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After he received his divinity degree in , he supplied the First Presbyterian Church of Dayton, Ohio, and while he was in Dayton, he married Annie Pearce Kinkead, the daughter of a prominent attorney, on August 3, Soon after he married Annie, the couple set sail on an extended study trip in Europe for the winter of It was sometime during this voyage that the newly weds went through a great storm and Annie suffered an injury that debilitated her for the rest of her life; the biographers differ as to whether the injury was emotional, physical, or a combination of the two.
Sometime during , according to Ethelbert Warfield, Benjamin was offered the opportunity to teach Old Testament at Western Seminary, but he turned the position down because he had turned his study emphasis to the New Testament despite his early aversion to Greek vii. In November , he began his supply ministry at the First Presbyterian Church of Baltimore, where he continued until the following March.
He returned to Kentucky and was ordained as an evangelist by Ebenezer Presbytery on April 26, In September of , Benjamin began his career as a theological educator when he became an instructor in New Testament Literature and Exegesis at Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh. Western Seminary had been formed by the merger of existing seminaries including Danville Seminary, which R.
The following year he was made professor of the same subject and he continued in that position until In his inaugural address for Professor of New Testament Exegesis and Literature, April 20, , he set the theme for many of his writing efforts in the succeeding years by defending historic Christianity. He quickly established his academic reputation for thoroughness and defense of the Bible.
Many heard of his academic acumen and his scholarship was awarded by eastern academia when his alma mater , the College of New Jersey, awarded him an honorary D. Benjamin enjoyed a busy schedule at Princeton. When the Presbyterian Review was discontinued, he planned and produced the Presbyterian and Reformed Review until the Faculty of Princeton renamed it the Princeton Theological Review in During his Princeton years he was awarded several times with honorary degrees in addition to his D.
Sometimes his articles would be republished in pamphlet or book form. His apologetic sense for responding to error in a timely fashion most often led him to use scholarly journals and other periodicals. In connection with his interest in the Westminster Confession, he had opportunities to write concerning revising the Confession in both the s and the early twentieth century.
One area of particular concern Warfield addressed frequently was defending the New Testament against the German higher critics and their teachings. Some have wondered why B. B Warfield did not publish a systematic theology. Some of the issues Dr. African Americans , evolution, seminary curriculum, ministerial education, baptism, the victorious Christian life, can dreams convey revelation, and women speaking in the church.
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He also published, in , selections from Dr. A short pamphlet of Dr. Other works were translated into Dutch and Spanish. One of his non-theological interests was collecting postcards. In the early twentieth century, the production of postcards was a growing industry that supplied the new hobby of postcard collecting.
The colorful, inexpensive, and handy cards were used by tourists to inform their friends of the progress of their trips and give them a glimpse of lands they would probably not be able to see otherwise. Postcard collecting was an activity that the Warfields could have enjoyed together, though Annie may have had the greatest involvement in the collection due to her homebound situation.
One card was from C. Andrews Cathedral. There are several cards from Oxford University picturing scenes from the various colleges. Each of the cards collected by the Warfields was placed carefully in its album and ordered according to the part of the world from which it came. Warfield was particularly prolific in publishing book notices and reviews.
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Meeter and Nicole note in the preface to their bibliography that they excluded over a thousand book reviews and notices that were less than one page in length or judged of little interest to the typical theologically oriented user of their book. Fred G. He is the author of The Theology of B. Warfield and Warfield on the Christian Life , coauthor of New Covenant Theology , and has published numerous booklets, articles, and book reviews.
Ryan Lister. What does it mean that God condescended in Christ and dwells with us through His Spirit? Graham A. Jesus came into the world as the incarnate Son of God to accomplish more than one thing and defeating the devil by tasting death was among them. What is Christian ethics and what role should it play in the life of a believer?
From the very beginning, Eden was not meant to be static; it was headed somewhere. Bibles Books Tracts Articles Donate. Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield is best known as the theologian of the doctrine of inspiration. Inspiration was not B. Warfield was a distinctly Reformed theologian. Warfield was one of the greatest theologians America has ever produced.
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Warfield on the Christian Life Fred G. Zaspel This volume accessibly outlines B. Cole November 20, Jesus came into the world as the incarnate Son of God to accomplish more than one thing and defeating the devil by tasting death was among them. Calvinism is just religion in its purity. We have only, therefore, to conceive of religion in its purity, and that is Calvinism.
Selected Shorter Writings, I, p. Index of Princeton Review Page Page Warfield Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield November 5, - February 16, was the principal of Princeton Seminary from to Education Like many children born into a wealthy family, Warfield's childhood education was private.
Benjamin warfield biography children: Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (November 5, – February 16, ) was an American professor of Reformed theology at Princeton Seminary from to He served as the last principal of the Princeton Theological Seminary from to
Ministry For a short time in he preached in Presbyterian churches in Concord, Kentucky and Dayton, Ohio as a "supply pastor" - the latter church calling him to be their ordained minister which he politely refused. Scripture During his tenure, his primary thrust and that of the seminary was an authoritative view of the Bible. Calvinism Underpinning much of Warfield's theology was his adherence to Calvinism as espoused by the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Zaspel, The Theology of B. Warfield: A Systematic Summary. Gary L. Johnson, ed. Warfield: Essays on His Life and Thought. His book Counterfeit Miracles advocated cessationism over and against miracles after the time of the Apostles. Such attacks did not go unnoticed, and even today Warfield is criticized by proponents of revivalism in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.
Underpinning much of Warfield's theology was his adherence to Calvinism as espoused by the Westminster Confession of Faith. It is sometimes forgotten that, in his battles against modernism on the one hand, and against revivalism on the other, he was simply expressing the Calvinist faith when applied to certain situations.
It was Warfield's belief that the 16th century Reformers, as well as the 17th century Confessional writers, were merely summarizing the content and application of Scripture.
Benjamin warfield biography
New revelations, whether from the minds of celebrated scholars or popular revivalists, were therefore inconsistent with these confessional statements and therefore inconsistent with Scripture. Throughout his ministry, Warfield contended that modern world events and thinking could never render such confessions obsolete.
Such an attitude still prevails today in many Calvinist churches and Christians who embrace Calvinism. Calvinism is just religion in its purity. We have only, therefore, to conceive of religion in its purity, and that is Calvinism. Warfield's views on evolution have been a source of dispute. Scholars David N.
Livingstone and Mark A. Noll highlighted Warfield's statements on evolution to demonstrate his acceptance of the theory in their article A Biblical Inerrantist as Evolutionist. Zaspel argues that these statements have led Livingstone and Noll to assume too much about Warfield's views on the subject. Zaspel writes "That Warfield actually committed himself to a doctrine of evolution seems impossible to affirm simply because although there are some indications that he entertained the idea, he never admits to accepting it.
Warfield studied and wrote about Charles Darwin 's religious views. In an article on Darwin's religious life, he concluded that Darwin's doctrine of evolution directly expelled Darwin's Christian belief. Warfield writes, "Thus the doctrine of evolution once heartily adopted by him Darwin gradually undermined his faith, until he cast off the whole Christianity as an unproven delusion.
His review of The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin included this statement: "There have been many evolutionists who have been and have remained theists and Christians. In his article Calvin's Doctrine of Creation , Warfield wrote "It should scarcely be passed without remark that Calvin's doctrine of creation is, if we have understood it aright, for all except the souls of men, an evolutionary one.
The 'indigested mass,' including the 'promise and potency' of all that was yet to be, was called into being by the simple fiat of God. But all that has come into being since- except the souls of men alone — has arisen as a modification of this original world-stuff by means of the interaction of its intrinsic forces. Not these forces apart from God, of course…" [ 8 ] And further more he says, "What concerns us here is that he [Calvin] ascribed the entire series of modifications by which the primal 'indigested mass,' called 'heaven and earth,' has passed into the form of the ordered world which we see, including the origination of all forms of life, vegetable and animal alike, inclusive doubtless of the bodily form of man, to the second causes as their proximate account.
And this, we say, is a very pure evolutionary scheme.
Warfield also points out that, "Calvin doubtless had no theory whatsoever of evolution; but he teaches a doctrine of evolution. It was already familiar to Greek philosophy. More particularly Aristotle raised it to the rank of the leading principle of his entire system by significant distinction between potentia and actus This idea of development aroused no objection whatsoever in Christian theology and philosophy.
On the contrary, it received extension and enrichment by being linked with the principle of theism. I do not think that there is any general statement in the Bible or any part of the account of creation, either as given in Genesis 1 and 2 or elsewhere alluded to, that need be opposed to evolution. Warfield [ 10 ]. While he was certainly supportive of political moves within various churches to strengthen and push conservative theology, he was never interested in the actual process itself, preferring to use his work at Princeton to influence future generations of Presbyterian ministers.
Warfield came from a family of emancipationists and was himself an outspoken opponent of racial segregation and racism at Princeton Seminary. However, that influence was limited to certain areas. In apologetics , Warfield was a thoroughgoing evidentialist and the most prominent exponent of the Old Princeton school, whereas van Til, who was the most prominent figure in the Dutch wing of presuppositionalist apologetics, absolutely rejected the central tenets of Old Princeton evidentialism and protested violently against the evidentialism of his contemporary J.
Oliver Buswell. Warfield's influence on contemporary evangelicalism can be seen in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item.