Resources On Machen, Christianity, And Liberalism

In 1923 J. Gresham Machen, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, published one of the more important books in the modern history of the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, Christianity and Liberalism. It was a stirring and cogent defense of the thesis that biblical, historic, confessional Christianity is one religion and theological liberalism is another. This book is as relevant today as the day it first appeared in print. His major academic works were The Origin of Paul’s Religion and The Virgin Birth of Christ. Machen was the pre-eminent defender of orthodox, evangelical (in the old fashioned sense of the word) Protestant Christianity in the first half of the 20th century. He left his post at Princeton in 1929 to protest a takeover of the seminary by liberals and doctrinally indifferent evangelicals. That year he founded Westminster Theological Seminary. In 1936 he led a separation from the mainline, liberal Presbyterian Church in the USA after they defrocked him for his leadership of a conservative, non-denominational missions board. That year and others founded the denomination now known as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Other Machen Titles
Other Volumes Of Interest
Heidelcast Episodes
Audio Books & Chapters
Interviews
Talks & Lectures
Quotes & Essays

Other Machen Titles

The Christian View of Man
The Person of Jesus
J. Gresham Machen’s The Gospel And the Modern World and Other Shorter Writings.
J. Gresham Machen: Selected Shorter Writings
God Transcendent
The New Testament: An Introduction To Its History And Literature
Letters From The Front
The Christian View of Man
What Is Faith?
Machen, J. Gresham, Historic Christianity: Selections from the Writings of J. Gresham Machen. The New Testament Student, vol. 7. Philadelphia: Skilton House Ministries, 1997.
Machen, J. Gresham. Machen’s Notes on Galatians: Notes on Biblical Exposition and Other Aids to the Interpretation of the Epistle to the Galatians. Edited by John Hamilton Skilton. International Library of Philosophy and Theology: Biblical and Theological Studies. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1973.

Other Volumes Of interest

Brown III, Rich S. The Life I Now Live: Continuing Machen’s Historic Battle for the Gospel (2023)
Chrisope, Terry Alan. “The Bible and Historical Scholarship in the Early Life and Thought of J. Gresham Machen, 1881-1915,” PhD. Diss. Kansas State University, 1988.
Coray, Henry W. J. Gresham Machen: A Silhouette. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1981.
Hart, D. G. Defending The Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America
Masselink, William. Professor J. Gresham Machen: His Life and Defence of the Bible. NP, 1938.
Nichols, Stephen J. J. Gresham Machen: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought. Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2004.
Roark, Dallas M. “J. Gresham Machen and His Desire to Maintain a Doctrinally True Presbyterian Church.” PhD Diss, University of Iowa, 1963.
Stonehouse, J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir
Vandrunen, Katherine Lynn Tan. “The Foothills of the Matterhorn: Familial Antecedents of J. Gresham Machen.” PhD Diss. Loyola University Chicago. 2006.
Woolley, Paul. The Significance of J. Gresham Machen Today. Nutley, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1977.

Heidelcast Episodes

Audio Books and Chapters

The Significance of J. Gresham Machen Today (pt 1)
The Significance of J. Gresham Machen Today (pt 2)
The Significance of J. Gresham Machen Today (pt 3)
Christianity and Liberalism (ch. 7) Read by Brad Isbell

Interviews

Talks/Lectures

Quotes and Essays

Hart, D. G. “Make war no more? The rise, fall, and resurrection of J. Gresham Machen’s warrior children” in R. Scott Clark and and Joel E Kim, eds. Always Reformed: Essays in Honor of W. Robert Godfrey. Escondido, CA: Westminster Seminary California, 2010.
Noll, Mark. “Machen and Liberalism” in Charles G. Dennison, ed. Pressing Toward the Mark: Essays Commemorating Fifty Years of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Philadelphia: Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1986.
R. Scott Clark, “[Machen On] Salvation” in Tabletalk (February, 2023).
Machen’s Warrior Children, Ed Stetzer, And Beth Moore
Machen: The Revisons of Christianity To “Save” It Actually Destroy It
Machen: Christianity is a doctrine
Machen: Jesus’ Religion And Ours
Machen: Salvation Is By Grace Alone Through Faith Alone
Machen: God Uses Sturdy Contenders For The Faith
Machen: The Regulative Principle Governs The Church
Machen On The Deity Of Christ
Machen Against The Department Of Education
Machen Against Kenosis
Machen: Salvation Through Faith Vs. Salvation Through Love
Machen: Evangelical Is Not Enough
Machen: Christ Is All Or Nothing
Machen: Debate Is Preferable To Breach of Faith And Suppression
Machen On The Uniqueness Of Pastoral Ministry
Can This Really Be True? Another Reason Machen Was Right
Machen: The Key Verse Of Galatians
Machen: Two Reasons For Christians Schools (1933)
Machen: The Gospel Makes Men Love The Law
Machen On Revival And Controversy
Where Machen Last Preached
Carnell’s Ironic Critique Of Machen
Machen On The Present Situation
Machen’s Warning To MDiv Students
Machen: The Good Fight Of Faith
Machen On Jaywalking And Civil Freedom
Machen Was Not Nice: D. G. Hart On Machen And His Warrior Children
Machen On Loving The Congregation
Machen On The Responsibility And Spirituality Of The Institutional Church
The Spirit Of Machen
Machen On Mission
Machen’s Non-Theocratic Case For Blue Laws
Machen: Is There Not Some Place?
A Happy Belated Birthday To Machen
Machen: All Tolerance Is Not Equal
How And Where Machen Spent His Parrothood
Machen On Whether The Gospel Is A Life Or An Announcement
Trueman: Comfort For Machen’s Worrier Children
Machen In 1930 Sounds Like Today
R. Scott Clark, Machen’s Enemies Then And Now And The Myth Of Influence
Machen: We Could Learn From The Lutherans About Church Membership
Machen: Pervasive Unbelief In The PCUSA (1935)
Godfrey: Machen Was Recovering the Reformed Confession
R. Scott Clark, Machen’s Letter To His Mother Or What To Do With Dead Sinners?
R. Scott Clark, Word of the Day: Anachronism
Brad Isbell, Machen Was Worth a Hundred of His Fellows
Brad Isbell, Machen Worked & Played Harder Than You Do
R. Scott Clark, Machen’s Private Racism And Contemporary Public Segregationism
Machen’s Response To The Open Letter
Machen’s Other Opponents: The Moderates
R. Scott Clark, Who Gets To Criticize Machen?
Machen Contra Dispensationalism
Machen: Justification Sola Fide Is The Central Doctrine Of The Christian Faith
Machen’s Antidote To Political Correctness
Swaim: Machen Was Right
1929 Or 2018?
Barry Waugh, The Wonders and Woes of J. Gresham Machen’s Motorcars
R. Scott Clark, Was Machen Gay?—Or, How Not To Do History

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Heidelblog
The Heidelblog has been in publication since 2007. It is devoted to recovering the Reformed confession and to helping others discover Reformed theology, piety, and practice.
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As I’ve commented before, I’m new on the Reformed/Confessional journey. (A year and a half) But, after hearing the boys on Theocast, possibly Horton mention him, and seeing you post about Machen a few times, I was intrigued and bought “Christianity and Liberalism” last fall. As I read that book, I found myself just underlining everything and felt like I was reading so many of the same thoughts that had been stirring up inside me as I looked at modern day evangelicalism and Christianity. Machen’s destruction of the liberal argument in all matters was so refreshing. (I come out of a more Pietistic background.) Machen’s arguments were at times new but also at times the things I had been piecing together and thus strengthened me more and more. Greater still, was that the Gospel shone brighter in Machen’s argument than any sort of liberal or pietistic argument lobbed that way. (In particular his points against moralism, Jesus as example, and how giving up one doctrine leads to falling further and further away from Christianity.) I’m in seminary currently so I have not had time, but I plan on taking in “What Is Faith?” next.

Also of note resource wise, I enjoyed watching a lecture on youtube by an old Undergrad professor of mine, Dr. Steven Nichols whom I had at Lancaster Bible College in PA before he moved on to Reformed Bible College. I wish in undergrad that I had come to know who Machen was sooner so that I could have talked with Dr. Nichols more about him. His lecture he gave talked about Machen’s life a bit overall but also spoke of his character.

As a general question Dr. Clark, if you had to suggest the next book after “What Is Faith” by Machen which way should I go? Machen has become my favorite theologian due to content and zeal that he had. As I continue on, I’m fairly certain I’ll be taking in some biographies on Machen along with his other works. His “active obedience of Christ” quote often comes to mind when needing a reminder that I am Christ’s.

5 comments

Angela Werner
June 11, 2018 @ 4:53 PM

Machen is amazingly contemporary, as is his point that those who come into Reformed churches as pastors and swear to uphold the Confessions, only to teach Liberalism, which is opposite to the Christian faith as defined by the Confessions, or any other doctrine that does not agree with the Confessions, is acting deceitfully.
Thomas Barnes
June 11, 2018 @ 6:11 AM

Thank you for this resource Dr. Clark. I may be sending this link to our congregation.

One quibble: I did not see “Machen’s Enemies Then and Now and the Myth of Influence,” on you list. As it is a favorite of mine, I was wondering if it was left off the list intentionally.
- R. Scott Clark
  June 11, 2018 @ 7:11 AM
  
  Hi Thomas,
  
  Added.
  
  Thanks.
Drew
June 10, 2018 @ 9:07 PM

As I’ve commented before, I’m new on the Reformed/Confessional journey. (A year and a half) But, after hearing the boys on Theocast, possibly Horton mention him, and seeing you post about Machen a few times, I was intrigued and bought “Christianity and Liberalism” last fall. As I read that book, I found myself just underlining everything and felt like I was reading so many of the same thoughts that had been stirring up inside me as I looked at modern day evangelicalism and Christianity. Machen’s destruction of the liberal argument in all matters was so refreshing. (I come out of a more Pietistic background.) Machen’s arguments were at times new but also at times the things I had been piecing together and thus strengthened me more and more. Greater still, was that the Gospel shone brighter in Machen’s argument than any sort of liberal or pietistic argument lobbed that way. (In particular his points against moralism, Jesus as example, and how giving up one doctrine leads to falling further and further away from Christianity.) I’m in seminary currently so I have not had time, but I plan on taking in “What Is Faith?” next.

Also of note resource wise, I enjoyed watching a lecture on youtube by an old Undergrad professor of mine, Dr. Steven Nichols whom I had at Lancaster Bible College in PA before he moved on to Reformed Bible College. I wish in undergrad that I had come to know who Machen was sooner so that I could have talked with Dr. Nichols more about him. His lecture he gave talked about Machen’s life a bit overall but also spoke of his character.

As a general question Dr. Clark, if you had to suggest the next book after “What Is Faith” by Machen which way should I go? Machen has become my favorite theologian due to content and zeal that he had. As I continue on, I’m fairly certain I’ll be taking in some biographies on Machen along with his other works. His “active obedience of Christ” quote often comes to mind when needing a reminder that I am Christ’s.
- Angela Werner
  June 11, 2018 @ 8:47 PM
  
  Drew, we are Christ’s because he has bought us! Once we were slaves of sin, but now we have a new master. Our good works serve Him BECAUSE we belong to Him, not so that we might belong to Him. Christ paid the price of our acceptance with the Father, that is our assurance and incentive to obey. That was Machen’s final comfort, that Christ’s active obedience provided all the righteousness he needed for acceptance with God. You were bought with as price, therefore glorify God with your body, which is His. 1Cor. 6: 19-20

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