Things Unseen: A Systematic Introduction to the Christian Faith and Reformed Theology

“Virtually every page bristles with ideas for preaching and communicating the great doctrines of the faith...An unparalleled storehouse of great illustrations, delineations, and arguments for Christian doctrines. There is nothing quite like it.”

“It is not always the case that an individual with such massive learning is as gifted a popular communicator as Machen...There is no dichotomy here between the preacher, the biblical scholar, and the systematic theologian. For orthodoxy, clarity, and sheer gospel verve they are hard to beat.”

“Truly great biblical doctrine does not become outdated...Dominant in Machen’s address is, in a word, the gospel...A significant influence in my life, and I have had occasion to return to them always with great profit.”

“The recovery of this work of J. Gresham Machen is not like finding a gold mine in the mountains, it is more like discovering a diamond mine. It is a true treasure—one of sparkling jewels and glorious truth. To mine this treasure is to find a deposit in heaven.”

“With the exegetical skills of a renowned New Testament scholar, the passionate precision of a defender of the faith, and the sweet sympathy of a human being, Machen treats theology as urgent life-and-death communication. Some of his references might be dated (by nine decades or so), but the substance remains as relevant as ever. I can think of few teachers of the past who are more reliable and rewarding to read, and now we can read his insights across the whole span of Christian doctrine.”

“J. Gresham Machen was a man of his times, enmeshed in protracted and penetrating conflict over the triumphant liberalism of his day. He was also a man who transcended his times, because he undertook, with rare learning and clear-sighted understanding, the defense of the faith ‘once for all entrusted to God’s holy people’ (Jude 3). His Christianity and Liberalism, for instance, written almost a century ago, still sounds amazingly prophetic. This present volume brings together 50 of Machen’s radio talks of the 1930s, preserving Machen’s voice and emphases in an idiom that is more popular than his more academic books, but no less important. Machen is always worth reading.”

“J. Gresham Machen was one of the most prescient and courageous Christian theologians of the early 20th century. During his life, Machen was a clear and consistent voice for Christian orthodoxy and evangelical truth in the face of liberalism. This collection of lectures is a valuable addition to the Machen library. They reflect the heart of Machen’s ministry and provide yet another compelling presentation of Reformed Christianity. Machen’s works are as relevant now as they were when they were first written. These lectures are no exception.”

“These popular essays show the heart of J. Gresham Machen: brilliant, clear, and persuasive, calling everyone to faith and life in Jesus. They will bless and encourage all who read them.”

“J. Gresham Machen was one of the best thinkers and writers among Reformed theologians before his untimely death on New Year’s Day of 1937. Machen’s writing is always crisp and clear, without any compromise of cogent argument. When Machen finishes dealing with an unbelieving argument, I always feel that there is nothing more to be said on the unbelieving side. Even though this work is over eighty years old now, I would not hesitate to give it to someone today seeking to learn about the Reformed system of thought.”

“All of the qualities that enabled J. Gresham Machen to make such an important contribution to English-speaking Protestantism—theological tenacity, clarity of mind, readability, and courageous conviction—are easy to see in this instructive and edifying collection of essays. These talks show once again that doctrine has consequences, with Machen as a superbly gifted guide to the significance of what the church confesses about Christ.”

“J. Gresham Machen was one of the leading Christian scholarly voices of the last century. His ability to distill theology into clear, direct terms intelligible to a lay readership and to explain the gospel to the uncommitted is nowhere better demonstrated than in these radio broadcasts that have here been put in writing. I hope they obtain as wide a readership as possible.”

“Reading Machen’s Things Unseen is like reading C. S. Lewis. At first it feels so simple, the waters seem shallow, then without realizing it, you find yourself in deep waters, enthralled at the mystery of the truth of God’s Word.”

“In J. Gresham Machen, God gave the church an inimitable champion of biblical orthodoxy and gospel clarity. This book will show you why Machen is one of American evangelicalism’s most important 20th-century thinkers. More to the point, this book will ground you firmly in what it means to see in the face of Jesus Christ the grace and truth and glory of God.”

“J. Gresham Machen wore many hats in his illustrious career, including New Testament scholar, apologist, seminary founder, and churchman. In this welcome volume, we meet Machen the clear and sturdy catechist of Presbyterian doctrine. On every page, Machen commends ‘the pattern of sound words’ revealed in Holy Scripture and confessed by the church, bringing the reader into contact with the invisible things of God so that he or she may meet the visible realities of this life in a God-honoring manner.”

“J. Gresham Machen’s essays are timeless, though set in the swirling currents of his day, because the Christian faith he describes, the faith revealed in the Scriptures by the Spirit, rises above time. His learned rhetoric, his passionate defense of Christian orthodoxy, his love of the Savior and his church make what you will find in these pages a delight to read, a source of spiritual strengthening, and a bulwark against the destructive effects of a contemporary scholarship that continues to denigrate the Creator, Redeemer, and only Judge of mankind.”

“The life and teaching of J. Gresham Machen are rightly revered by contemporary Christians who prize Reformed orthodoxy. Machen’s compelling voice lives again in the pages of this masterful treatment of Christian doctrine. As a theologian for ordinary Christians, his clear and concise communication of biblical truth will draw new readers into a deeper and more personal knowledge of the risen Christ.”

“J. Gresham Machen was a theological titan, a champion of the truth, a guardian of the gospel, and a contender for the faith. In a declining day of spiritual apostasy, he was mightily used by God to teach sound doctrine and refute those who contradicted it. His strong stance, even while others around him were crumbling, marks him as a man to whom we must give strictest consideration. I rejoice to see this long-awaited volume of Machen’s collected writings assembled together into one body of divinity. Blessed will be the reader who devours and absorbs these God-exalting truths.”

“It is not hyperbole to say that J. Gresham Machen is one of the most— some would say the most—significant Christian thinkers of the 20th century. His sobering apologetic against Protestant liberalism was a timely alarm, exposing liberalism’s illegitimate claim to the Christian religion. But now, thanks to Westminster Seminary Press, Machen’s voice is heard once again— yet this time Machen puts forward a positive presentation of the Christian faith. Things Unseen is saturated throughout with doctrinal truth as Machen, with urgency in his voice, calls sinners back to the Bible to hear the voice of God afresh and to receive the eternal life only God himself can give through Christ.”

“In C. S. Lewis like fashion, Gresham Machen’s radio broadcasts were of a caliber unimaginable in today’s world. These snapshot portraits of doctrine, delivered in exquisite prose designed to be heard as much as read, are simply breathtaking. An accessible compendium of theology that will prove to be the gold-standard for years to come. An outstanding achievement.”

“Here is the provocative premise of this countercultural book: At a time when the world’s immediate political, social, and economic crises overwhelm us, the most ‘practical’ act for us is to attend to our soul and its relation to God. It is, says Machen, impossible to deal successfully with the world’s problems until we have come to be right with God. Fifty radio talks spell out what this involves in prose that is as personally engaging and understandable as it is profound in its robust defense of orthodox Christianity. Machen’s vision remains as timely for our day as it was in the 1930s; a time eerily like our own.”

“Professor J. Gresham Machen, first of Princeton, then founder of Westminster Theological Seminary, was writing at a time when his scholarly but profoundly believing testimony made a tremendous difference in both the intellectual and popular mind of the American people, and far beyond them into Britain and Europe. It was written at the height of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy that lasted from before World War I to II. The modernists had taken on board the skeptical principles of the 18th-century European Enlightenment, which openly denied Holy Scripture as a divine revelation of truth from the triune God—as well as miracles and the deity of Christ—and replaced it with the ever-changing ideas of the mind of man. It was their delight to point out that the Fundamentalists were largely uneducated, simplistic, and backward and were thus not worthy to be followed by cultured people. Machen, in this book as well as in others, set them back seriously by demonstrating the good sense made by the ancient truth of the Christian tradition, based upon an assumption of the reliability of the Word of God written. He showed that their Enlightenment principles were, in effect, another sort of faith or religion, and one by no means required by the advances of science and the progress of thought. On the contrary, Holy Scripture made much greater sense of a clear reading of nature, as well as providing an access to the saving grace of God. This volume is typical of the best of Machen’s thought: it gives clarity and profundity in its exposition of the great truths that must be faced by any enquiring mind, and therefore, it is absolutely contemporary and is a guide to us today.”

“J. Gresham Machen enjoys a richly deserved reputation for his unwavering commitment to the historic Christian faith. In the face of devastating attacks upon the foundations of Christian theology in the early decades of the 20th century, Machen stood in the breach and offered a trenchant case against liberalism in his classic work, Christianity and Liberalism. With the publication of this volume of Machen’s radio talks on Reformed theology, a new generation of believers will be introduced to Machen at his best. Readers will enjoy a rich feast of clear doctrinal instruction in the basic tenets of Reformed theology. But they will also witness a wonderful model of a Christian apologist who was always prepared to give a defense to anyone of the reason for the hope that is in us, ‘yet with gentleness and respect’ (1 Pet 3:15).”

“Early in my Christian life I read J. Gresham Machen’s classic, Christianity and Liberalism, and it did not leave my thinking and life unchanged. What struck me was Machen’s thoughtful, clear, biblically rich, theologically faithful, and Christ-centered defense of the Christian faith, which was also evident in all of his writings. I am simply thrilled to see back in print a collection of Machen’s talks which set forth the glory and beauty of Christian doctrine for another generation. We all stand on the shoulders of giants and Machen is certainly a giant of the Christian faith. Take up this work and read it with delight as once again Machen reminds us of the glory of our triune God, the authority of his Word, and the wonder of God’s grace as given in Christ Jesus our Lord. I hope this book will receive a wide reading for today’s church in a day which desperately needs sound theology and there is no one better to do so than J. Gresham Machen.”

“This collection of radio talks shows all Machen’s qualities as a great scholar, a sure-footed theologian, and a fearless champion of biblical Christianity. These addresses are still remarkably contemporary, covering almost the whole range of Christian truth, and robustly intellectual; the beginner will find them easily accessible, the seasoned thinker will find fresh stimulus, and the defender of the faith will take fresh courage.”

“In Things Unseen you get vintage Machen: a top-shelf mind, making the deepest truths of Christianity clear and its absolute claims plain to everyone. Something of a Presbyterian C. S. Lewis in this regard, Machen knew that simplicity need not be sacrificed for the sake of profundity. In this first-rate, if sadly unfinished, volume of theology and apologetics you get both. Take it up and read to learn, to be strengthened and challenged, but most of all to be welcomed into a deeper communion with the living God.”

“Someone said recently that we need ‘a new Machen’ to speak insightfully to present-day theological confusions. That would be great. But, thank the Lord, the old Machen does continue to teach us. These wonderful essays speak powerfully to all of us today—and with refreshing clarity.”

“In these still-timely essays we meet profundity wed with clarity. Illustrations from Machen’s colorful life abound. His gift for practical expression shines, as does his knack for gentle suasion. Though he died in 1937, Machen sounds like a contemporary pundit in observing that ‘we are in the midst of a tremendous emergency.’ The response Machen offers: Help in rediscovering ‘an old Book that has been sealed by the seals of prejudice and unbelief,’ so that readers may ‘come into communion with the living God.’ This is a model of biblically faithful, creative, and insightful social commentary and theological exposition.”

“These essays on the Reformed faith were forged long ago in the furnace of debate. They are, however, as fresh today, and as compelling, as they were when they were first delivered. Machen speaks with clarity, conviction, a matchless command of the subject, and with the wind of historic Christianity behind him.”

“J. Gresham Machen is one of a select band of Christian writers of whom it can truly be said that ‘he being dead, yet speaketh.’ This republication of some of his most important talks will be widely welcomed by those who appreciate his strong and learned defense of orthodoxy, and it will make his thought more accessible to a younger generation.”

“I am so delighted that the faculty at Westminster Theological Seminary has decided to compile and publish these theological essays to present to the church this wonderful gift of the substance of Machen’s theology. I hope that it gets a wide reading within the contemporary church so that its members might also recognize the present emergency of becoming blind to the things of God and to an ‘unseen world.’ In a very accessible and engaging way, Machen gives us a needed exhortation to pursue the true knowledge of God.”

“J. Gresham Machen was a hero of the faith and a rare scholar who mastered technical scholarship, popular writing, and dedicated himself to the life of the church. Machen’s timeless monograph, Christianity and Liberalism, demonstrates that his clear and orthodox voice still resonates today. Readers will find that his almost-lost Things Unseen will speak with the same abiding authority.”

“I first encountered J. Gresham Machen’s work as an undergraduate student grappling with modern challenges to the Christian faith. I found in him a mind passionate for the truth and a heart aflame with the gospel. Both of these traits shine through in these essays from the 1930s. We still need to hear what he had to say.”

“Sanity regained in a world gone mad. J. Gresham Machen writes with a heart of love for the Lord Jesus. Cool, clear, and fresh as a mountain stream, he bubbles with living water. Doctrinal indifference, a big issue in his day, is the black plague of ours. The antidote to truth decay is his clarity about who Jesus was, what he said and did, and, above all, how he lives and reigns today.”

“These gems by J. Gresham Machen are essential reading now for thoughtful Christians. Historians of conservative Protestantism will also greatly benefit from these essays. . . Machen distills the core doctrines of Christian theology that he fought so hard to defend against the acids of modernity. Listen for Machen’s voice as you read these transcriptions. Lend your ear to this man whose apologetic labors hastened his tragic, early death.”

“J. Gresham Machen was one of the lions of Reformed evangelical thought in the 20th century. His clarity of thought and courage borne of a deep conviction and a personal walk with the God about whom he spoke and wrote suffuses this entire book. With disarming simplicity, Machen presents the most important truths in the world and challenges us all to take them seriously. We need more of such clarity and directness today.”

“J. Gresham Machen was the towering intellectual defender of historic Christianity during one of the most turbulent periods in American church history. These lectures on Reformed theology, delivered in the heat of the battle, are not merely an important theological voice from the past; they will encourage your faith today.”

“The church is rightly indebted to Machen for his and his associates’ principled stand against the onslaught of liberalism in the academy and church. To these men Christianity was first and foremost about truth and that truth as revealed in Scripture and confessed by the church. It is because truth lies at the heart of true religion that he, in particular, had a passion to share it with lay people. This laypersons’ guide to systematic theology proves to be an excellent introduction to the faith once delivered to the saints.”

“Almost eighty years after his death, J. Gresham Machen’s voice still speaks with timeliness. In our day, when people question whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God, Dr. Machen’s cogent exposition of Scripture in these essays provides needed clarity.”

“Why am I regularly surprised at the way past authors speak powerfully to the present day? This is the way of all gifted authors: though they write in the past and thus in quite different circumstances, their writings have a timeless quality that more often than not makes them far more relevant than so much contemporary ephemera. Thus it is with these rich and lucid theological meditations of Gresham Machen: the 1930s were different in many ways than the present, but again and again his words address modern issues with such aplomb that they could have been written yesterday. Highly recommended.”

“This powerful book on Christian theology fully displays what made Machen great. We see his relentless logic in the clarity of his thinking and the lucidity of his prose.”

“Here is theology that floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. In these essays Machen defends biblical doctrine with punch and quite stunning verve. Fresh, enlightening, and logically compelling, this is not only good theology but a model of good apologetics.”