Introduction
The recent death of the evangelical patriarch Carl F. H. Henry brings great cause to those who are beneficiaries of his Evangelical heritage to meditate on his thoughts. In his book The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism, Carl Henry discusses a strong theologically concentrated engagement for global social needs. Fifty-seven years have passed from the time that this book was first published and, while the gap may expose itself in the way this work was written, the main thesis of this work stays as perceptive today as it was when the book was first published in 1947. This is the most esteemed conservative theologian of the twentieth century grappling with one of Christendom's most difficult questions: "How does the Christian …show more content…
While the phrase itself is the subject of much evangelical fervor, Henry, in his vast global scope, tries to evade pressing the minutia upon which much ink is spilt and highlight the essentials of the kingdom of God that all Christians who have faith in the Bible would share. Henry says, "the burden of these articles is not to press a personal kingdom viewpoint, but rather to promote an evangelical conviction that nothing is so essential among Fundamentalist essentials as a world-relevance for the Gospel. Whatever in our kingdom views undercuts that relevance destroys the essential character of Christianity as such" (48). The essentials of which Henry talks about is an acknowledgment that to comprehend the teachings of Jesus is to recognize that the kingdom of God has implications for the kingdom that is at the same time here and not here. The "kingdom here" is not to be bound to a particular type of government or political party, but "the extent to which man centers his life and energy in the redemptive King now determines the extent of the divine kingdom in the present age" (49). The balanced attitude to the kingdom will highlight the kingdom now, presenting itself in global social concerns which will disprove those who believe that Christianity is no earthly good while also displaying the fallacy of any long term advantage of social services that desert the …show more content…
It is its truth, not its efficiency, which is significant. Based on this, Henry regrettably says, "If Fundamentalism ceases to 'work' we have imported into it elements which violate the innermost essence of Christianity" (57). The inability of contemporary liberal Christianity to answer the important social ills has exposed its untruth. The threat Henry perceives for Fundamentalism is not its untruth—he strongly believes it to be the upholder of truth—but its actions when it finds the truth: "The problem of Fundamentalism then is basically not one of finding a valid message, but rather of giving the redemptive work a proper temporal focus" (62). Social disasters give evangelicals a chance to expose the redemptive truth of Christ; the consequence of inactivity isn’t the untruth of Christianity, but the disregard of the Biblical command to be salt to the
The recent death of the evangelical patriarch Carl F. H. Henry brings great cause to those who are beneficiaries of his Evangelical heritage to meditate on his thoughts. In his book The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism, Carl Henry discusses a strong theologically concentrated engagement for global social needs. Fifty-seven years have passed from the time that this book was first published and, while the gap may expose itself in the way this work was written, the main thesis of this work stays as perceptive today as it was when the book was first published in 1947. This is the most esteemed conservative theologian of the twentieth century grappling with one of Christendom's most difficult questions: "How does the Christian …show more content…
While the phrase itself is the subject of much evangelical fervor, Henry, in his vast global scope, tries to evade pressing the minutia upon which much ink is spilt and highlight the essentials of the kingdom of God that all Christians who have faith in the Bible would share. Henry says, "the burden of these articles is not to press a personal kingdom viewpoint, but rather to promote an evangelical conviction that nothing is so essential among Fundamentalist essentials as a world-relevance for the Gospel. Whatever in our kingdom views undercuts that relevance destroys the essential character of Christianity as such" (48). The essentials of which Henry talks about is an acknowledgment that to comprehend the teachings of Jesus is to recognize that the kingdom of God has implications for the kingdom that is at the same time here and not here. The "kingdom here" is not to be bound to a particular type of government or political party, but "the extent to which man centers his life and energy in the redemptive King now determines the extent of the divine kingdom in the present age" (49). The balanced attitude to the kingdom will highlight the kingdom now, presenting itself in global social concerns which will disprove those who believe that Christianity is no earthly good while also displaying the fallacy of any long term advantage of social services that desert the …show more content…
It is its truth, not its efficiency, which is significant. Based on this, Henry regrettably says, "If Fundamentalism ceases to 'work' we have imported into it elements which violate the innermost essence of Christianity" (57). The inability of contemporary liberal Christianity to answer the important social ills has exposed its untruth. The threat Henry perceives for Fundamentalism is not its untruth—he strongly believes it to be the upholder of truth—but its actions when it finds the truth: "The problem of Fundamentalism then is basically not one of finding a valid message, but rather of giving the redemptive work a proper temporal focus" (62). Social disasters give evangelicals a chance to expose the redemptive truth of Christ; the consequence of inactivity isn’t the untruth of Christianity, but the disregard of the Biblical command to be salt to the