The Dark Night of the Soul

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I thought of Luther standing at the diet of verm saying you must recant. They said my conscience is bound by the word of God. Whether he said all those words, his actions were let good and kindreds go. This mortal life also, the body they may kill, God's truth abidest still. I hope whatever I've done, if people hate me, they'll know I've tried to be faithful to Scripture imperfectly for sure. But a desire to honor the purpose and mission of Westminster under the word ofGod.

Losing is never fun. And it’s even less fun when the New York Times is paying attention. But by 1929 that’s what had happened. J. Gresham Machen had lost the fight against liberalism at Princeton seminary. Even after reading Machen’s warning in Christianity and Liberalism, the Presbyterian church voted to reorganize Princeton to allow liberal theology on faculty.

That would’ve been the perfect time to pack it in. But for Machen the fight had never been about Princeton. True Christian doctrine could never belong to a single organization, no matter how influential. So Machen did what any God fearing independently wealthy bachelor would do. He quit, poached Princeton’s best faculty, and started his own seminary.

Politics. Technology. Identity. Power. Science. Everything seems to be changing. So why not faith?

Visit christianityandliberalism.com for more on the book, audiobook, and show.

Music: “Line in the Sand (C&L)” by Timothy Brindle Produced by Nobody Special Wrath and Grace Records Music Licensing Codes: TE3MR2SOLBRPRFDR MWQUIJMABYWNGWYE