Chronology

A Chronological Outline of Key Events in Machen’s Life

• July 20, 1827 Father, Arthur Webster Machen, born
• June 17, 1849  Mother, Mary Jones Gresham, born
• 1876  Brother, Arthur, born
• July 28, 1881  Machen born in Baltimore
• 1881  Francis Patton comes to Princeton as professor
• 1886  Brother, Thomas, born
• 1888  Francis Patton becomes president of Princeton
• Jan. 4, 1896  Machen became confessing member of Franklin St. Presbyterian Church
• 1897 William Park Armstrong graduates from Princeton
• Nov. 3, 1898 - Machen enters Johns Hopkins on three-year program
• 1889, 1900, 1902 Machen attended the Northfield Conference
• 1901  Machen editor of The Hullabaloo, the school annual, the Banjo Club and the Chess Club
• April 15, 1901  Machen elected Phi Beta Kappa
• Fall, 1901  Machen began a year of graduate studies in Classics at Johns Hopkins
• Summer, 1902  Machen took a course in banking and international law at U. of Chicago
• Fall, 1902  Machen entered Princeton Seminary
• 1903  His cousin, LeRoy Gresham, left law in Baltimore to study at Union Seminary in Richmond
• 1903  Mary Machen published The Bible in Browning
• 1904  Machen won the Middler Prize in NT Exegesis with paper on John 1:1-18
• Spring, 1904  Patton confers with Machen about preparing for a professorship at the Seminary in NT
• Summer, 1904  Machen goes to Germany to learn German better
• 1905  Machen won the senior essay contest with “A Critical Discussion of the NT Account of the Virgin Birth of Jesus”
• Spring, 1905  Machen’s graduation from Princeton
• Oct., 1905 and Jan. 1906  Publication of senior essay in the Princeton Seminary Review.
• 1905-1906  Machen studies in Germany (Marburg and Goettingen)
• Mar. 11, 1906  Armstrong asks him to join faculty of Princeton.
• June 13, 1906 Machen is invited by Warfield’s brother, the president of Lafayette College to come and teach Greek and German.
• August 21, 1906 Machen arrives back in America.
• Fall, 1906  Machen accepts a year’s appointment to Princeton to assist Armstrong in NT.
• Feb., 1909  “Student rebellion” at Princeton
• 1907-08 Machen announced a course on the birth narratives. His magnum opus, The Virgin Birth of Christ appeared in 1930.
• 1909  Machen began to supplement Huddlestone’s Essentials of New Testament Greek, an effort which became, New Testament Greek for Beginners in 1923.
• 1909  Warfield’s message on Calvinism at the 400th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth stirred Machen deeply.
• 1910-1915  Publication of The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth
• Sept. 12, 1912  Machen gave address “Christianity and Culture” at opening of 101st session of Princeton.
• Jan. 4, 1913 Machen got his first major recognition as a scholar of international attention when Adolf Harnack reviewed in Theologische Literaturzeitung Machen’s articles on the first chapters of Luke.
• Nov. 1913  Machen came under the care of his Presbytery at age 32.
• April, 1914  Machen was licensed.
• June 23, 1914  Machen was ordained at Plainsboro, NJ.
• May, 1914  Machen was elected to Assistant Professor of NT
• 1914  J. Ross Stevenson elected President of Princeton.
• January, 1915  Machen hears Billy Sunday
• 1914  Machen wrote the weekly lessons for the Board of Christian Education Senior Course of Sunday School.
• April, 1915  Machen turns down invitation to Union in Richmond.
• May 3, 1915  Machen installed at professor at Princeton.
• December 19, 1915 Machen’s father died at the age of 88.
• April 6, 1917  America declared war.
• Nov. 11, 1918 War ended.
• May 6, 1919  Address to alumni and then published the address in the Presbyterianunder the title “The Church in the War”
• Summer, 1920  Controversy at General Assembly over the Plan of Union
• Feb. 16, 1921  Benjamin Warfield died.
• Summer, 1921 General Assembly sees the Plan of Union was defeated in the Presbyteries.
• Jan. 1921  Machen delivered Sprunt Lectures at Richmond on the Origin of Paul’s religion.
• Oct. 9, 1921 The Origin of Paul’s Religion published
• May 22, 1922  Harry Emerson Fosdick preached “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?”
• Feb. 1923  Publication of Christianity and Liberalism.
• Summer, 1923  General Assembly in Indianapolis elects liberal moderator by 24 votes with delegates about evenly divided (C. F. Wishart over William Jennings Bryant)
• Jan. 9, 1924  150 clergymen publish “An Affirmation designed to Safeguard the Unity and Liberty of the Presbyterian Church in the USA” called the Auburn Declaration with 1300 eventual signatures.
• March 1, 1925  Machen ceased to be the stated preacher of First Church of Princeton because of accusations of van Dyke
• Summer, 1925  1) Charles Erdman, prof. of practical theology elected as Moderator of General Assembly. 2) Machen writes What Is Faith with a view to Grove City Bible Conference.
• Nov. 1925  What Is Faith published by Macmillan
• Dec. 2, 1925  Machen gives Committee of Fifteen his reasons for believing that Modernism was infecting the Church
• Jan. 12, 1926  Lecture “Shall We Have a Federal Department of Education”
• Feb. 24, 1926  Machen testifies on Education bills before congressional committee.
• April 13, 1926  Machen votes no at Presbytery of New Brunswick meeting against the 18th (prohibition) amendment.
• May, 1926  Machen elected by Directors to the chair of Apologetics.
• Summer, 1926  1) General Assembly in Baltimore approves the Committee of Fifteen’s report that denies Machen’s allegations. 2) Also the GA appointed a committee to investigate the seminary and eventually make recommendations about its organization. 3) Machen’s approval for chair of Apologetics delayed.
• 1926-27  Directors of the Seminary said President Stevenson’s “usefulness is at an end.”
• April, 1927  Investigating committee published its report.
• Spring, 1927  Machen gave Smyth Lectures at Columbia Seminary on the Virgin Birth.
• Summer, 1927 General Assembly postpones action on reorganizing seminary and set up larger committee to prepare for it.
• Dec. 1927  Machen published, The Attack upon Princeton Seminary: A Plea for Fair Play
• Summer, 1928 Owing to the Princeton Petition signed by 11,000 people and 3,000 ministers postponed action on reorganizing the seminary for another year.
• June 28, 1928  Machen removes his name from consideration for Professor of Apologetics.
• Fall, 1928  Cornelius Van Til takes up instruction in apologetics
• Summer, 1929  At St. Paul the reorganization of the seminary was approved at a 5 - 3 proportion.
• July 8, 1929 Westminster Seminary conceived in a luncheon on Philadelphia
• July 18, 1929 A meeting of seventy persons (former directors, faculty, and students) took steps to organize Westminster.
• Sept. 25, 1929 Westminster Seminary opened with 50 students, and Machen gave address: “Westminster Theological Seminary: Its Purpose and Plan.”
• 1930  Christianity Today incorporated by Machen, Craig and Shrader.
• Feb, 1930  The Virgin Birth of Christ is published.
• Oct. 31, 1931  Machen’s mother dies.
• 1932  A committee of the Presbyterian Church publishes Rethinking Missions.
• 1932  Machen addressed the American Academy of Political and Social Science, on “The Responsibility of the Church in our New Age.”
• June 27, 1933  The Independent Board of Foreign Missions was organized and Machen was elected President.
• Summer 1934  The GA declares the Independent Board unconstitutional.
• Dec. 20, 1934 Machen’s Presbytery appoints a judicial commission to try Machen for “violation of his ordination vows.”
• 1935 Machen gives a weekly radio program: The Christian Faith in the Modern World, and The Christian View of Man
• Feb-Mar, 1935  Trial of Machen before the Presbytery.
• Mar. 29, 1935  Guilty verdict.
• June 27, 1935  Preparations made for a possible new church by the organization of the Constitutional Covenant Union.
• Oct. 7, 1935  First issue of The Presbyterian Guardian.
• June 11, 1936 The Presbyterian Church of America was formed and Machen was chosen Moderator.
• Summer, 1936  The Syracuse GA rejected the appeal and let the verdict stand.
• Jan. 1, 1937  At 7:30 PM Machen dies.