Some recent questions about the fitness of the word "Fundamentalism" to designate our orthodox Christian convictions recall the remarks of the great evangelical Presbyterian leader, J. Gresham Machen, reported in his 1954 biography by Ned B. Stonehouse (Eerdmans, publisher).

When he was offered the presidency of the pro­posed Bryan Memorial University in 1927, he wrote of his profound appreciation of the offer, saying,

In these days of widespread defection from the Christian faith, I rejoice with all my heart in the warmth of Christian fellowship that unites me with those who, like you, love the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and are willing to bear the reproach to which a frank acceptance of the gospel subjects them in the presence of a hostile world.

Yet he did not feel free to accept the offer because of

1. his present commitments at Princeton,
2. his question of his suitability to such an administrative position, and
3. his attachment to a distinctively Presbyterian work.

He explained that he saw the current Liberal at­tack on the Christian faith as,

directed against the points wherein the Christian religion — Protestant and Catholic — differs from a radically different type of belief and of life is found today in all the larger ecclesiastical bodies; and in the presence of such a common enemy, those who unfeignedly believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ and are drawn into a new warmth of fellowship and new zeal for common service. Nevertheless, thoroughly consistent Christianity, to my mind, is found only in the Reformed or Calvinistic Faith; and consistent Christianity, I think, is the Christianity easiest to defend. Hence I never call myself a "Fundamentalist." There is, indeed, no inherent objec­tion to the term; and if the disjunction is between "Fundamentalism" and "Modernism," then I am willing to call myself a Fundamentalist of the most pronounced type. But after all, what I prefer to call myself is not a "Fundamentalist" but a "Calvinist" — that is, an adherent of the Reformed Faith. As such I regard myself as stan­ding in the great central current of the Church's life — the current which flows down from the Word of God through Augustine and Calvin, and which has found noteworthy expression in America in the great tradition represented by Charles Hodge and Benjamin Breckenridge War­field and the other representatives of the "Princeton School." I have the warmest sympathy with other evangelical churches, and a keen sense of agreement with them about those Christian con­victions which are today being most insistently assailed; but, for the present and least, I think I can best serve my fellow-Christians — even those who belong to ecclesiastical bodies different from my own — by continuing to be identified, very specifically, with the Presbyterian Church.pp 426-428

Later, in speaking at the opening exercises of Westminster Theological Seminary, he spoke of that school's commitment to the Bible, saying (p. 457)

That system of theology, that body of truth, which we find in the Bible, is the Reformed Faith, the Faith commonly called Calvinistic, which is set forth gloriously in the Confession and Catechisms of the Presbyterian Church. It is sometimes referred to as a "man-made creed." But we do not regard it as such. We regard it, in accordance with our ordination pledge as ministers in the Presbyterian Church, as the creed which God has taught us in his Word. If it is con­trary to the Bible, it is false. But we hold that it is not contrary to the Bible, but in accordance with the Bible, and true. We rejoice in the approxima­tions to that body of truth which other systems of theology contain; we rejoice in our Christian fellowship with other evangelical churches; we hope that members of other churches, despite our Calvinism, may be willing to enter into Westminster Seminary as students and to listen to what we may have to say. But we cannot consent to impoverish our message by setting forth less than what we find the Scriptures to contain; and we believe that we shall best serve our fellow-Christians, from whatever church they may come, if we set forth not some vague greatest common measure among various creeds, but that great historic Faith that has come through Augustin and Calvin to our own Presbyterian Church. Glorious is the heritage of the Reformed Faith. God grant that it may go forth to new triumphs even in the present time of unbelief!

(Perhaps it should be explained that what was called "Presbyterian" in the English setting dif­fered in no substantial way from the same move­ment that was called "Reformed" in the countries of Europe. When our churches took over part of the old Southern Presbyterian mission field in China, the name was not even changed. Today there is no real reason for perpetuating the historical and accidental difference of name between those who really share the same Biblical Reformed faith.)