Edward John Carnell
Encyclopedia
Edward John Carnell was a prominent Christian theologian and apologist, was an ordained Baptist
pastor, and served as President of Fuller Theological Seminary
in Pasadena, California. He was the author of nine major books, several of which attempted to develop a fresh outlook in Christian apologetics
. He also wrote essays that were published in several other books, and was a contributor of articles to periodicals such as The Christian Century
and Christianity Today
.
on June 28, 1919, and was the third of four children born to Herbert Carnell and Fannie Carstens. He was married to Shirley Rowe, a school teacher from Wisconsin.
, Illinois, where he majored in philosophy
and received his B.A. degree. His philosophical mentor at Wheaton was the Calvinist
apologist
Gordon Clark
. Carnell then commenced theological studies at Westminster Theological Seminary
where he was awarded the Th.B and Th.M degrees. John Murray
and Cornelius Van Til
were two of his lecturers who influenced him greatly. He then proceeded to doctoral studies in history and the philosophy of religion at Harvard Divinity School
. During his candidacy at Harvard, Carnell also enrolled as a doctoral candidate in philosophy at Boston University
under the tutelage of Edgar S. Brightman
. Carnell's theological dissertation at Harvard was on Reinhold Niebuhr
, while his philosophical dissertation at Boston was on Søren Kierkegaard
.
Book Award. Carnell's manuscript won the five thousand dollar prize, which in 1948 was a considerable sum of money. It was hailed in Evangelical circles as a masterly new work in apologetics, and established a reputation for Carnell as a brilliant young and rising theologian.
The book, which was released as An Introduction to Christian Apologetics, reflected the apologetic influences of his mentors Gordon Clark
and Cornelius Van Til
, and also the philosophical influence of Edgar Sheffield Brightman. In the book he sought to show that Christian faith was systematically logical, factual and rationally satisfying as it best fitted the facts as an explanation for the human condition. His apologetic gambits dealt with topics such as Biblical criticism, the problem of miracles, evolution, and the existential problem of soul-sorrow in an effort to show that Christianity offers a coherent view of reality.
In many respects his apologetic approach represented an attempt at combining the deductive rationalist and presuppositionalist methods of Clark and Van Til, with a test for truth he called "systematic consistency". Later analysts of Evangelical apologetics have dubbed his apologetic method as either a "combinationalist" or "verificational" approach. Irving Hexham
has noted in his survey of apologetic responses to New Age spirituality that Carnell's approach had some influence on the way in which Francis Schaeffer
developed his apologetic writings. Hexham states, "Another source for Schaeffer's ideas was the evangelical philosopher E. J. Carnell, although Schaeffer was reluctant to admit this unless directly asked." (Hexham, "The Evangelical Response to the New Age" in Perspectives on the New Age, edited by James Lewis & J. G. Melton, p. 322).
Carnell's second apologetic text, A Philosophy of the Christian Religion, explored questions of value that are personally and existentially satisfying. This study is technically known as axiology
.
Two further apologetic works Christian Commitment and The Kingdom of Love and the Pride of Life delved into subjective issues of introspective meaning. Both texts reflected his deep study and appreciation of the work of Søren Kierkegaard
. Carnell emphasised the meaning of authentic discipleship and commitment to the way of Christ as grounded in God's love.
After graduating from Harvard, Carnell joined the faculty of the recently founded Fuller Seminary. Carnell was attracted to this seminary as it was part of an emerging movement of reform within Protestant Fundamentalism
. The background to this new movement of reform lies in the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century.
and Evangelical Christianity. The tensions between these two camps arose over developments in Enlightenment
based philosophy where theistic or supernatural explanations of reality were brought into question.
The questioning of theism
was not confined to abstract concens in philosophy, but also developed as modern historical consciousness dawned. This new historical consciousness was presaged in the seventeenth century controversies of Deism
where Biblical miracles, and especially Christ's resurrection, were called into doubt. Alongside the debates about miracles came new conjectures about the authorship of the Biblical books, and investigations into possible sub-documents and written sources undergirding the present biblical texts.
A further element of controversy for Christians at that time arose in the wake of the theory of evolution as propounded in 1859 by Charles Darwin
. The Genesis narratives of the creation and Noah's Flood were brought into doubt, and the science versus religion debates accelerated.
Those in the Liberal camp sought to reconcile their faith and theology in light of the modern historical consciousness and evolutionary thought. Some within the Liberal camp began to redefine the message of Christ in light of socialist criticism, and the Social Gospel developed in the popular writings of Charles Sheldon
(the inventor of the "What Would Jesus Do" slogan) and in the theological writings of Walter Rauschenbusch
.
Those in the Evangelical camp began to argue that the Liberals were engaged in a massive compromise, if not betrayal, of the central tenets of Christianity. Many of the nineteenth century Evangelicals had prized higher learning, cultural engagement, and pursued matters of social justice and reform (like anti-vivisection, anti-slavery, prison reform). However, as the gospel message of the Liberals was perceived to be largely about social reform and not about personal repentance from sin, the suspicions between the two camps widened.
In 1915 a multi-volume work called The Fundamentals
was published, which comprised a variety of tracts that reasserted traditional Christian teachings and challenged modern skeptical thinking and Liberal Christian ideas. It is from these volumes that the subsequent label of fundamentalist was coined in the 1920s and in the wake of the famous Scopes trial
on the teaching of evolution.
was formed with the agenda of reforming society. Some of the emerging leaders of this movement, which came to be dubbed "Neo-Evangelical" included Carl F. H. Henry
, Harold Ockenga
and Billy Graham
. These men were convinced that a two-pronged approach to societal transformation was possible. One approach was to reengage the academy bringing a distinctly Christian worldview to bear on disciplines such as history, philosophy, science, literature, art and law. The other approach involved itinerant evangelistic preachers proclaiming the message at the grass roots level of society.
As the Neo-Evangelical leaders pushed towards these goals, a division occurred between them and their more conservative and sometimes militant colleagues who continued to pursue the cause of fundamentalism.
As part of his contribution to challenging the culture of fundamentalism, Carnell confronted the issue initially by dealing with the advent of television. Some fundamentalists feared that television was a device in the hands of the devil. In his book Television: Servant or Master? Carnell dealt with some of the issues concerning modern communication systems, the use of technology in the promotion of the Christian message, and engaging with wider cultural concerns. Carnell scorned the anti-intellectual tendencies in fundamentalism, and attacked its legalistic and negative mentality about culture.
In 1957 Carnell was appointed the President of Fuller Seminary. As some of the Neo-Evangelicals, like Carl Henry and Harold Ockenga, had been instrumental in establishing the seminary, Carnell's rising profile as an apologist, theologian, and now seminary professor, catapulted him into the spotlight.
In his book The Case for Orthodox Theology Carnell sought to separate the Neo-Evangelicals from the fundamentalists by arguing that a Reformed Orthodox theology was considerably different from fundamentalism. He attacked the legalism and hypocrisy he saw in fundamentalism and argued that it was "orthodoxy gone cultic". He highlighted what he saw as critical deficiencies in fundamentalist thought and practice. As a result of his published diatribe Carnell became the object of much criticism from fundamentalist preachers.
Carnell's personal life was not without difficulties as he suffered from depression and insomnia, and received psychiatric treatment including electro-convulsive therapy. His treatment included doses of barbiturates, and he died in 1967 from a drug overdose. The cause of his death has been the subject of much conjecture as the coronial finding was unable to determine whether the dose was accidental or not.
Carnell's legacy, however, is generally regarded as a positive contribution to the re-emergence of Evangelicals in scholarly pursuits. His apologetic contributions influenced the post-World War Two generation of evangelicals, and emphasized the importance of the gospel and culture. He was greatly admired by his students at Fuller Seminary.
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
pastor, and served as President of Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary is an accredited Christian educational institute with its main campus in Pasadena, California and several satellite campuses in the western United States...
in Pasadena, California. He was the author of nine major books, several of which attempted to develop a fresh outlook in Christian apologetics
Apologetics
Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers...
. He also wrote essays that were published in several other books, and was a contributor of articles to periodicals such as The Christian Century
The Christian Century
The Christian Century is a Christian magazine based in Chicago, Illinois. Considered the flagship magazine of U.S. mainline Protestantism, the biweekly reports on religious news; comments on theological, moral, and cultural issues; and reviews books, movies, and music...
and Christianity Today
Christianity Today
Christianity Today is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming circulation figures of 140,000 and readership of 290,000...
.
Family
Carnell was born in Antigo, WisconsinAntigo, Wisconsin
Antigo is a city in and the county seat of Langlade County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 8,560 at the 2000 census. Antigo is the center of a farming and lumbering district, and its manufactures consist principally of lumber, chairs, furniture, sashes, doors and blinds, hubs and...
on June 28, 1919, and was the third of four children born to Herbert Carnell and Fannie Carstens. He was married to Shirley Rowe, a school teacher from Wisconsin.
Education
Carnell began his tertiary education at Wheaton CollegeWheaton College (Illinois)
Wheaton College is a private, evangelical Protestant liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago in the United States...
, Illinois, where he majored in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and received his B.A. degree. His philosophical mentor at Wheaton was the Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
apologist
Apologetics
Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers...
Gordon Clark
Gordon Clark
Gordon Haddon Clark was an American philosopher and Calvinist theologian. He was a primary advocate for the idea of presuppositional apologetics and was chairman of the Philosophy Department at Butler University for 28 years...
. Carnell then commenced theological studies at Westminster Theological Seminary
Westminster Theological Seminary
Westminster Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian and Reformed Christian graduate educational institution located in Glenside, Pennsylvania, with a satellite location in London.-History:...
where he was awarded the Th.B and Th.M degrees. John Murray
John Murray (theologian)
John Murray was a Scottish-born Calvinist theologian who taught at Princeton Seminary and then left to help found Westminster Theological Seminary, where he taught for many years.-Life:...
and Cornelius Van Til
Cornelius Van Til
Cornelius Van Til , born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theologian, and presuppositional apologist.-Biography:...
were two of his lecturers who influenced him greatly. He then proceeded to doctoral studies in history and the philosophy of religion at Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public...
. During his candidacy at Harvard, Carnell also enrolled as a doctoral candidate in philosophy at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
under the tutelage of Edgar S. Brightman
Edgar S. Brightman
Edgar Sheffield Brightman was a philosopher and Christian theologian in the Methodist tradition, associated with Boston University and liberal theology, and promulgated the philosophy known as Boston personalism....
. Carnell's theological dissertation at Harvard was on Reinhold Niebuhr
Reinhold Niebuhr
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...
, while his philosophical dissertation at Boston was on Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel...
.
Apologetic writings
During the period of his doctoral studies, Carnell composed a work in Christian apologetics that he submitted to William Eerdmans in a competition for the EvangelicalEvangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Book Award. Carnell's manuscript won the five thousand dollar prize, which in 1948 was a considerable sum of money. It was hailed in Evangelical circles as a masterly new work in apologetics, and established a reputation for Carnell as a brilliant young and rising theologian.
The book, which was released as An Introduction to Christian Apologetics, reflected the apologetic influences of his mentors Gordon Clark
Gordon Clark
Gordon Haddon Clark was an American philosopher and Calvinist theologian. He was a primary advocate for the idea of presuppositional apologetics and was chairman of the Philosophy Department at Butler University for 28 years...
and Cornelius Van Til
Cornelius Van Til
Cornelius Van Til , born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theologian, and presuppositional apologist.-Biography:...
, and also the philosophical influence of Edgar Sheffield Brightman. In the book he sought to show that Christian faith was systematically logical, factual and rationally satisfying as it best fitted the facts as an explanation for the human condition. His apologetic gambits dealt with topics such as Biblical criticism, the problem of miracles, evolution, and the existential problem of soul-sorrow in an effort to show that Christianity offers a coherent view of reality.
In many respects his apologetic approach represented an attempt at combining the deductive rationalist and presuppositionalist methods of Clark and Van Til, with a test for truth he called "systematic consistency". Later analysts of Evangelical apologetics have dubbed his apologetic method as either a "combinationalist" or "verificational" approach. Irving Hexham
Irving Hexham
Irving Hexham is a Canadian academic and writer who has published twenty-three books and numerous articles, chapters, and book reviews in respected academic journals. Currently, he is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, married to Dr...
has noted in his survey of apologetic responses to New Age spirituality that Carnell's approach had some influence on the way in which Francis Schaeffer
Francis Schaeffer
Francis August Schaeffer was an American Evangelical Christian theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He is most famous for his writings and his establishment of the L'Abri community in Switzerland...
developed his apologetic writings. Hexham states, "Another source for Schaeffer's ideas was the evangelical philosopher E. J. Carnell, although Schaeffer was reluctant to admit this unless directly asked." (Hexham, "The Evangelical Response to the New Age" in Perspectives on the New Age, edited by James Lewis & J. G. Melton, p. 322).
Carnell's second apologetic text, A Philosophy of the Christian Religion, explored questions of value that are personally and existentially satisfying. This study is technically known as axiology
Axiology
Axiology is the philosophical study of value. It is either the collective term for ethics and aesthetics—philosophical fields that depend crucially on notions of value—or the foundation for these fields, and thus similar to value theory and meta-ethics...
.
Two further apologetic works Christian Commitment and The Kingdom of Love and the Pride of Life delved into subjective issues of introspective meaning. Both texts reflected his deep study and appreciation of the work of Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel...
. Carnell emphasised the meaning of authentic discipleship and commitment to the way of Christ as grounded in God's love.
After graduating from Harvard, Carnell joined the faculty of the recently founded Fuller Seminary. Carnell was attracted to this seminary as it was part of an emerging movement of reform within Protestant Fundamentalism
Fundamentalist Christianity
Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
. The background to this new movement of reform lies in the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century.
Fundamentalist-Liberal controversies
In the nineteenth century Evangelicalism had been the major expression of Protestant theology and church life in North America. Towards the end of that century a major division occurred in Protestant thought in Europe, England and America that transcended denominational affiliations. The division comprised two broad camps: Liberal ChristianityLiberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
and Evangelical Christianity. The tensions between these two camps arose over developments in Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
based philosophy where theistic or supernatural explanations of reality were brought into question.
The questioning of theism
Theism
Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists.In a more specific sense, theism refers to a doctrine concerning the nature of a monotheistic God and God's relationship to the universe....
was not confined to abstract concens in philosophy, but also developed as modern historical consciousness dawned. This new historical consciousness was presaged in the seventeenth century controversies of Deism
Deism
Deism in religious philosophy is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that the universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the...
where Biblical miracles, and especially Christ's resurrection, were called into doubt. Alongside the debates about miracles came new conjectures about the authorship of the Biblical books, and investigations into possible sub-documents and written sources undergirding the present biblical texts.
A further element of controversy for Christians at that time arose in the wake of the theory of evolution as propounded in 1859 by Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
. The Genesis narratives of the creation and Noah's Flood were brought into doubt, and the science versus religion debates accelerated.
Those in the Liberal camp sought to reconcile their faith and theology in light of the modern historical consciousness and evolutionary thought. Some within the Liberal camp began to redefine the message of Christ in light of socialist criticism, and the Social Gospel developed in the popular writings of Charles Sheldon
Charles Sheldon
Charles Monroe Sheldon was an American minister in the Congregational churches and leader of the Social Gospel movement...
(the inventor of the "What Would Jesus Do" slogan) and in the theological writings of Walter Rauschenbusch
Walter Rauschenbusch
Walter Rauschenbusch was a Christian theologian and Baptist minister. He was a key figure in the Social Gospel movement in the United States of America.-Evolution of Thought:...
.
Those in the Evangelical camp began to argue that the Liberals were engaged in a massive compromise, if not betrayal, of the central tenets of Christianity. Many of the nineteenth century Evangelicals had prized higher learning, cultural engagement, and pursued matters of social justice and reform (like anti-vivisection, anti-slavery, prison reform). However, as the gospel message of the Liberals was perceived to be largely about social reform and not about personal repentance from sin, the suspicions between the two camps widened.
In 1915 a multi-volume work called The Fundamentals
The Fundamentals
The Fundamentals or The Fundamentals: A Testimony To The Truth edited by A. C. Dixon and later by Reuben Archer Torrey is a set of 90 essays in 12 volumes published from 1910 to 1915 by the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. They were designed to affirm orthodox Protestant beliefs and defend against...
was published, which comprised a variety of tracts that reasserted traditional Christian teachings and challenged modern skeptical thinking and Liberal Christian ideas. It is from these volumes that the subsequent label of fundamentalist was coined in the 1920s and in the wake of the famous Scopes trial
Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial—formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and informally known as the Scopes Monkey Trial—was a landmark American legal case in 1925 in which high school science teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to...
on the teaching of evolution.
Fundamentalist isolation
As the late nineteenth century Evangelical intellectual leaders began to die out, the emerging generation metamorphosed into a culture-denying phenomenon known as Protestant fundamentalism. Its leaders began to withdraw from cultural engagement, social justice issues, and from the academy, and developed a church sub-culture that developed a siege-mentality over mainstream culture.Neo-Evangelicals
In the early 1940s a number of those who had grown up in a fundamentalist ethos began to question the eccentricities of the subculture, and particularly its disengagement from both the academy and mainstream culture. A new organization known as the National Association of EvangelicalsNational Association of Evangelicals
The National Association of Evangelicals is a fellowship of member denominations, churches, organizations, and individuals. Its goal is to honor God by connecting and representing evangelicals in the United States. Today it works in four main areas: Church & Faith Partners, Government Relations,...
was formed with the agenda of reforming society. Some of the emerging leaders of this movement, which came to be dubbed "Neo-Evangelical" included Carl F. H. Henry
Carl F. H. Henry
Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry was an American evangelical Christian theologian who served as the first editor-in-chief of the magazine Christianity Today, established to serve as a scholarly voice for evangelical Christianity and a challenge to the liberal Christian Century.-Early Years and...
, Harold Ockenga
Harold Ockenga
Harold John Ockenga was a leading figure of 20th century American evangelicalism, part of the reform movement known as "Neo-Evangelicalism". A Congregational minister, Ockenga served for many years as pastor of Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also a prolific author on...
and Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
. These men were convinced that a two-pronged approach to societal transformation was possible. One approach was to reengage the academy bringing a distinctly Christian worldview to bear on disciplines such as history, philosophy, science, literature, art and law. The other approach involved itinerant evangelistic preachers proclaiming the message at the grass roots level of society.
As the Neo-Evangelical leaders pushed towards these goals, a division occurred between them and their more conservative and sometimes militant colleagues who continued to pursue the cause of fundamentalism.
Neo-Evangelical leader
Carnell had grown up as a fundamentalist and been trained at Wheaton College, which was one of the bastions of fundamentalism. He was, however, dissatisfied with the anti-intellectual tendencies he discerned in fundamentalist culture. He was therefore very receptive to the message of Neo-Evangelicals who sought to reform both fundamentalism and the wider society.As part of his contribution to challenging the culture of fundamentalism, Carnell confronted the issue initially by dealing with the advent of television. Some fundamentalists feared that television was a device in the hands of the devil. In his book Television: Servant or Master? Carnell dealt with some of the issues concerning modern communication systems, the use of technology in the promotion of the Christian message, and engaging with wider cultural concerns. Carnell scorned the anti-intellectual tendencies in fundamentalism, and attacked its legalistic and negative mentality about culture.
In 1957 Carnell was appointed the President of Fuller Seminary. As some of the Neo-Evangelicals, like Carl Henry and Harold Ockenga, had been instrumental in establishing the seminary, Carnell's rising profile as an apologist, theologian, and now seminary professor, catapulted him into the spotlight.
In his book The Case for Orthodox Theology Carnell sought to separate the Neo-Evangelicals from the fundamentalists by arguing that a Reformed Orthodox theology was considerably different from fundamentalism. He attacked the legalism and hypocrisy he saw in fundamentalism and argued that it was "orthodoxy gone cultic". He highlighted what he saw as critical deficiencies in fundamentalist thought and practice. As a result of his published diatribe Carnell became the object of much criticism from fundamentalist preachers.
Carnell's personal life was not without difficulties as he suffered from depression and insomnia, and received psychiatric treatment including electro-convulsive therapy. His treatment included doses of barbiturates, and he died in 1967 from a drug overdose. The cause of his death has been the subject of much conjecture as the coronial finding was unable to determine whether the dose was accidental or not.
Carnell's legacy, however, is generally regarded as a positive contribution to the re-emergence of Evangelicals in scholarly pursuits. His apologetic contributions influenced the post-World War Two generation of evangelicals, and emphasized the importance of the gospel and culture. He was greatly admired by his students at Fuller Seminary.
Publications
- An Introduction to Christian Apologetics, William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1948.
- Television: Servant or Master? William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1950.
- The Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr, William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1950.
- A Philosophy of the Christian Religion, William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1952. ISBN 0-8010-2464-1
- The Burden of Søren Kierkegaard, William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1956.
- Christian Commitment: An Apologetic, MacMillan, New York, 1957. ISBN 0-8010-2473-0
- The Case for Orthodox Theology, Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1959.
- The Kingdom of Love and the Pride of Life, William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1960.
- The Case for Biblical Christianity, William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1969.