Customer Reviews

J. Gresham Machen's The Gospel and the Modern World: And Other Short Writings

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I was introduced to the life and ministry of J. Gresham Machen by the book by David Hart titled Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America, which is an outstanding read, and then again in John Piper's wonderful Book Four of his Swans Are Not Silent series titled Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen. This was the first selection of Machen's own writings that I have read and I was greatly impressed. This short book is comprised of four different selections from Machen: "The Gospel and the Modern World," some selected correspondence between Machen and a student named Harold John Ockenga, a charge delivered to Ockenga's ordination titled "Preaching the Gospel in the Modern World," and a short essay published in McCall's in 1931 titled "Skyscrapers and Cathedrals." Each selection demonstrates Machen's profound understanding of the world around him and the severe implications facing a church that was moving away from the truth of Scripture in an attempt to be relevant and consistent with the world.

As I was reading the first essay, "The Gospel and the Modern World," I couldn't help but think about another profound selection written at the same time - Huxley's Brave New World. Machen's conclusion in this essay is that instead of protecting or expanding liberty, the modern world actually ends up destroying human liberty. In the battle between the natural and the supernatural, Machen recognizes that as the naturalistic worldview prevails, it not only eliminates the supernatural explanation of God, it also eliminates the need for God and the life lived in pursuit of any higher purpose or transcendent calling. While man has succeeded in becoming the master of his own universe, he has also succeeded in destroying any meaning or purpose for his very existence. This thought is probably best summarized in his final essay titled "Skyscrapers and Cathedrals" where he writes about the contrast between the modern builders amazing buildings that can lift the body to great heights in comparison to the medieval cathedrals that we able to uplift the soul of a man.

I have a tremendous appreciation for the life and ministry of Machen - he was a man that stood at the turn of the century and understood the profound changes that were taking root in Europe at the time and he sounded a clarion call to the United States warning us not to follow the folly overseas. But, as we stand here a century later, we realize that we as a nation, with much of the church included, did not heed his warning. I pray that a new generation of Christians will rise and understand the significance of following Christ and the cost that will be required to stand firm on the gospel and I believe that Machen's writings will be an essential element of our return to authentic Christianity if that day, indeed, does come.

Was amazed at how much the world happenings then were the same as today. Man never changes - always trying to say the Bible is irrevelant. I was really saddened when it was removed from the schools in the 60's. Our children are really missing out. Don't make assesrtions about the Bible unless you have read it, searched it, and understood it.