Carl F. H. Henry (1913-2003), "A Centennial Celebration," September 26, 2013

"If we see Billy Graham as the great public face and generous spirit of the evangelical movement, Carl F. H. Henry was the brains." So wrote David Neff, the editor of Christianity Today, an American national magazine founded by Graham and Henry in 1956.

The year 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the most important 20th-century theologians and leaders within Protestant Evangelicalism. Dr. Henry was born on January 22, 1913, to German immigrants who settled on Long Island in New York.

Carl F. H. Henry (1913-2003): A Centennial Celebration

A Centennial Celebration. Louisville, Kentucky.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

In honor of the anniversary, I had the privilege of attending the one-day conference, "Carl F. H. Henry: A Centennial Celebration" on September 26, 2013. 

With about 100 in attendance, including some relatives of the late Dr. Henry, the conference took place at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. (To my delight, SBTS is located just four miles from my new home and ministry base [June 2013- ] in Louisville, Kentucky-- Immanuel Baptist Church.)

All 5 speakers (Paul House, R. Albert Mohler Jr., Richard Mouw, Greg Alan Thornbury and John Woodbridge) and 4 discussion panelists (David Dockery, Mark Galli, Timothy George and Russell D. Moore) knew or had at least met Dr. Henry. So personal reminisces were interspersed throughout the academic conference, making the event quite insightful and enjoyable.

For a full, post-conference report by SBTS' Towers magazine, see here.

To watch Dr. Mouw's opening 45-minute message during the SBTS morning chapel hour, click here.

To watch the 32-minute panel discussion, with Dr. Mohler as the moderator, see here.

And here is Dr. Mohler's 51-minute talk entitled "The Indispensable Evangelical: Carl F. H. Henry and Evangelical Ambition in the Twentieth Century":

Carl F. H. Henry Centennial Celebration: Session 3 with Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. 

from Southern Seminary on Vimeo.

Among the highlights from the "theologian's play day" (so Dr. Mohler, SBTS President) was a free photocopy for conference attendees of the first-ever issue of Christianity Today (vol. 1, no. 1, October 15, 1956). From 1956-68, Dr. Henry served as the magazine's founding editor.

By Greg Alan Thornbury. 2013.

Also, the lecture from the new president (2013) of The King's College (Manhattan, New York City) and author of Recovering Classic Evangelicalism: Applying the Wisdom and Vision of Carl F. H. Henry (Crossway, 2013), Greg Alan Thornbury, was a real treat. Dr. Thornbury is the son of John F. Thornbury, a longtime pastor (1965-2009) of Winfield Baptist Church in central Pennsylvania.

The now semi-retired Dr. J. F. Thornbury wrote the Foreword to my An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor [1801-1829], Forgotten Evangelist in America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, 2007).


Dr. Henry: Online Resources

For an introduction to Carl F. H. Henry, here are 7 online resources that UCM hopes will prove helpful.

+ Biography by Bruce J. Evensen via American National Biography Online

+ "Happy 100th Birthday, Carl F. H. Henry"
(blog entry by Justin Taylor, January 22, 2013)

+ "Rev. Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, 90, Brain of Evangelical Movement"
(obituary by Laurie Goodstein, New York Times, December 13, 2003 . . . see here for other obituary notices)

+ "Papers of Carl F. H. Henry - Collection 628"
(stored at the Billy Graham Center Archives at Illinois' Wheaton College . . . provides a detailed biographical summary of Dr. Henry's life and ministry)

+ Wikipedia article on Dr. Henry

+ Various articles in Christianity Today, 2003-10

+ Henry Center for Theological Understanding (Deerfield, Illinois)

Henry Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS).
Deerfield, Illinois, USA.

Conference (Henry Center)
October 11, 2013
"Remembering Carl Henry:
Evangelicalism Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow."

"Essays to Do Good" by Cotton Mather . . . James Brainerd Taylor, do-gooder for God . . . Galatians 6:10

As I plod away at reading some of the influential 16th- to 19th-century books in the life of the American evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829), the latest one was Essays To Do Good: addressed to all Christians, whether in public or private capacities (abridged title).
It was written by the prominent New England Puritan, Cotton Mather (1663-1728).

Among the 17 editions that appeared between 1800 and 1840, the 1816 "new and improved" London edition by editor George Burder is available online and for free at Google Books. It is a manageable and spiritually challenging 172 pages. (Burder's 1826 edition is also available at Google Books.)

Written in 1710, Essays To Do Good was popular among American and British Christians up to the mid-1800's. Harvard historian Perry Miller (1905-1963) considered it one of the most important books of the early eighteenth century.

The work even had a shaping influence on the non-Christian (Deist) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). The famed American diplomat-statesman-scientist read the work when eleven years old. At sixteen, he borrowed from the book's theme when he pretended to be a middle-aged widow named Silence Dogood. The fourteen satirical letters from his pseudonym Silence Dogood were published in the New England Courant from April to October 1722.

Here are some quotes from Essays To Do Good. All page numbers are from the 1816 edited edition by Burder.

+ A power and an opportunity to do good, not only gives a right to the doing of it, but makes the doing of it a duty.  (pp. vi, 4)

+ The firstborn of all devices to do good is in being born again [John 3:3,7; 1 Peter 1:23].  (p. 22)

+ Without abridging yourselves of your occasional thoughts on the question, 'What good may I do today?', fix a time, now and then, for more deliberate thoughts upon it. Cannot you find time (say, once a week and how suitably on the Lord's Day/Sunday) to take this question into consideration, 'What is there that I may do for the service of the glorious Lord, and for the welfare of those for whom I ought to be concerned?'  (p. 35) 

+ Those who devote themselves to good devices [works], and who duly observe their opportunities to do good, usually find a wonderful increase of their opportunities. The gracious providence of God affords this recompense to his diligent servants, that he will multiply their opportunities of being serviceable.  (p. 36) 

+ What I aim at is this: Let us try to do good with as much application of mind as wicked men employ in doing evil. When 'wickedness proceeds from the wicked [1 Samuel 24:13], it is done with both hands and greedily.' Why then may not we proceed in our useful engagements 'with both hands,' and 'greedily' watching for opportunities. . . . 'If you will not learn of good men, for shame, learn of the devil; he is never idle' (Hugh Latimer).  (p. 27) 

+ A workless faith is a worthless faith. (p.31)

+ Let no man pretend to the name of a Christian who does not approve the proposal of a perpetual endeavor to do good in the world. What pretension can such a man have to be a follower of the Good One?  (p. 18) 

+ Protestants, will you be out-done by Popish idolaters? O the vast pains which those [Roman Catholic] bigots have taken to carry on the Romish merchandise and idolatry!  (p. 155) 

+ 'Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience.' . . . 'A good action is its own reward.' Indeed, the pleasure that is experienced in the performance of good actions is inexpressible, is unparalleled, is angelical; it is a most refined pleasure, more to be envied than any sensual gratification. Pleasure was long since defined, 'The result of some excellent action.' This pleasure is a sort of holy luxury. Most pitiable are they who will continue strangers to it!  (p. 170)

With an emphasis on self-denial, "Up and be doing" as a life maxim, and Galatians 6:10 as an oft-repeated Bible verse in James Brainerd Taylor's journal and letters, it is easy to see the impact that Essays To Do Good had on the "uncommon" Christian.

On June 19, 1820, the then 19-year-old Taylor wrote from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, to one of his sisters:

'To do good and communicate forget not' [Hebrews 13:16] is a maxim which we should keep in continual remembrance. The more we conform our lives to it, the greater will be our resemblance to our blessed Savior as he lived among men [Acts 10:38]. To do good, we must seek opportunities; and then opportunities will frequently find us. 

Since reading Cotton Mather's 'Essays To Do Good,' I feel that I have been exceedingly deficient. In looking back to the time when I first made a public profession of religion [September 15, 1816] . . . I am constrained to say, O what a barren fig-tree I have been [Luke 13:6-9]! My leanness! My leanness! But blessed be the Lord, I have a desire to do good now. 

*From John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice, Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Stereotype Edition [New York: American Tract Society, 1833], 45-46.

In my estimation, Galatians 6:10 could really be used to summarize the Second Great Awakening that Taylor participated in. The verse reads:

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Because of the multitude of domestic and foreign Evangelical Protestant ministries that were established during the early 19th-century spiritual revival, this formative period of American history has been dubbed by some scholars as the Evangelical Empire and the Benevolent Empire. There was a great balance of the integration of faith and good works (Ephesians 2:8-10), with the student-evangelist J. B. Taylor being one of many examples that could be given.

Today's church in Mather and Taylor's native U.S. could learn much from Essays To Do Good. May we be striving uncommon Christians, "zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14) in response to our being justified by faith in Christ.

40th birthday . . . "40" in the Bible . . . celebrating with Sar-El (Volunteers For Israel) on IDF Army base

Today I celebrate my 40th birthday. I was born in the U.S. on Tuesday, May 18, 1971.

Amazing and hard to believe in light of the first 21.5 years (1971 - October 1992) that were filled with deep spiritual darkness, hopelessness and despair.

Along with King David after the Lord made a historic covenant with him, so with similar conviction I say,

Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house/family, that You have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in your sight, O God.
2 Samuel 7:18-19 (also 1 Chronicles 17:16-17)

While I do not believe in biblical numerology or gematria, nonetheless some major events in the Bible occurred in 40 days, 40 weeks and 40 years. The list includes the Israelites' 40 years of wandering in the desert and the Lord Jesus Christ's 40 days of fasting while being tempted by the devil and prior to beginning his public ministry. For some of the many occurrences of the number 40 in the Bible, click here and here.

Please join with me in praying for Divine guidance as this striving uncommon Christian begins a 5th decade of living today. After a 25-month sabbatical/pilgrimage/ministry venture in Israel (May 8, 2009 - July 5, 2011), I return to my native United States in early July.

As I "number my days" that I may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:2), I do so with eager anticipation and expectation as I discover/learn for the first time what the Sovereign Lord has already decreed from "before time began" (in eternity past, Titus 1:2; cf. Psalm 5:3, Psalm 139:16). Concerning my near and distant future, what I know not now I shall know hereafter/later (John 13:7).

I will be celebrating my 40th birthday by doing a third "tour of duty" with Sar-El: The National Project for Volunteers For Israel.

The first two "tours" were in May 2009 (3 weeks) and February 2011 (2 weeks) on a base in northern Israel on the Lebanon border. This "tour of duty" (3 weeks) will be on a base in the Negev desert near Beersheba and about 15 miles from the Gaza Strip. Next month (June 2011), I plan to do a fourth and final "tour of duty" (2 weeks) on a base in northern Israel near Nazareth and Tiberias.

An affiliate of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Sar-El volunteers do non-combat civilian ("jobnik") work on an IDF base alongside and under the direction of the soldiers.

The 5-day, 40-hour work week (Sunday-Thursday) is mainly in the logistical, maintaining, catering, supply and medical services. 

In the evenings, there are various activities and educational presentations on such topics as the Hebrew language, Israel's history, Jewish holidays and traditions, and social and political issues in Israel.‏ Also, there are two Sar-El sponsored site-seeing trips for every 3-week program.

Since its beginning in 1982 (during the First Lebanon War [Operation Peace for the Galilee]) and through the end of 2010, over 125,000 international volunteers have participated with Sar-El. Last year (2010), 3,367 volunteered, with the most being from France (1,098) and the U.S. (1,045), and with 559 being non-Jewish (mostly Evangelical Protestant Christians), and with most being under the age of 25 (1,655).

Volunteers For Israel is the U.S.-based non-profit organization responsible for recruiting Americans to Sar-El. VFI seeks to "promote solidarity and goodwill among Israelis, American Jews and other friends of Israel."

While most of my pacifist and Christian pacifist (anti-war, anti-violence) friends may not agree with my non-combat military and political involvement with Israel, I politely remind them that members of the Islamic terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah are not very nice people. Israel is not a perfect democracy, but it is the only one in the Middle East and a "work in progress." With the continuance of anti-Semitism in the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere, I believe Israel has the right to exist and defend itself against her enemies.

Also, my love does not discriminate between Jew and Arab (of whom I have friends on both sides), for both need to hear and respond by faith to the "gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24) as it is found in the Messiah for both Jews and Gentiles, the Lord Jesus Christ:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek/Gentile. Romans 1:16

Cretans and Arabs--we hear them speaking [on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended] in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. Acts 2:11

Via YouTube and produced by the IDF Film Unit, here is a 5-minute video about Sar-El:

Christ at the Checkpoint . . . conference in Bethlehem, Palestine (West Bank) . . . thoughts and reflections, eternity and social justice

From March 12-17, 2010, Bethlehem Bible College (est. 1979) in Palestine/West Bank sponsored its inaugural conference devoted to theology and social justice.

I was able to attend the last 3 days of the conference. (The follow-up/second conference is scheduled for March 5-9, 2012.)

With its title being "Christ at the Checkpoint: Theology in the Service of Peace and Justice" (also "Theology of the Land"), the international conference sought "to equip the global church to understand Scripture as it relates to the Palestinian context, and to discuss the theological importance of peace and justice in an evangelical context."

Held at Bethlehem's Intercontinental Hotel (Jacir Palace), BBC's hope was "to provide a forum for evangelicals who take the Bible seriously to prayerfully seek a well-informed awareness of issues of peace, justice and reconciliation which are contextually sensitive as well profound to scriptural scholarship."

Over 15 speakers from the U.K., U.S. and Palestine/West Bank delivered lectures to the over 400 in attendance.

While most all of the speakers were from the political, social and theological left (liberal/progressive), the conference did invite two well-known conservative evangelical scholars (both whom I highly respect) to give opposing views, and especially concerning the role of ethnic and national Israel in regard to the "Promised Land"/"Holy Land" and the end times (eschatology).
--> For the full list of speakers, click here. For the lectures (downloadable in PDF format) and conference schedule, click here and here.

Though he was not able to be present in-person but only via a taped video, Systematic Theology scholar John S. Fienberg of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Illinios) gave a lecture entitled, "Must Dispensationalists Support the State of Israel--No Matter What?" And New Testament scholar Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary (Texas) spoke on "The Land in Light of the Reconciliation in Christ: A Dispensational View."

Other aspects of the unique conference featured such things as the following:

+ cultural night consisting of a traditional Palestinian dinner and a Palestinian youth and young adult dance by Diyar Dance Theater group at Dar Annadwa (International Center of Bethlehem), adjacent to the Evangelical Christmas Lutheran Church; the dance depicted the struggle between Palestinians and Israelis;

+ newly released film "With God on Our Side" by director Porter Speakman Jr. which takes a look at the theology of Christian Zionism and its emphasis on the divine right of the Jewish people concerning the land of Israel (title inspired by Joshua 5:13-14a); the film seeks to demonstrate "that there is a biblical alternative for [liberal/progressive] Christians who want to love and support the people of Israel, a theology that doesn't favor one people group over another but instead promotes peace and reconciliation for both Jews and Palestinians;"
--> UPDATE: For a review, see Gerald McDermott's Jan. 18, 2011, review on the Christianity Today Entertainment Blog, "A one-sided attack on Zionism: The many problems with the documentary 'With God on Our Side'"

+ visit to the Jewish settlement of Efrat (est. 1983) in the West Bank which included a Question and Answer session with three of the settlers;

Aida Refuge Camp, West Bank

+ trip to and video about the United Nations-sponsored Aida Refugee Camp (est. 1950) adjacent to Bethlehem (see above photo of Aida's key-shaped entrance, based upon the Palestinian Right of Return as stated in U.N. Resolution 194 from 1948); the camp's adjacent Israeli-West Bank security barrier/wall stands in stark contrast to the now no longer Berlin Wall (1961-89) in Germany that I visited last month;

+ surprise visit and talk by Salam Fayyad, the Prime Minister of the Palestine National Authority (click here to read about the visit); and

+ written draft of the Bethlehem Evangelical Affirmation.

According to a World Vision press release after the conference (click here),

The population of Palestinian Christians in the occupied Palestinian territories currently stands at about 51,710 or approximately 1.37 percent of the Palestinian population. Numbers have been declining for the past century, especially since the early 1990s because of lack of freedom and security for Palestinian Christian families, as well as political instability in the region.

Thoughts & Reflections

While the conference did provide increased insight, understanding and compassion towards the plight of the oppressed and minority-within-the-minority-within-the-minority Palestinian Evangelical Protestant Christians--minority compared to Israeli Jews and West Bank Muslims and West Bank Roman Catholics and Mainline Protestants--I pray the believers in Bethlehem and the entire West Bank will not lose sight of the spiritual and eternal welfare of the lost/unsaved people around them as they fight for their political rights and social justice.

"Christ is the Checkpoint" (not "at the Checkpoint") would also have been an appropriate title for such a conference, for one day all, including Jews and Arabs,

must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2 Corinithians 5:10

May Evangelical Christians--and especially all aspiring "uncommon Christians"--throughout the globe have a proper balance and avoid extremes when it comes to being concerned about peoples' eternal and temporal welfare. May we be pro-Christ rather than pro-Israel or pro-Palestine or pro-whatever.

While I do what I can by God's grace and within my sphere of influence regarding my three main social justice concerns--namely, racial equality, religious freedom for all and peace in the Middle East--I want my social activism to be based upon the theological truth that all are made in God's image (Genesis 1:26-27) and thus deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. At the same time, I do not want to lose sight that each one of us will, upon death, either go to a sinless and Christ-exalting heaven or a miserable and Christless hell.

Therefore, we need to intentionally and lovingly tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ with our lips (verbally) along with our actions/good deeds.

Whoever believes in the Son [the Lord Jesus Christ] has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.
John 3:36

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28:16-20 (The Great Commission)