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The Christian Faith Under Modern Searchlights
The L. P. Stone Lectures Delivered
at Princeton Theological Seminary
The Christian Faith Under Modern Searchlights
By
WILLIAM HALLOCK JOHNSON, Ph. D., D.D.
Professor of Greek and New Testament Literature
in Lincoln University, Pennsylvania
With an Introduction by
FRANCIS LANDEY PATTON, D.D., LL.D.
President Emeritus of Princeton Theological Seminary
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To
V. S. F.
Introduction
[Pg 5]
It was my good fortune to hear the lectures contained in this volumewhen they were given in the Miller Chapel of Princeton TheologicalSeminary. The high estimate I then formed of them has since beenenhanced by the reading of the proof-sheets.
Professor Johnson is a well-trained student of philosophy and for someyears has been professionally engaged in the teaching of New Testamentcriticism. He may therefore be trusted as a competent judge of theissues that are raised by anti-Christian thought in the two great fieldsof contemporary controversy.
The only view of Christianity worth contending for in any serious way isthat which regards it as a supernatural revelation. The author stateshis own position in the first lecture. This position is antagonized bythose who hold a naturalistic or pantheistic view of the world and alsoby those who, whatever may be their philosophy, are using the weapons ofhistorical criticism to discredit miraculous Christianity.
I can imagine that there are two classes of Christians for whom theselectures will have only a moderate interest: those who are possessed ofa strong and aggressive faith and who are impatient of all discussion[Pg 6]that seems to carry with it the implication that their religiousconvictions stand in need of any defense; and those who, by reason oftheir easy acquiescence in the conclusions of a minimizing theology,look upon such discussions as having a tendency to divide the householdof faith and to divert attention from the activities of the Church.
There is, however, I am confident, a large class of men in and out ofthe Church who would welcome a clear statement of the case ofChristianity in