I believe that I’ve read the Stonehouse biography of Machen at least twice and have listened to the audiobook at least once. I know that I have begun listening to it again, and it seems appropriate to share occasional Machen minutiae, tidbits, factoids, and trivia here.
Here are a few:
- One of Machen’s father’s pastors in Baltimore before J. Gresham’s birth was none other than the estimable Stuart Robinson, author of the great book The Church of God as an Essential Element of the Gospel. If you’ve read the last chapter of Machen’s own Christianity and Liberalism, you are likely to note a continuity of thought with Robinson.
- As a Johns Hopkins University undergraduate in 1901, Machen was a member of the Banjo Club. Machen was a famous jester and jokester so one imagines that he was involved primarily for the amusement of himself and/or others. Imagine the contribution he could have made to contemporary worship music a full century before the instrument became a staple of hip, eclectic Reformed worship combos! Alas…
And speaking of humor, one criticism of the Stonehouse bio is that it downplays this important aspect of Machen’s personality. D.G. Hart makes a bit more of it in his essential work Defending the Faith.
- Machen’s paternal grandfather Lewis Machen was unable to go to college due to the need to support his family after his own father died in 1800 when Lewis was 19. Despite this, Lewis was a true, cultured intellectual who built an impressive library that included a number of volumes from the personal library of Thomas Jefferson. Grandfather Lewis worked in the office of the Secretary of the U.S. Senate, but in his personal time was something of Whig political activist, writing under a nom de plume so as not to complicate his day job. J. Gresham Machen shared his grandfather’s political interests, often writing letters to editors of major newspapers, testifying before Congress in opposition to the formation of a Federal Department of Education, and complaining to the mayor of Philadelphia about jaywalking laws (hint: liberty-loving Machen was against them.
You know we always say don’t be an Erdman, but we also heartily recommend jaywalking for Machen…when it’s safe to do so.