“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun,” wrote King Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes 1:9. This truth applies, especially in the realm of culture and politics. Recently, the Presbyterian Church (USA) announced the closure of the office of Presbyterian World Mission. This will not be the end of missions, but rather a new form of missionary work. Missionaries will now be referred to as Global Ecumenical Advisers. The objective is to “adapt to the changing needs of communities across the world.”
The change from missionaries to Global Ecumenical Advisers is similar to another debate that occurred over 90 years ago within the Presbyterian Church. J. Gresham Machen, who founded Westminster Seminary and who was a leading Presbyterian theologian, was a conservative defender of Biblical truth fought an ongoing battle against “modernism” or liberalism.
In 1932, the Presbyterian Church published “Rethinking Missions,” which according to Stephen J. Nichols, President of Reformation Bible College and Chief Academic Officer for Ligonier Ministries, “advocated a paradigm shift in missions premised on the notion that Christianity is not the exclusively true religion.” Consequently, mission work should be more syncretistic, eschewing imperialistic attitudes about Christianity and proselytizing in favor of more accommodating attitudes toward other religions and their adherents,” wrote Nichols in describing the nature of the report in his biography of Machen.
“In foreign lands, as at home, what the modern Church offers is not Christ but a program. It is not Christianity, but a diluted substitute. If the Church desires to maintain a real missionary enterprise, it must first of all return to the faith,” wrote Machen in 1933.
“Rethinking Missions” is on the same playing field of Global Ecumenical Advisers, and both are examples of liberalism. Al Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Seminary, described this development as “part of a very long story” referring to the debate between liberalism and conservatism. “Exactly what figures such as J. Gresham Machen warned back in the 1920s would happen. It has happened and it didn’t take a long time…,” argues Mohler.
The liberalism or “modernism” that Machen battled was not just against Biblical truth. Machen argues that liberalism was a philosophy that used Christian terminology, but denied fundamental doctrines of the Bible and championed moral relativism.
Liberalism was not just confronting Christianity. The Progressive Movement, which was the main vessel for liberalism, sought to “remake” law, government, and the economy. In the early 20th century, Progressives argued that society was becoming modern, urban, and industrial, and as a result new ideas were needed in order to govern society.
From a legal perspective, Progressives believed that the Constitution was a “living” document, which evolved with society. Progressives also argued that limited government was obsolete, and the federal government had to assume greater authority to regulate the economy to provide both economic security and as President Theodore Roosevelt would say, a “Square Deal” for the American people.
Machen was a leading New Testament and apologetics scholar and published several books and articles. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and Nobel laureate Pearl S. Buck said of him,
The man was admirable. He never gave in one inch to anyone. He never bowed his head. It was not in him to trim or compromise, to accept any peace that was less than triumph. He was a glorious enemy because he was completely open and direct in his angers and hatreds. He stood for something and everyone knew what it was.
In 1923 the publication of his Christianity & Liberalism, became a defining moment. It was an indictment against liberalism and a defense of Biblical Christianity.
For Machen, liberalism was a direct attack on Biblical truth. His battles with liberalism resulted in ending his teaching career at Princeton University and founding Westminster Theological Seminary. Later, it was his opposition to the “Rethinking Missions” changes that resulted in him being excommunicated from the Presbyterian Church. He then founded the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
Machen separated faith and politics. Politically, he was a libertarian. He was critical of President Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy, and he would be described today as a “non-interventionist.” Machen supported a limited government and was critical of Prohibition, which was not a popular position with some of his colleagues.
He also opposed efforts to create a federal department of education, believing that education was a family issue that was best determined by parents and not the government. In testimony to Congress, he said,
Place the lives of children in their formative years, despite the convictions of their parents, under the intimate control of experts appointed by the state, force them to attend schools where the higher aspirations of humanity are crushed out, and where the mind is filled with the materialism of the day, and it is difficult to see how even the remnants of liberty can subsist.
Primarily, Machen was concerned with Biblical truth being taught and proclaimed by the Presbyterian Church. “Machen believed that the church’s primary task was to proclaim the gospel, and that this task required careful attention to theology,” noted social historian D.G. Hart. He was, in many ways, a Presbyterian Martin Luther — a man who boldly challenged the intellectual corruption of the very church that had become a central part of his own life.
Machen has been described as the “leader of the conservative movement in Presbyterianism.” Christianity & Liberalism is just as relevant today as it was in 1923. He exhibited a remarkable degree of courage and logical consistency that we wish were far more common within Christian leadership. His convictions were deep and thoroughly reasoned. He expressed them in the face of powerful opposition. When he hit a brick wall, he didn’t retreat to his sitting room; instead, he created opposing and influential institutions. He saw liberty as God’s intention for humanity and would not abide the presumptuous claims of earthly governments to diminish it for our own good. This was a man confidently, persuasively, and fearlessly principled.
On New Year’s Day, 1937, Machen died from pneumonia in a hospital in Bismark, North Dakota after traveling to preach and serve in Presbyterian churches. He was only 55 years of age.
Machen did not compromise, and this is a reminder that the fight for truth is both important and eternal.
Lawrence W. Reed is president emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education in Atlanta, Georgia. John Hendrickson is Policy Director for the Iowans Tax Relief Foundation.
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