Select Works of J. Gresham Machen

John Gresham Machen was an American Presbyterian theologian in the early 20th century. He was the Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary from 1906 to 1929. He later formed Westminster Theological Seminary as a more orthodox alternative and he taught New Testament there until his death at the age of 55.

Machen has been compared to the great Princeton theologians Archibald Alexander, Charles Hodge, A. A. Hodge, and B. B. Warfield.

This module includes six of his works – published between 1915 and 1936.

• The Literature and History of New Testament Times (1915) – Written as the teacher’s manual of a 52-lesson Sunday school curriculum, this work covers history and culture of the first century, the individual books of the New Testament, and the nature of the church and service and the interaction between Christians and the world. This short work serves as a handy overview of the time of the apostles and will be a useful work to begin study of that era.
• The Origin of Paul’s Religion (1921) – Machen’s first book – a defense of the historical truthfulness and supernaturalism of the New Testament.
• Christianity & Liberalism (1923) – This classic defense of orthodox Christianity, written to counter the liberalism that arose in the early 1900s, establishes the importance of scriptural doctrine and contrasts the teachings of liberalism and orthodoxy on God and man, the Bible, Christ, salvation, and the church. It was named one of the top 100 books of the millennium by World magazine and one of the top 100 books of the twentieth century by Christianity Today.
• What is Faith? (1925) – In 1925, Machen penned this shorter work to discuss the question of faith over against the modernists of his day. He mentions in the preface that the majority of the work was taken from lectures he had given at Grove City Bible School earlier that year, and he borrowed pieces of other articles he had written as well.
• The Virgin Birth of Christ (1930) – This book may be regarded as containing in substance, though not in form, the Thomas Smyth Lectures which the author had the honor of delivering at Columbia Theological Seminary in the spring of 1927. The subject is here treated with much greater fullness than was possible in the lectures as they were delivered, and use is made of certain special studies which have been published from time to time in The Princeton Theological Review. This study achieved a wide reputation when it was first published and is not only invaluable as apologetic but also as a compendium of information.
• The Christian Faith in the Modern World (1936) – In this 18 chapter book, Machen explores How God may be known? Has He spoken? Is the Bible the Word of God? Is it Verbally Inspired? Should we defend the Bible? Is the Bible above human authority? Then he explores a little more about God as Creator, the Triune God, the deity of Christ, and the Holy Spirit.