The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism

by Carl F.H. Henry

Book Overview

Originally published in 1947, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism has since served as the manifesto of evangelical Christians serious about bringing the fundamentals of the Christian faith to bear in contemporary culture. In this classic book Carl F. H. Henry, the father of modern fundamentalism, pioneered a path for active Christian engagement with the world -- a path as relevant today as when it was first staked out.

Now...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080282661X
• ISBN13: 9780802826619
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism

I just started reading this book and am taking it on vacation with me next week, therefore I cannot do a complete review now. But what I have read is very interesting.

A Foundational Book for Evangelicalism

I plan on reading several "evangelical classics" this year, including Christ and Culture and Christianity and Liberalism. I picked up The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism because it is one of the books that jumpstarted today's evangelical movement. Written by Carl Henry in 1947, The Uneasy Conscience seeks to push fundamentalism into the public arena by engaging the world on the level of ideas. Henry argues for a cultural engagement that applies Christian principles to the world's social issues without denying or downplaying the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Henry's vision for future evangelicalism is breathtaking in its scope. I can imagine most fundamentalists in the 1940's reading this book and wondering how his vision could ever be accomplished. Sixty years later, many of Henry's hopes for evangelicalism have become reality. Evangelicals are on the front lines of many social issues. American Evangelicals have more political clout than ever before in our brief history. Evangelicals have stopped majoring on the minor issues that divided fundamentalism sixty years ago in order to join hands with like-minded believers and work towards spreading the presence of the kingdom in our nation. Still, Henry's vision has not been totally implemented. Mark Noll's The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind woefully describes the lack of "thinking" among evangelicals today. Ron Sider's The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience reveals the surprising apathy of the average evangelical to take on issues of social justice. Today, modern evangelicalism still has an uneasy conscience. Some worry of a return to the isolationist tendencies of old fundamentalism, a resurgence of evangelicals who are majoring on minor issues. Others are concerned that the ever-inflating balloon of doctrinal diversity within evangelicalism is already leading to a theological drift in the direction of last century's failed liberalism. Perhaps we should be praying for another Carl F.H. Henry to come along - a person who can see exactly where we are, what our strengths and weaknesses are, and how we should move ahead.

The Social Dimension of Kingdom Theology

Review of the Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism by Carl F. H. Henry Henry's book, written sixty years ago, is a clarion call for Christian social action that is grounded in biblical revelation. His thesis is that the Fundamentalist conscience is uneasy because it has not applied biblical truths (11). It sees a radical disjunct between faith and life that is psychologically devastating. It is understandable why conservative Christians have been reluctant to address social concerns: this was the hallowed ground of liberalism, a worldview that denied the central tenets of the Christian faith. Henry's challenge is not only can conservative Christians address social issues without compromising the faith, but that they ought to address these issues because of their faith. The opening chapters of Henry's work highlight his thesis. He addresses the impasse that evangelicals find them in. Part of this is due to their eschatology. Both premillennialism and amillennialism can't consistently work for social betterment on this earth because this earth is a time-bomb. (Interestingly, he doesn't consider the firepower of evangelical postmillennialism, but that is another matter). This seems to tell the world that "we have the right theology but it can't help your everyday lives." Henry laments that this ought not be the case. The early Christians had a definite social dimension to their preaching--they addressed the painful concerns of humanity with the following two considerations: 1) they did not compromise the message of Christ and 2) the message of Christ demanded such action. In other words, Christ did come to preach justice and address the whole man--granted that the first priority is regeneration--and that a truncated gospel (a gospel that touches the head but not the life) is no gospel at all. Henry then expounds a brief kingdom-theology. Given the recent rise in kingdom-studies, this will not be new stuff. He anticipated what GE Ladd and Geerhardus Vos expounded: "already-not yet," etc. (His protégé, Russell Moore, has written a competent work on this subject: *The Kingdom of Christ*). Henry defines biblical history as a continuity, not a parentheses, thus ruling out dispensationalism. Henry is quick to deny identifying the kingdom of God with any type of political government. What Should we Now do? Henry's work is as relevant as ever. The past 30 years have seen an Evangelical Renaissance. Evangelicals have finally mobilized to social action (if not always perfectly), but many questions remain unanswered (e.g., what would a Christian society look like? What laws would it pass? How would one justify those laws?). Against the confusion of this age, Henry recommends a Christian metaphysics grounded on biblical revelation, from which we derive a Christian normative ethic that is universal on all cultures (39). It is imperative for evangelicals to take Henry's challenge and address the evils of society. Our brigh

Should Christianity influence the culture - read this to find out!

An incredibly astute book that challenges fundamentalist Christianity with a weakness in their armor - an inability and unwillingness to address social ills and evil in the world. But that can't be, fundamentalism clearly and correctly identifies the problem with the world is sin and the solution is the saving grace and transforming power of Jesus Christ in the life of an individual. While true, Henry claims that the transforming nature does not end with the individual, it only begins there! Henry's issue - that the once redemptive gospel that was a "world-changing" message has now narrowed to a "world-resisting" one. In an effort to counter a liberal theological concept of the social gospel, the idea that man can be saved by a good society, fundamentalists in Henry's opinion have sought to remove themselves from the social questions of the day isolating their redemptive message to the individual and his need of salvation for sin. The world is evil, it is fallen, but man can be redeemed is the mantra. Henry agrees, but presses the issue further - for redeemed men redeem the culture, he claims - not the other way around. Changed men change laws to reflect their newfound value of life and liberty. Henry argues that this is the pattern of history and civilizations from the beginning - regenerate men have reinvigorated cultures, dead men made alive by the power of Christ have brought dying cultures back to life as well. And they must, or at least they must try, according to Henry. Henry says that the true effect of a missionary is not solely in the number of souls saved, but also in the change in the lives of those around him - in the quality of life even for the unbelievers because they live in a transformed society infused by transformed lives. He ends with a call for Christians to engage the cultural crisis with a level of expertise in all areas of life - and to do that, he notes that evangelical schools will play a most important and pivotal role in preparing and equipping the next generation of Christian thinkers who will not isolate, but engage to the glory of God!

Redeeming Society with the Gospel

The late Carl Henry sets forth the case that there is a great divorce within Evangelicalism. He argues that evangelical Christianity has become separated from any form of social reform. Christianity has failed to deal with the pressing issues, which face the world today. Doctrine has become divorced from ethics and orthodoxy (right teaching) has become divorced from orthopraxy (right living). While redemption in Christ is the only answer to this world's problems Henry argues that Christianity has ceased its preaching of this message to the culture. Christianity has given up its humanitarianism. Sadly, since the church has given up its social endeavors, non-evangelical efforts have taken over. Therefore the saving message of the cross of Christ is replaced with sub-Christian methods of reform. The effort to save society continues but without a redemptive foundation all such efforts are bound to failure. Without the gospel social reform may feed a few empty stomachs but will fail to provide the living water of Christ, which is the world's only hope.Henry offers a solution by properly understanding kingdom preaching. The kingdom must be preached both as a present reality (kingdom now) and as a future reality (kingdom then). There is an already, not-yet dimension to the kingdom of God and this needs to be applied to kingdom ethics. We must live out the kingdom now with expectant hope of the kingdom then. This dimension of the kingdom needs to be restudied toward the end of being applied to the social and ethical challenges for this present age.It is also the doctrinal integrity of evangelical Christianity, which must confront the world. To give up the gospel for social reform is to cease to be Christian, but to give up social reform is to give up the gospel. Henry argues that it is the very metaphysics of Christianity, which provide the underpinnings for Biblical ethics. The Christian needs to have a biblical worldview to confront the needs and evils of the world. It is only the Christian worldview founded upon the cross of Christ, which provides the proper redemptive framework, which is the only hope for a world in travail.The balance of social concern and gospel preaching is rarely achieved, but Henry offers a helpful way forward by arguing that the very means of social reform is through gospel preaching. Through the proclamation of the redeeming gospel of Jesus Christ the world will be changed. The gospel properly understood seeks to change not just individual sinners, but the world, which groans under its present bondage. He correctly recognizes that the present world problems are not primarily economic, political, or societal, but spiritual. Nonetheless the evangelical Christian is to apply the spiritual-redemptive message of the gospel to the economic, political, and societal woes of today.While one may not fully agree with everything Henry says (I certainly did not), his underlining thesis is true: the gospel must be procl