“Carl F. H. Henry was born on January 22, 1913. He has only been dead for a few years now (since late 2003), and it’s still a little hard to believe he’s gone. Henry stamped his identity onto some of the central institutions of the evangelical establishment: Christianity Today, the National Association of Evangelicals, Fuller Seminary, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Generationally, he belongs to what Tom Brokaw calls “the greatest generation,” that age cohort that excelled in building up institutions and shared cultural forms. Henry certainly did his share of that.”
Carl Henry had his quirks and flaws, but he was fundamentally an important, incisive, and faithful theologian who strengthened the church and accomplished much for the kingdom.
Though he is unjustly pooh-poohed in some circles, he deserves to be emulated by a rising generation of scholars. His love for God and church, his desire to engage the lost (and the lost mind, especially), and his tireless work for the Lord are a model to us all. He did not content himself with mediocrity, but attempted to master his field and make a very significant and thoroughly evangelical (and Reformed) contribution to it. We don’t need less Henry (and Henrys), we need more.
