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"Paradise Lost" by John Milton is an epic poem that tells the story of the Fall of Man, focusing on the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The poem explores themes of free will, disobedience, and redemption, as well as the nature of good and evil. Through vivid imagery and powerful language, Milton presents a complex portrait of humanity's relationship with God and the consequences of choosing sin over obedience.

Carl F.H. Henry

Carl F.H. Henry “A Christianity without a passion to turn the world upside down is not reflective of Apostolic Christianity.” — Carl Henry Carl F. H. Henry was one of the founding architects of the modern, U.S. Evangelical movement. His fingerprints are everywhere around us, even if we lack the forensics to see them. Biography 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-). 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. Biography & Legacy written by Robert H. Krapohl (University Librarian)

the courage you need in life’s uncertainty

“Jump! I’ll catch you!” When my son was young, getting him from the side of the pool into the water was difficult. His eyes darted side to side, quickly losing confidence, as his imagination surmised all the horrors associated with jumping. Only when I could get him to fix his attention on me would he find the confidence to bend his knees and spring off the side of the pool. Like my son, we are regularly confronted with situations that are overwhelming, unknown, or threatening. What does it look like for us to spring with confidence into every situation that the Lord brings into our lives? Four Ways to Walk in Faith Isaiah 7 tells the story of a king in crisis. When the Judean King Ahaz heard that Syria and Israel created an alliance to withstand the advancing Assyrian threat, his heart shook with fear (Isaiah 7:2). Seeking to strengthen their hand against Assyria, the Syro-Ephraimite coalition intended to use military force to depose Ahaz and coerce Judah to join them, as well. Ahaz responded to the imminent threat like a good king. He inspected the city’s water supply. How long can the city withstand a siege? Ahaz had been conditioned to believe that military threats require military responses. Yet, God responds to Ahaz by sending the prophet Isaiah, who relayed four commands from the Lord, each of which recalls other parts of the Old Testament: be careful, be quiet, do not fear, do not let your heart be faint. These four commands echo down the halls of Israel’s collective memory with the intention of reminding Ahaz of the provisions of faith. These commands are helpful for us too as we fight for faith amidst the challenges of our lives. 1. Be Mindful Moses instructed the Israelites  before  they entered the Promised Land: they will live in houses they did not build, drink wine from vineyards they did not plant, eat until they are full. But, Moses warns them in Deuteronomy 6:12, “take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” At the moment of crisis, God acknowledged that Ahaz’s battle was not just outside the city walls, but also in his mind. It was essential for Ahaz to remember who he was and the history he had with God. In the same way, during times of uncertainty, cultivating memory and identity as those who are in Christ is essential for accessing the resources of faith to respond to present challenges. 2. Be Quiet This is an important theme in Isaiah. In Isaiah 30:15, God says, “In quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Quietness in Isaiah does not mean the absence of noise, but the absence of agitation. In fact,  peace  and  joyful shouting  are themes that merge together in Isaiah 14:7 and 55:12. At the moment of crisis, Ahaz needed to find calm and certain confidence in God — something his water supply could never fully provide. 3. Do Not Fear The phrase recalls God’s providence, promises, and purposes. God uses these words when he appears to Abram, Moses, Joshua, and Elijah. It may seem trite to tell Ahaz not to fear. But the rationale is implicit: God was with him, for him, and had made promises to him. Ahaz, then, needed to respond on the basis of that conviction. Similarly, I need to recalibrate my perspective around God when faced with uncertain circumstances. John Oswalt summarizes, “If we can believe that the transcendent One is really immanent, and the immanent One truly transcendent, then there is reason to live courageously and unselfishly” ( Isaiah,  211). 4. Do Not Faint This is an exact quotation from Deuteronomy 20:3–4, where Moses prepares the Israelites for facing their enemies in battle. The priest was to come to the front of the line of soldiers and say, “let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you.” At the moment of crisis, with a mind that remembers, a soul free from agitation, and a renewed conviction that God is  for  me and  with  me, I can respond with courageous faith. A Picture of Courageous Faith In southwest Rwanda, along the shores of Lake Kivu, is a peninsula, where missionaries from the region have gathered annually since 1942 for spiritual renewal. On the far end of the peninsula is a cliff, into which thrill-seeking missionaries from a previous generation lodged a long, rigid, slab of wood — called “the plank” — thirty feet off the surface of the water. I have approached the plank many times. I stand looking, hearing my children behind me. “Come on, Dad!” “He won’t jump!” I am distracted by local children gathering in canoes to watch. I think about others who have jumped — and hurt themselves. I feel certain that I will fall off the cliff by even getting near the plank! I have never jumped. I have a friend named Jeff, who does not blink at the threats imposed by the plank. He steps onto the plank, walks a few paces, pulls himself up into an overhanging tree, climbs even higher, turns backward, and launches into a backflip as he springs out over the water. This is a picture of how I want to live — not carelessly, but confidently — springing with confidence into every situation that the Lord brings into my life — not simply conditioned to respond according to my own resources, but convinced that the provisions of faith provide all that I need to respond with confidence in any situation.

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