On July 28, 1881, J. Gresham Machen was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Four decades later he was an important figure in the Presbyterian controversy between conservatives and modernists, thanks in part to his 1923 book, Christianity and Liberalism, which (if you do the math) turns 100 this year.

Co-hosts ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Miles Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Anglican), ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠D. G. Hart⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Presbyterian), and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Korey Maas⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Lutheran) talked earlier this week about Machen, his book, and the author's significance. This may look like shameless self-promotion on the part of the Presbyterian co-host whose dissertation at Johns Hopkins University turned into an intellectual biography of Machen, and who later wrote a book on confessional Protestantism inspired by Machen's own defense of the Reformed confessions for his own Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. But because of the 100th anniversary of Christianity and Liberalism, many editors (print and audio) have been holding forums on Machen. We figured, much to the relief of the Presbyterian co-host, that if Lutherans and Baptists could devote podcasts to Machen and his book, why not the only pan-confessional confessional pudcast IN THE WORLD!?!

This episode takes the Machen temperature of Anglicans and Lutherans and also delves into the reception of Machen within each of the co-host's formation and education.

No sponsors this time, but if editors publishing reprints of Christianity and Liberalism want to send us a thank-you note, we would be delighted to hear from them.

Listeners may not follow Miles Smith or D. G. Hart any more on Twitter. They must now use X for @IVMiles and @oldlife. Maybe the change of platforms will finally capture Korey Maas.

(many thanks to our Southern audio engineer who makes this pudcast possible.)

Machen Day for Confessional Protestants

Paleo Protestant Pudcast