Carl F. H. Henry

Carl F. H. Henry (1913-2003) was an American evangelical theologian and philosopher who played a pivotal role in shaping twentieth-century evangelical intellectual engagement with modern culture. As founding editor of Christianity Today (1956-1968), Henry championed rigorous evangelical scholarship and cultural engagement. His magnum opus, the six-volume God, Revelation, and Authority (1976-1983), presented a comprehensive defense of propositional revelation and biblical authority against neo-orthodox and liberal theological trends. Henry argued for rational theism grounded in special revelation, maintaining that God's self-disclosure in Scripture provides objective truth accessible to human reason. He critiqued both fundamentalist anti-intellectualism and liberal accommodationism, advocating for evangelical social engagement rooted in biblical theology. His work significantly influenced evangelical philosophy of religion, epistemology, and ethics, establishing him as a leading architect of neo-evangelical thought and a major voice in twentieth-century discussions of divine revelation, religious knowledge, and theological method.