Defending the faith

As previously noted here, Harold O.J. Brown died last month. He was important to evangelical Christianity, and to the larger pro-life movement for many reasons. I think I first encountered him in the pages of National Review in the early 1970s, which evidenced his belief that faith has political implications. Today Albert Mohler remembered one of Brown's books that was important to him Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church. Mohler:

Christianity is a doctrinal religion. As Professor Brown observed: "For many religions, the cardinal test is right conduct or right observance; for Christianity it is right faith. Christianity is full of specific doctrines."

Heresies is a profoundly important book about a profoundly urgent concern for the church. Professor Brown was keenly aware that our Christian responsibility is to receive the faith and then to pass it on to the next generation of believers.

Professor Harold O.J. Brown served the church by reminding us all of this great responsibility and by his defense of doctrinal orthodoxy. Dr. Brown died July 8 after a recurrence of cancer. His recent death should remind us all of the responsibility he so bravely fulfilled in this book - to defend the faith against all heresies.

Why Heresy Matters -- A Remembrance