Carl F. H. Henry | |
---|---|
Born | January 22, 1913 |
Died | December 7, 2003 | (aged 90)
Alma mater |
Boston University Northern Baptist Theological Seminary Wheaton College |
School | Evangelism, progressive fundamentalism |
Notable ideas
|
presuppositional apologetics |
Influences
|
Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry (January 22, 1913 – December 7, 2003) was an American evangelical Christian theologian who served as the first editor-in-chief of the magazine Christianity Today, which was established to serve as a scholarly voice for evangelical Christianity and a challenge to the liberal Christian Century.
Henry grew up in Long Island, NY as the son of German immigrants, Karl F. Heinrich and Johanna Vaethroeder (Väthröder). After his high school graduation in 1929 he began working in newspaper journalism. While not unacquainted with Christianity, his first experience indicating a personal God came as he worked at a weekly newspaper office, proofreading galleys with a middle-aged woman, Mildred Christy. When Henry used Christ's name as a swear word, Christy commented, "Carl, I'd rather you slap my face than take the name of my best Friend in vain."
In 1932, at the age of 19, he became editor of The Smithtown Times and later a stringer for The New York Times. The next year, after becoming a Christian, he decided to go to college to begin a life of Christian service. Dr. Frank E. Gaebelein, then headmaster of The Stony Brook School, gave him a catalogue to the evangelical, liberal arts Wheaton College. He enrolled in 1935, where he was greatly influenced by the philosophical teaching of Gordon Clark. While at Wheaton, Henry also taught typing and journalism. It was there that he met Helga whom he married in August 1940. He received both bachelor's and master's degrees from Wheaton. He then earned a Doctor of Theology degree from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also earned a PhD from Boston University in 1949.
His wife Helga Bender Henry was born in Cameroon, West Africa, the daughter of German born American missionaries. She wrote a book in 1955 about the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles. In 1999 she published Cameroon on a Clear Day about her parents work in that country.