Biography of J. Gresham Machen Essay - 1815 Words

Biography of J. Gresham Machen John Gresham Machen was born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 28th 1881 to parents Arthur Webster and Mary Hones Gresham. From an early age Machen was taught lessons of the bible and of Jesus. His family attended a Presbyterian church called Franklyn Street Presbyterian. (Wikipedia) Machens father was a lawyer and therefore Machen was considered to be brought up in a rather privileged home. He attendee a private college where he was educated in classics such a Greek and Latin. Machen began his education at John Hopkins University in 1898 where he majored in Classics. In college he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity and was also a member of academic societies. After graduation he†¦show more content†¦However, Machen never identified himself as a fundamentalist because he would not embrace things such as premillennialism and the anti-intellectual attitude of traditional fundamentals.(Piper) In 1929, Princeton Seminary was beginning to sway toward liberal theology, which Machen opposed. In response to the changes at Princeton, Machen went on to found Westminster Theology Seminary in order to continue reformed orthodox theology. Later, in 1933, Machen , along with seven others, were suspended from the Presbyterian ministry. They went on to leave the Northern Presbyterian Church and founded the Orthodox Presbyterian church. Only a few years later, in 1937, Machen died at age 56. even though he died rather young, Machen helped shape the conservative movement against Modernists without being a true fundamentalist. His books, sugh as his textbook on New Testament Greek, are still used today in modern seminaries. (Haykin) Machens thoughts about society and Christianity can be found in many of his own books. The book I found most useful was entitled What is Faith?. Unlike fundamentalists, Machen believed that education was highly important in society; yet, he still thought that the most significant part of Christianity was not throught the church or school. In the introduction of what is Faith? Machen explains: The most important Christian educational institution is not the