Tuesday, April 8, 2025

It is the 8th of April 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Two more days of fun, all capped off with the first-ever live Christian History Almanac at noon Pacific time on Youtube- you can sign up at 1517.org/chacelebrate and get your tote bag.

One more note, as it's come up lately- at 1517.org, we post a transcript for the weekday shows- it is there that you will find any links that I reference. I script the show for the sake of accuracy and brevity even if I don’t read it exactly- that is available at the site- and there is a link to that in your pod app. For the weekend shows, there is no unofficial transcript, but Apple and Spotify both auto-generate a transcript if you want to check something- they're not bad, but not great.

I have another “favorite” character and episode today- one of the more underrated figures in 20th-century American church history and the interplay between fundamentalism, modernism, and evangelicalism. You can check the 1517 site for a link to one of my early weekend editions- the story of the life and death of Edward John Carnell. I first heard about him as an undergrad, and his story has been with me for decades now- who was he, and why has he so captivated me?

Carnell was born in Wisconsin in 1919 (the day the treaty of Versailles was signed ending World War 1) and grew up in Michigan- not much of a student and very much into cars. But he decided to follow his friends to Wheaton College- (the Westmont of the Midwest, a Christian Stansbury)- and there, under the tutelage of Gordon Haddon Clark, became enchanted with the life of the mind- as it related to philosophy and apologetics and Christian theology. In the 40s, he went on to get his Mdiv at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia before earning 2 PhDs- one at Harvard and one at Boston University.

He would eventually be called to the newly formed Fuller Seminary in Pasadena—a center for these “new evangelicals” who were neither comfortable with stringent Fundamentalism nor modernism on the left. He would become the second president of Fuller and remained at the seminary after his term ended as a professor of systematic theology and apologetics until his premature death in 1967 at the Claremont Hotel in Oakland, California.

Carnell represents to me someone of deep theological convictions who was also trying to bridge the gap between various movements, and this made him a target, especially from the Fundamentalists who criticized Fuller (it wasn’t associated with a denomination; it offended shibboleths created in the 20s and 30s) and he was too critical of figures like Niebuhr on the Left, and the right didn’t like him meeting with the likes of Karl Barth. He came under fire for telling Barth that he, too, had problems with some parts of Scripture- it certainly isn’t sinful to say “these things can be hard to believe,” but to admit that publicly while under scrutiny could lead to controversy when your opponents are looking to start some.  And so he is hounded in a way particular to Christians, unfortunately, and his mental state was perhaps not sufficient to withstand the public criticism.

His death was ruled an accidental overdose of sleeping pills- the same sleeping pills that led to the accidental overdose of Aimee Semple MacPherson (ironically, both while traveling in Oakland and in hotels just miles apart). Carnell suffered from insomnia and depression, and he had undergone electro-convulsive therapy. One of his biographers noted that when he himself went to see the coroner's report, he saw that it had been requested many times from people all over the country- was it suicide? Carelessness? A true accident? His death, however it happened, is tragic and a major part of his story. But his death is just part of the story- I am drawn to the figures in the last century (especially, but any century) who have the ability and desire to stick to their convictions, but also bridge divides in the church. The Fundamentalist Modernist divide is the great tragedy in the American church, and there are no easy answers, but Carnell was dedicated to working through it until his own frailties led to an early death. I’ve got the link in the transcript at 1517.org

CHA Weekend Edition: The Life and Death of Edward John Carnell — https://www.1517.org/podcast-overview/2022-11-05

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and 1 John 2.

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 8th of April 2025 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows Stansbury as the Harvard of the West- the college of choice for Jessie Spano- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who knows that while Stansbury is a pretend college on Saved by the Bell my hometown is home to the hilariously named ‘stanbridge’ university which is an upgrade over its original name: Executive 2000 University… oof, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.