Carl F. H. Henry

Carl F. H. Henry was one of the founding architects of the modern evangelical movement in the United States. He was a theologian, editor, and professor.

    Perhaps the most significant theologian in the early “neo-evangelical” movement, Carl F. H. Henry was born to German immigrant parents just before the outbreak of World War I (1913). Raised on Long Island, Henry became…

    Perhaps the most significant theologian in the early “neo-evangelical” movement, Carl F. H. Henry was born to German immigrant parents just before the outbreak of World War I (1913). Raised on Long Island, Henry became interested in journalism, and by the age of nineteen, he edited a weekly newspaper in New York’s Suffolk county. After his conversion to Christianity, Henry attended Wheaton College, obtaining his bachelor’s and master’s degrees (1938 and 1940). Bent on pursuing an academic career in theology, he completed doctoral studies at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (1942) and later at Boston University (1949). He was ordained in the Northern Baptist Convention in 1941, and from 1940 until 1947, he taught theology and philosophy of religion at Northern Baptist Seminary.

    In 1947, he accepted the call of Harold J. Ockenga to become the first professor of theology at the new Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Henry took a prolonged sabbatical from his teaching duties in 1955 to become the first editor of Christianity Today, a publication conceived by Billy Graham and L. Nelson Bell and financed by Sun Oil magnate, J. Howard Pew, as an evangelical alternative to the Christian Century. Under Henry’s guidance, Christianity Today became the leading journalistic mouthpiece for neo-evangelicalism and lent the movement intellectual respectability.

    Faced with long hours away from his family, conflicts with Pew and Bell over editorial issues, and criticism from the fundamentalist wing of evangelicalism, Henry resigned the reins of Christianity Today in 1968. After a year of studies at Cambridge University, Henry became professor of theology at Eastern Baptist Seminary (1969–74) and visiting professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1971). After 1974, he served stints as lecturer-at-large for World Vision International (1974–87) and Prison Fellowship Ministries (1990).

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    Faced with long hours away from his family, conflicts with Pew and Bell over editorial issues, and criticism from the fundamentalist wing of evangelicalism, Henry resigned the reins of Christianity Today in 1968. After a year of studies at Cambridge University, Henry became professor of theology at Eastern Baptist Seminary (1969–74) and visiting professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1971). After 1974, he served stints as lecturer-at-large for World Vision International (1974–87) and Prison Fellowship Ministries (1990).

    Carl F. H. Henry

    We must confront the world now with an ethics to make it tremble, and with a dynamic to give it hope.

     

    Carl F. H. Henry

    Legacy

    From the beginning of his academic career Henry aspired to lead Protestant fundamentalism to a greater intellectual and social engagement with the larger American culture. As such, with Ockenga and Graham, he is one of the most significant leaders of evangelicalism of the post-World War II era. In fact, Henry’s book The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (1947) is often seen as a kind of “neo-evangelical manifesto” marking the nascent movement’s break with separatist fundamentalists. Henry also demonstrated his leadership of the neo-evangelical movement through his presidency of the Evangelical Theological Society (1967-70) and the American Theological Society (1979-80), as well as his organizing role in the Berlin (1966) and Lausanne (1974) World Conferences on Evangelism.

    Henry’s many books, the most famous of which is the six-volume God, Revelation, and Authority (1976–83), consistently reiterate the themes of biblical theism,
    objective revelation in propositional form, the authority and inerrancy of the Scriptures, and the rational apologetic defense of Christianity.

    Paradoxically, Henry has been attacked throughout his career by separatist fundamentalists for urging a more
    united evangelical witness, while being criticized by liberal evangelicals for his insistence on biblical inerrancy. Despite this carping, the historical significance of the person Time magazine once called in
    1977, “the leading theologian” of American
    evangelicalism is incontestable.

    Bibliography

    This bibliography was created and compiled by Stephen Spencer, a theological librarian and an avid Carl Henry scholar.

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    Reception

    Carl F. H. Henry, by Bob E. Patterson. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1983.

     

    God and Culture: Essays in Honor of Carl F. H. Henry, ed. by D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993.

     

    Recovering Classical Evangelicalism: Applying the Wisdom and Vision of Carl F. H. Henry, by Gregory Alan Thornbury. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013.

    Sharp, Larry D. “Carl F. H. Henry: Neo-Evangelical Theologian.” D. Min. thesis, Vanderbilt University, 1972.

     

    Purdy, Richard A. “Carl Henry and Contemporary Apologetics.” Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1980.

     

    Dempster, Murray W. “The Role of Scripture in the Social Ethical Writings of Carl F. H. Henry.” M.A. thesis, University of Southern California, 1969.

     

    Anderson, Randall. “The symbolic processing of continuity and change using the case of Carl F. H. Henry.” Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1983.

     

    Porter, Daryl A. “Christianity Today: Its History and Development, 1956–78.” Th.M. thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1978.

    “Towering Theologian: Carl F. H. Henry,” in The Overcomers, by Russell Chandler. Old Tappen, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1978, pp. 26–39.

     

    Ambassadors for Christ: Distinguished Representatives of the Message Throughout the World. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994. “Carl F. H. Henry: Leader of American Evangelicalism,” pp. 73–77.

     

    “Carl F. H. Henry: Christianity Today,” in The Politics of Morality: Portraits in Seven Lives, by J. David Woodard. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press, 2014.

    Exclusive Sermons and Lectures

    • Carl F. H. Henry, “The New Image of Man,” (Sermon given at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School’s Alumni Institute, Deerfield, IL, April 1976).

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    • Carl F. H. Henry, “How to Hold it All Together,” (Sermon given at Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL, August 8, 1978).

    • Carl F. H. Henry, “Can an Intellectual Be Reborn?” (Sermon given at Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL, August 5, 1979).

    • Carl F. H. Henry, “The Greatness God has prepared for us,” (Sermon given at First Baptist Church, Conway, AR, November 11, 1979).

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    • Carl F. H. Henry, “The Greatest Interview of All Time,” (Sermon given at First Baptist Church, Conway, AR, November 11, 1979).

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    • Carl F. H. Henry, “The Enduring Greatness of Abraham,” (Sermon given at First Baptist Church, Conway, AR, November 12, 1979).

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    • Carl F. H. Henry, “Jesus’ Legacy to his Disciples,” (Sermon given at First Baptist Church, Conway, AR, November 13, 1979).

    • Carl F. H. Henry, “The Issue of Inerrancy,” (Sermon given at First Baptist Church, Conway, AR, November 14, 1979).

    • Carl F. H. Henry, “Priorities for the Eighties,” (Sermon given at First Baptist Church, Conway, AR, November 14, 1979).

    • Carl F. H. Henry, “In Search of a Happy Ending,” (Sermon given at First Baptist Church, Conway, AR, November 14, 1979).

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    • Carl F. H. Henry, “God the Sovereign Creator,” (Sermon given at Westminster Chapel, London, United Kingdom, September 6, 1981).

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    • Carl F. H. Henry, “The Greatest Text on Freedom,” (Sermon given at Westminster Chapel, London, United Kingdom).

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    • Carl F. H. Henry, “The Splendor of the Bible,” (Sermon given at Westminster Chapel, London, United Kingdom, September 13, 1981).

    • Carl F. H. Henry, “The Risen Christ and the Radiant Church,” (Sermon given at Westminster Chapel, London, United Kingdom, September 13, 1981).

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    • Carl F. H. Henry, “The Neo-Paganism: Life Without the Emmanuel Factor,” (Sermon given at the Southern Baptist Convention Pastor’s Conference, St. Louis, MO, June 1987).

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    • Carl F. H. Henry, “Relating Man in the Image of God to the Health Sciences,” (Sermon Given to the Christian Medical Society at Gordon College, Wenham, MA, June 2, 1988).

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    • Carl F. H. Henry, “Evangelicals: Who They Are and What They Believe,” (Lecture Given at Evangelical Affirmations Conference, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL, May 15, 1989).

    • Carl F. H. Henry, “Plenary Session #10,” (Lecture Given at the Evangelical Affirmations Conference at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL, May 17, 1989).

    • Carl F. H. Henry and Kenneth Kantzer, “Turning Points in the History of Evangelicalism, 1945-1990,” (Lecture Given at Christian Thought Lectures at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL, April 30, 1991).

    • Carl F. H. Henry, Kenneth Kantzer, and D. A. Carson, “Evangelicalism: Past, Present, Future,” (Lecture Given at Christian Thought Lectures at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, May 1, 1991).

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    Following Henry’s Example

    The Henry Center is not dedicated to the mere propagation of Carl Henry’s specific thoughts. Instead, we embrace his broader persona as evangelicalism at its best. His belief in the mutual necessity of theological competence and cultural engagement stands as a beacon to us. As historian John Woodbridge once said, “Dr. Henry was the ‘Great Recoverer’ of social justice and the gospel and the relationship between them.” We strive to emulate his dedication to theology, active engagement with pressing issues, and unwavering commitment to the gospel.