Your Weekly Machen Fix: How the Attack was made on Princeton Seminary

Originally published in 1927.

It was observed at the beginnning of this pamphlet that by action of the General Assembly of 1927 the Board of Directors of Princeton Seminary, to which the conservative policy of the institution has been due, is to be dissolved and control is to be placed in the hands of what is now a minority, so that the policy will be reversed.

In the process by which this result has been attained, the first important step was the coming of Dr. J. Ross Stevenson as president of the Seminary.  Dr. Stevenson was, indeed, received with cordiality by the Faculty, and for some years enjoyed the confidence of the Board of Directors.  But in the course of time it became evident that he was seriously out of sympathy with the traditions of the institution and with the policy advocated both by the Directors and by the Faculty.

Under these circumstances, two courses of action were open to him.  In the first place, he might have resigned his position.  In that case, the distinctiveness of the institution would have been preserved.  Dr. Stevenson would have been perfectly free to pursue his own policy elsewhere; for there are many institutions and agencies which maintain exactly the same complacent view of the present state of religion which we think is so dangerous in a president of Princeton Seminary.  But the distinctivenss of Princeton within the larger communion of the Presbyterian Church would in that case have been preserved.  The thoroughgoing conservatives in the Church would have been allowed to retain at least one institution that represented their view.

This choice was rejected by Dr. Stevenson.  Instead of recognizing the distinctiveness and relative autonomy of the Seminary’s life, instead of abiding by the principle of majority rule within the institution’s Board of Directors, he preferred to appeal from the policy of that Board to the larger tribunal of the General Assembly.  The result of such appeal is the action of last May, by which the Board of Directors is to be abolished, and, instead, there is to be a single board of control which will undoubtedly support Dr. Stevenson’s views.  This action, we think, is extremely unjust; and we are appealing to the Church at large to reverse the decision next year, before the reorganization of the institution is actually put in effect.

Such reversal would not necessarily mean that the General Assemlby is itself opposed to Dr. Stevenson’s policy or in favor of the policy of the Board.  But it would mean simply that the Assembly recognizes the right of various theological seminaries to maintain distinctive views within the larger communion of the Church.  Princeton Seminary is not the only seminary in the Presbyterian Church.  There are other seminaries; and they represent widely different points of view.  Why should the distinctiveness of no other seminary be interfered with except the seminary that most clearly maintains the full truthfulness of the Bible as the Word of God?  Why should “Liberal” seminaries be left alone, and only this conservative seminary be destroyed?  The truth is that unless the disruption of the Presbyterian Church is to take place at once, the conservatives in the Church, no matter how extreme their attitude may be thought by others to be, must be allowed to have at least one seminary that clearly and unequivocally represents their view.  If the conservatives are to be retained in the church at all, they must have at least one theological institution, not that others think is sound, but that they think is sound.  Princeton Seminary is such an institution, and the interference with its distinctive character that is contemplated by the action of the last General Assembly would be an act of the greatest injustice.  Against such injustice, we appeal to the sense of fair play among the rank and file of the Presbyterian Church.