God, Revelation, and Authority

by Carl F.H. Henry

Book Overview

A monumental six-volume set that presents an undeniable case for the revealed authority of God to a generation that has forgotten who he is and what he has done. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0876804776
• ISBN13: 9780876804773
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: W Publishing Group
• Length: 6 Pages
• Weight: 1.83 lbs.

Customer Reviews

One Of A Kind

Carl Henry had an illustrious career, which influenced most theological seminaries and bible colleges, some even unbeknown to today's generation. In a time of opposing views from differing higher-criticism schools (Bultmann, Barth etc.) his was the lone evangelical voice calling to remain true to the revealed and conclusive, propositional Word of Truth. 'Christianity depicts itself - essentially theological though it be - not as a supremely constructed metaphysical theory, but as a revelation, differing in kind from secular philosophies grounded in rational reflection. Its basic premise is that the living God should be allowed to speak for Himself and to define the abiding role of reason and the meaning of revelation.' pg 95 His work is majestic. His grasp is overarching, always worldview-ish, always generational, always God-centered. The 6 Volumes display the journalistic powers he had, and the power to reason and debate. He was the founder of Christianity Today and served as its Editor in Charge for many decades. He passed away recently, but his influence in especially Christian institutions and seminaries will long outlive those of Bultmann or Barth. A great Christian and an honorable man. I read his work with absolute passion. The following quotations are from one chapter alone, 'Secular Man and Ultimate Concerns', Book 1: 'The ecumenical movement with its focus on 'what the Spirit is saying to the churches' rather than on what the inspired Scripture ongoingly says, has meanwhile been more open to an emphasis on charismatic renewal than on a recovery of the Reformation.' Book 1, pg 131 'The universal disclosure of God penetrates deeply into all man's confidences and doubts. Evidence of God's reality and power and truth and goodness is ongoingly refracted into the course of man's daily life.' pg 151 'Man is viewed as a creature competent without gods to cope with all problems through social rather than supernatural resources, and all his powers and choices are contingently grounded.' pg 137 'Divine being and divine providence are denied.' pg 138 'Man creates his own future by exercising inherent powers of mind and will.' pg 140 'Man alone is able to decide his life's course, he alone is the source of what truth he affirms and of what good he champions.' Ibid 'With or without science, man is not omnipotent over the cosmos and history.' pg 143 'especially man's own nature stands in the way of doing the good that he would.' pg 144 'Man's sense of personal worth and peculiar destiny derives from remnants of the created Imago Dei in man, and beyond that from the ongoing universal revelation of the Creator.' pg 145 'Modern man's difficulty is not due to the unintelligibility or incredibility of the reality of God, but arises from the secularist's intellectual postulations and commitments which render the biblical view personally powerless.' pg 146 'To insist that the living God of the Bible is inescapably an aspect of everyday

Carl Henry - updated

Carl Henry was a theologian of great character and insight. This series is his opus. A few clarifications: Dr. Henry was an Evangelical theologian not a Fundamentalist (he broke with them in the 40s), a term which is particular to Protestantism from 20th Century America; but which was redefined by a religious studies project at the University of Chicago to defame any conservative religious viewpoint which may effect public values. Also, he wasn't a literalist, as some would coin, but holds that God has communicated with clarity in the text - a similar notion to that of John Wycliff. His view is universal not just American.It is long. Look through the Indices to see what subject you want to study.Unfortunately, Dr. Henry was pilloried by many academics and contermporary "evangelicals" who wanted to shed his influence for post-modern presuppositions or post-Bartian notions.Dr. Henry understood the Lord as above a singular history and greater than one's words, but one who seeks to communicate liberty to those who want to hear.He passed away on December 7, 2003 in Watertown, WI.

Christianity yesterday, today, and forever

This magnum opus of Dr. Henry's theology is simply the most thoughtful, incisive, and relevant work in modern theology, evangelical or otherwise.Henry's basic propositions are at once both simple and profound - that revealed truth must be communicable in propositional form, that is, in complete sentences, with subject, verbs, and objects. Truth is not a commodity for the intellectually or spiritually elite. In other words, if you cannot tell me in plain language what the truth is, then I must question whether or not what you are considering is really the truth. Furthermore, God has set this example by personally revealing Himself in this manner in our own objective, external history - the same history of which we are all now a part. This is not to say that there are truths in the universe that are not communicable verbally, only that the Truth that has been revealed by God must be, and has been, communicated in that manner. Henry's antagonists are those theologians (Barth, Bultmann and company)who propose that history is of two kinds - the day-to-day, external, objective history with which we are all familiar, and a special, internal "geschichte" history where God reveals himself internally to individuals within gaps in the causal uniformity of external history, and the less extreme theologians (Moltmann, Pannenberg, and company) who propose that there is one, encompassing salvation-history ("heilsgeschichte") within which there is no distinction to be made between the natural and supernatural and hence, no need to distinguish between two different kinds of history. Although some find the concepts of geschichte and heilsgeschichte intellectually appealing in that the altogether-other God is revealing himself in an altogether-other history that is suitable to His nature, it falls short of the biblical concept of salvation, in which God has revealed Himself personally and powerfully within our own, external day-to-day history, where we live, die, marry, raise children, and work out our lives. The logical conclusion of geschichte seems to be that, if our salvation has been wrought in a different kind of history that stands apart from our own familiar day-to-day history, then so must our Christian life be wrought in a similar fashion. Heilsgechichte hold up slightly better under scrutiny, but still falls short by de-mystifying the supernatural into the realm of the ordinary. Henry demonstrates that these concepts are neither biblical nor Christian.Once, he told us a story about a press conference he attended with Karl Barth. During the question and answer period, Dr. Barth was engaged in several lively discussions on his theme of geschichte. When it came Dr. Henry's turn to pose a question, he asked, "Herr Barth, what would the newspapers have read on the morning following the resurrection?" The visibly disturbed Barth responded, "Did you say you were the editor of Christianity Yesterday, or was it Christianity Today?" Henry calmly responded, "That

A 1st rate education/challenge for those not narrow-minded

I've not had as much opportunity to pore through Dr. Henry's masterful work as I've wished to have. This is a truly scholarly work, not for the shallow of mind, but for the thoughtful reader. It will certainly be found far more worth pondering than either the touchy-feely or pontificating idolized by the destructive reviewers whose only real basis for objection is that "His postions are lucid, logical, and precise."! Oh my! God forbid that positions should be lucid, logical or even make sense, something mindlessly equated with "Aristotelian lenses" (meaning: it doesn't agree with me), as they are predictably blind to their own. His refusal to come down to such a tower of ignorant babble understandably condemns him from the start, but for those few heroic today who still will pursue truth instead of the mindless fantasies of modernism and post-modernism, or even admit there's any to pursue, unlike today's minions too self-centered, narrow-minded & bigoted (intellectually or otherwise), ignorant and lazy to do so, will find a real treasure trove here, pearls unrecognizable to swine (Matt. 7:6), but oh so wonderful to the diligent, noble Berean who dilligently searches to see if these things are so (Acts 17:11). For a good post-mortem on modern theology, including the "Death of God" "theothanatologists", see John Warwick Montgomery's Suicide of Christian Theology, though any of his works are worthwhile, including his "In Defense of Martin Luther" dealing with those who love to twist and pervert Luther to serve their own ways and ends as badly as they do Scripture.

The Best Book in 20th Century!

Dr. Henry is "the founder and father and the primary architect" of Evangelicalism in 20th century, and the today's leading think tank among the 20th century intellectuals and scholarship since 1940's. No doubt, He is the living landmark of 20th century. This volume is his masterpiece and his life-time monument. And I dare to say the landmark of the 20th century in Christian philosophy and theory. The volume 1 brings the best academic and philosophical survey and discussion that 20th century could offer. If one can read through carefully, he/she will (1) survey the contemporary philosophy and theology with "the" master, and (2) be able to critique all in the first class scholarship and in "the" Evangelical perspective. I guarantee that this volume enables its faithful reader to be the world-class critical thinker in Christianity. If you want to challenge the top of "the" mountain of today's intellectual and leading scholarship in Christian Philosophy and Worldview, I recommend first of all without any hesitation, this volume! (He is a humble and godly man, and my dear teacher with Father's heart equipped with Grace and Truth of God. He lectured this volume to our class years ago and I was blessed enough to take a few courses from this world-class master).