wfn.org | ABCUSA: Carl F. H. Henry, Noted Leader in Evangelical Movement, Dies

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 12/16/03)--The Rev. Dr.
Carl F. H. Henry, an American Baptist educator, author and one of the
leading architects of the modern evangelical movement within Christianity,
died Dec. 7 at age 90.

Henry perhaps is best known as the founding editor of Christianity Today in
1956.  Asked by Billy Graham to assume that responsibility, Henry served as
editor from 1956 to 1968 and then editor-at-large from 1968 to 1977.  Under
his leadership Christianity Today became one of the most influential and
respected journals of evangelical thought and ministry. 

Henry was a faculty member at two American Baptist-related theological
schools: Northern Baptist Theological Seminary and Eastern Baptist
Theological Seminary.  He served at Northern (where he had received a B.D.
degree) as professor of theology from 1940 to 1947; Northern also honored
him as Alumnus of the Year in 1971.  He was visiting professor and then
professor-at-large at Eastern from 1969 to 1974.  

In addition he taught at Fuller Theological Seminary, which he helped found
in 1947 and where he served as the first dean, as well as other schools in
the U.S. and overseas.

Active in many educational and ecumenical bodies worldwide, Henry was chair
of the World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin in 1966 and program chair of
the Jerusalem Congress on Biblical Prophecy in 1970.  He was instrumental in
the founding of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Henry was the author of many books and articles, including The Uneasy
Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism and A Plea for Evangelical
Demonstration.

"He was an intellectual giant who had the mind of a scholar and a heart for
the church," said Northern Baptist Theological Seminary President Dr.
Charles Moore. "For Dr. Henry, the pursuit of truth was never merely an
intellectual exercise that was performed for the mere sake of inquiry; it
was always a path to take in an effort to equip the church to do the work of
the ministry for the glory of Christ. He was one of the best practicing
theologians that the evangelical community has ever known."

American Baptist Churches USA General Secretary the Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley
praised "Carl F. H. Henry's eloquent and compellingly authoritative
evangelical worldview."  Medley said that Henry "connected many of the
various strains of theological understanding within our diverse American
Baptist family, and helped evangelicals understand that their
Christ-centered ministries needed to function within--and for the benefit
of--society."	   

K/2003ABNS03ABN154

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org