Machen and Hermann
Written by Brian on August 25th, 2008Long before Machen wrote Christianity and Liberalism, he studied in Germany under the Ritschlian, Wilhelm Hermann.
Machen wrote home about the experience:
The first time that I heard Herrmann may almost be described as an epoch in my life. Such an overpowering personality I think I almost never before encountered—overpowering in the sincerity of religious devotion . . . .
My chief feeling with reference to him is already one of the deepest reverence . . . . I have been thrown all into confusion by what he says—so much deeper is his devotion to Christ than anything I have known in myself in the past few years . . . . Hermann affirms very little of that which I have been accustomed to regard as essential to Christianity, yet there is no doubt in my mind that he is a Christian, and a Christian of a peculiarly earnest type.
cited in John Piper, Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen (Crossway, 2006), 123.
This reveals the fallacy of equating Christianity with piety apart from doctrine. It was an error the young Machen almost succumbed to and an error about which the older Machen tried to warn the church.
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Hi Brian
What kind of point is Piper trying to make with this quotation? [My cynical self is suspicious.]
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
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Here is the conclusion Piper himself draws from this quote:
“What Machen seemed to find in Herrmann was what he had apparently not found either in his home or at Princeton, namely, passion and joy and exuberant trust in Christ. At Princeton he had found solid learning and civil, formal, careful, aristocratic presentations of a fairly cool Christianity. He eventually came to see that the truth of the Princeton theology was a firmer ground for life and joy. But at this stage the spirit in which it came, compared to Herrmann’s spirit, almost cost evangelicalism one of its greatest defenders. There is a great lesson here for teachers and preachers: to hold young minds there should be both intellectual credibility and joyful, passionate zeal for Christ.”
p. 124
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Interesting. I think I will disagree with Piper as usual, but I’ll have to think it over. (My knee-jerk reaction is to disagree with Piper.) Although… while disagreeing, I can’t say that we should try to capture young minds by being as dull, dry, and boring as possible.
Thanks for pointing out the quotes. I’ll have to think on this one a bit.
I have a comment for your exodus post from today, but I’ll have to wait till a bit later to enter it.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3