Warfield, Benjamin Breckinridge (B.B.)

Benjamin Breckinridge (B. B.) Warfield (1851-1921) was a noted Presbyterian theologian, writer, and educator. He was born in Kentucky and studied at Princeton College and the University of Leipzig. Ordained in 1879 he served briefly as a pastor in Baltimore before becoming professor of New Testament literature at Princeton Theological Seminary, a position he held for much of his life. His writings as editor of the Presbyterian and Reformed Review and in books like The Plan of Salvation presented a conservative view of Bible scholarship, Christian living, and theology that remains influential among Reformed believers.

Machen, John Gresham

John Gresham Machen (1881-1937) was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He was a tremendous scholar who studied at Johns Hopkins and Princeton in the United States and at Marburg in Germany. Ordained in 1914 he became a professor of New Testament literature at Princeton Theological Seminary. He left the school due to his conservative theology and the school’s rapid drift toward liberalism. In 1929 he founded the Westminster Theological Seminary and became its president and professor of New Testament. He took similar steps when he resigned from the Presbyterian Board of Missions to found an independent society and when he and a group of like-minded clergy started the Orthodox Presbyterian church. He was a staunch defender of conservative Christianity at a time when scholars of his stature were nearly all liberal.

Barnhouse, Donald Grey

Donald Grey Barnhouse (1895-1960), a writer and pioneer in Christian radio, graduated from the University of Chicago and Princeton Theological Seminary. He also studied in Europe where, for a time, he was a pastor and teacher in France. In 1927 he returned to the United States to begin a 33-year pastorate at Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church. Here he began his radio ministry, which focused primarily on the book of Romans; wrote more than 30 books, including God’s Method for Holy Living; and served as the director of the Stony Brook School for Boys. He used his superior education and keen mind to make the truths of Scripture, particularly Pauline theology, accessible to a mass audience.