever
*EXALTING CHRIST: Essays in Honor of Fred A. Malone
*LECTURES ON BAPTISM by William Sherriff w/ Preface by C.H. Spurgeon
CHRISTIANITY AND LIBERALISM by J. Gresham Machen (100th Anniversary edition)
POWER THROUGH PRAYER by E.M. Bounds
Thoughts for Young Men by J.C. Ryle
YOUNG MEN: Faults and Ideals by J.R. Miller
CHAINS OF GRACE: Peter Jeffery's Story
WILLIAM CAREY and The Greatest Generation by Jerry Slate, Jr.
HEROES OF THE EARLY CHURCH: Life-Changing Lessons for the Young by Richard Newton
WOMEN SPEAKING IN THE CHURCH: What Does the Scripture Say? by B.B. Warfield, R.L. Dabney & Geoff Thomas
THE THEOLOGY OF THE REFORMATION by Benjamin B. Warfield
THE FEAR OF GOD: The Soul of Godliness by John Murray
*BO MEETS A HERO: A Wounded Army Vet Joins with Bo, the Three-Legged Dog, to Teach Children Invaluable Lessons by Sharman Martin
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