Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield

Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield

Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield , also known as BB Warfield (born November 5, 1851 in Lexington , Kentucky , † February 16, 1921 in Princeton , New Jersey ), was Rector of Princeton Theological Seminary from 1887 to 1921 and one of the most influential conservative theologians of his time .

Life

Warfield came from a distinguished family. His parents, William and Mary Cabell Warfield, were from Virginia and were wealthy. His mother came from the American political family Breckenridge: his maternal great-grandfather was John Breckinridge (1760-1806), a Senator and United States Attorney General , his uncle John C. Breckinridge was Vice President of the United States and a general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War . A distant relative of his was Wallis Simpson , who married Edward VIII , who renounced the throne because of this marriage.

Like many children of wealthy families at the time, Warfield was raised privately. In 1868 he entered Princeton University , where he took mathematics and science and graduated in 1871 with an excellent degree. From a trip to Europe, to the surprise of his friends and family, he decided to study theology and entered Princeton Theological Seminary in 1873 to prepare for the profession of Presbyterian pastor. He graduated in 1876.

He briefly preached as an assistant pastor in Concord, Kentucky and Dayton, Ohio . In August 1876 he married Annie Pierce Kinkead. At the end of the year he moved with her to Germany, where he studied under Christoph Ernst Luthardt and Franz Delitzsch . During this stay in Germany, Annie was struck by lightning and subsequently remained paralyzed. Benjamin nursed her in addition to his work as a theologian until her death in 1915.

Back in the United States, Warfield briefly served as an assistant pastor at the First Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland, and then became a teacher at Western Theological Seminary (now Pittsburgh Theological Seminary ). On April 26, 1879, he was ordained a pastor.

In 1881, Warfield co-wrote an article with AA Hodge on the inspiration of the Bible that attracted attention for his scientific and energetic defense of the Bible's inerrancy. Warfield tried to show that the Bible's inerrancy doctrine was simply Orthodox Christian teaching, and not a concept invented in the 19th century.

Warfield worked passionately to refute the liberal element in Presbyterianism and Christianity. Throughout his life he continued to write articles and books that are still widely read in the English-speaking world.

In 1887 Warfield became the rector of Princeton Seminary, succeeding AA Hodge and his father Charles Hodge . He remained in this position until his death.

Works (selection)

• The Lord of Glory: A Study of the Designations of Our Lord in the New Testament with Especial Reference to His Deity , (1907) London: Hodder and Stoughton
• Counterfeit Miracles , (1918) New York: C. Scribner's - "The Thomas Smyth lectures for 1917-1918, delivered at the Columbia Theological Seminary, Columbia, South Carolina, October 4-10, 1917.", modern edition: Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, ISBN 0-85151-166-X
• Perfectionism - Articles reprinted from periodicals, etc. edited by Ethelbert D. Warfield, William Park Armstrong, and Caspar Wistar Hodge. (1931) New York: Oxford University Press.
• Calvin and Calvinism , (1931) New York; London: Oxford University Press
  • Chapter 1: John Calvin: His Person and Work
• The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible / edited by Samuel G. Craig; with an introduction by Cornelius Van Til . (1948) Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed.
• Biblical and Theological Studies / edited by Samuel G. Craig, (1952) Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed.
• The Deity of Christ in the Fundamentals

literature

• Cousar, RW, Benjamin Warfield: His Christology and Soteriology , PhD thesis, Edinburgh University, 1954.
• McClanahan, James S., Benjamin B. Warfield: Historian of Doctrine in Defense of Orthodoxy , 1881-1921, PhD thesis, Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, 1988.
• Warfield Commemoration Issue, 1921-1971, The Banner of Truth , no. 89 (Feb. 1971).