Liberalism in Hindsight
Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism Then & Now
Reading J. Gresham Machen’s justly famous Christianity and Liberalism one hundred years after it was originally written is eye-opening. Not only does it open up a window into the sometimes forgotten Fundamentalist-Modernist debates of the early twentieth century, but it also reads like a jeremiad, a prophetic glimpse into our own cultural quagmires.
Machen’s deep concern about, and repudiation of, the liberal Christianity of 1923 is eerily prescient, seeing that so many of his concerns are all the more relevant in 2023. Much like re-reading George Orwell’s 1984 or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, reading Christianity and Liberalism alerts us to troubling historical trends that too many have taken too lightly. The heterodox and sometimes heretical liberalism of Machen’s day has become even more strident and prevalent in our own. Theology is not exempt from the truism that hindsight is 20/20.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Marcus Johnson (Ph.D., St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto) is associate rector at St. Mark’s Church, Geneva, Illinois, and professor of theology at Moody Bible Institute. His books include One with Christ; The Incarnation of God; and, with John C. Clark, A Call to Christian Formation.
subscription options
Order
Print/Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Order
Online Only
Subscription
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on liberalism from the online archives
17.4—May 2004
The Unhappy & Abusive Marriage of Liberalism & Modernism by James Hitchcock
more from the online archives
28.2—March/April 2015
Neo-Pagan Family Policies Doom Any Recovery by Allan C. Carlson
37.5—Sept/Oct 2024
An Abandoned Ruling Principle & How to Get It Back by Adam MacLeod
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
