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Daniel Ragusa and Reformed Forum have given Christ’s church, especially the OPC, a genuine treasure. Mr. Ragusa has translated into English Cornelius Van Til’s Letters from America: A Dutch Reformed Perspective on the Struggle for Orthodoxy in American Presbyterianism (1935–1940). Klaas Schilder, editor of the Dutch publication De Reformatie, was pleased that Van Til accepted his invitation of “a monthly letter” describing what was happening in American Presbyterianism. Schilder believed that those who were familiar with the Afscheiding (Secession of 1834) and Doleantie (Grieving of 1886) in the Netherlands would be interested in parallel developments in Reformed Presbyterianism in America. The volume includes twenty-four fascinating letters and two appendixes.
Van Til’s letters provide a penetrating synopsis of the terrain of American Presbyterianism from 1935 to 1940. The reader can easily be drawn into a merely causal read of these letters, viewing them simply as the story of J. Gresham Machen and the formation of the OPC against the “modernists,” the “ethicists” committed to “peace-at-any-price” versus the “fundamentalists.” The reader must grasp, however, that Van Til’s analysis does more than recount the opposing sides of the controversy. One must see the breadth of Van Til’s commitment to historic Reformed, biblical, and confessional orthodoxy, as every subject receives his penetrating transcendental analysis. Every letter bears witness to Van Til’s unwavering commitment to the truth of Christ revealed in Scripture. Thus, Van Til exposes the roots of competing voices within Presbyterianism that will either preserve or erode the life of the church from the 1930s into our day. If this point is missed, the reader may see only a gallant Van Til fighting for orthodoxy in the 1930s and may merely thank him for an interesting history lesson.
Van Til’s history lesson, however, demands serious engagement from every reader concerned for the survival of historic Reformed Presbyterianism. He offers insight into the contention between Presbyterian Church USA’s Board of Missions and those within the denomination who constructed an Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. Machen was part of the Independent Board, and eventually he was brought to trial and deposed for his activity and position within it. Van Til highlights that the modernists and ethicists won, as many former friends of Machen deserted him. Van Til was particularly disturbed by those who remained in the PCUSA under the rubric of letting “the illness run its course.” Van Til did not overlook the self-righteous, pious public statement that was issued by the PCUSA against Machen: It was not a “victory for modernists or fundamentalists but only for law and order” (79; Van Til’s tribute to Machen is letter 12).
Van Til’s letters also cover the birth and naming of the OPC. At this point, the conflict shifts from “unbelieving ministers” who signed the Auburn Affirmation to a different battle within the new church. Van Til understood this division in the new church as a conflict between the “well-tried Reformed truth” and “Arminian-chiliastic fundamentalism” (93). He gave specific attention to the premillennial position expressed in the Scofield Bible, a position not found in the Reformed confessional standards (92). Van Til also noted that the premillennial Scofield position undermines the covenant of grace. He further perceived that those committed to the premillennial dispensational viewpoint tended toward Arminianism (93).
At the Third General Assembly, the direction of the OPC was decisively determined. With respect to alcoholic beverages, the fundamentalists wanted the “teetotaler position as morally or ecclesiastically binding” upon the believer (110). Van Til understood, however, that the issue before the assembly was “much deeper than merely the teetotaler question” (113). When the vote was taken, the fundamentalists were decisively defeated. They subsequently withdrew from the new church and formed the Bible Presbyterian Synod, which accepted the Westminster Confession as it existed in 1936. According to Van Til’s deeper analysis, this meant that they accepted the “more or less Arminian additions of 1903” (114). Van Til was not shy about expressing that it was a “great blessing that Rev. Buswell, Rev. McIntire, and others have left us. They only did damage to the Reformed work that had begun here” (114).
Van Til’s letters are relentless in exposing the continual modernism in the PCUSA, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the ecumenical movements seeking denominational union. Van Til brilliantly noted that the pragmatic and utilitarian remnants from the nineteenth century formed the basis for such unity. This broad movement found in Karl Barth a pragmatic means of achieving unity while evading historic biblical and confessional orthodoxy. Van Til noted correctly: “They wanted the eternal counsel of God, but they also want the irrationalism of modern philosophy . . . the truth thus becomes relative” (60). Even early in his career, Van Til had already discerned the fundamental direction of Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, and theologians of like mind. Yet persuading others to listen and be on guard proved difficult.
As far as Van Til was concerned, the PCUSA and Princeton “simply let Barth be piloted into port under the Reformed flag” (124). The compromise was now in place: “One can be conservative and also be called Reformed, while simultaneously living at peace with modernist brothers, who accept biblical criticism and do not take the facts of history too narrowly” (126). When Brunner, and Otto Piper, were offered to come to Princeton, Van Til comments: “The fundamentalists are grumbling; the modernists discreetly laugh, and the Barthians go on their way” (136).
Ragusa provides a fine introduction to the volume, and it should be read carefully for essential background. This volume can serve as a wonderful introduction for those not familiar with Van Til as well as an invitation for Van Til’s critics within the OPC to reassess their judgments. Furthermore, our eyes must remain open to the different forms of fundamentalism that may emerge within the OPC. Van Til provides the kind of principled insight to address that danger. May we all enter deeply into this excellent volume with a spirit of self-criticism, seeking the preservation and advancement of biblical Reformed orthodoxy in Christ’s church!
The author is pastor of Emmanuel OPC in Kent, Washington.
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