Discover the ongoing relevance of the essential evangelical.
In recent years, the label “evangelical” has been distorted and its usefulness questioned. No one is better equipped to provide a clear understanding of evangelicalism than the late Carl F. H. Henry, the founding editor of Christianity Today and the most influential theologian of American evangelicalism in the twentieth century. While Billy Graham was preaching the gospel to stadiums full of people, Henry was working tirelessly to help Christians adopt a worldview that encompasses all of life. Architect of Evangelicalism helps us gain a better sense of the roots of American evangelicalism by giving us the best of Henry’s Christianity Today essays on subjects such as what defines evangelicalism, what separates it from theological liberalism, what evangelical Christian education should look like, and how evangelicals should engage with society.
Carl F. H. Henry was the postwar American evangelical movement’s Saint Augustine. He mapped out a coherent and compelling theological vision while also speaking prophetically to the issues of his day. Reading these Christianity Today editorials will strike the reader, sometimes jarringly so, as relentlessly relevant to our own moment. Carl Henry, though dead, still speaks to an evangelical conscience that is still uneasy after all these years.
—Russell Moore, president, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention
From the 1940s into the first decade of the twenty-first century, Carl F. H. Henry was both advocate and critic of the global evangelical movement. Even today, his words reflect the wisdom, insight, and compassion that made him such a towering influence in his own day and an abiding presence in our own. We still need to hear what Carl Henry has to say.
—Timothy George, research professor, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University; general editor, Reformation Commentary on Scripture
Modern evangelicalism has never produced a more bracing and prescient thinker than Carl F. H. Henry. I am delighted that this volume of his essays will introduce Henry to a new generation of readers.
—Thomas S. Kidd, Vardaman Distinguished Professor of History, Baylor University, and author of Who Is an Evangelical?: The History of a Movement in Crisis
Since 1956, Christianity Today has been the voice of evangelicalism in America—a bellwether of theology, politics, and culture for evangelicals. The Best of Christianity Today is a new series, featuring the most enduring articles from decades of Christianity Today written by the most respected voices in modern evangelicalism. Lexham Press is proud to partner with Christianity Today to bring these treasures of evangelicalism's heritage to readers today.
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Carl F. H. Henry (1913–2003) was an evangelical Christian theologian. Henry earned degrees from Wheaton College, Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Boston University. In 1942, he helped launch the National Association of Evangelicals and served on its board for many years. In 1956, he assisted Rev. Billy Graham in founding Christianity Today and served as the editor until 1968. Henry's six-volume God, Revelation, and Authority has been widely influential in shaping evangelicals' beliefs around the world.
Since 1956, Christianity Today has been the voice of evangelicalism in America—a bellwether of theology, politics, and culture for evangelicals. Some of the most influential and respected modern evangelical leaders have written for Christianity Today, shaping the minds and hearts of millions of Christians for more than half a century.