Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 66:2 (Jun 2023)
Article: Carl F. H. Henry’s Anti-Communist Worldview: Insights From Unpublished Notes, 1962–1964
Author: Caleb Morell

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Carl F. H. Henry’s Anti-Communist Worldview:
Insights From Unpublished Notes, 1962–1964

Caleb Morell*

^* Caleb Morell is a PhD student at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 5001 North Oak Trafficway, Kansas City, MO 64118. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: Recently discovered documents reveal that between 1962 and 1964, Carl F. H. Henry, evangelical theologian and editor of Christianity Today, taught an invite-only Sunday School class for evangelical elites in Washington, DC. Dubbed the “Hilltoppers,” the group, which included senators, generals, and businessmen, focused almost exclusively on addressing the threat of Communism from a Christian worldview. Henry’s unpublished notes show how he viewed the rise of Communism as an opportunity for evangelicals to demonstrate the inadequacy of liberal Protestantism and the necessity of a biblically grounded, publicly articulated evangelical worldview as the only intellectual defense against Communism.

Key words: Carl F. H. Henry, communism, worldview, Christianity Today, Protestant liberalism, inerrancy, Cold War, political theology, politics, history, Marxism

On March 23, 1963, the Washington-based Evening Star highlighted a novel Sunday School class on Capitol Hill hosted by the Metropolitan Baptist Church. “They’re talking over the problems of the world,” the article explained, in a class where “controversial issues of the day are thrown out to an open forum.”1For example, the article noted how a discussion involving a recent Supreme Court ruling on prayer in public schools lasted three weeks, with class participants landing on different sides of the issue. The name of the class: Hilltoppers. Its founder and leader: Carl F. H. Henry.

In a manilla folder entitled “Hilltoppers,” handwritten in pencil on yellow legal pad, forgotten for decades in the basement of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, are hundreds of pages of Carl F. H. Henry’s notes from a little-known Sunday School class he taught at the church from 1962 to 1964.2 The notes offer a more personal

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glimpse of one of evangelicalism’s greatest twentieth-century theologians than his editorials at Christianity Today provide, as Henry recorded off-the-record comments, lessons, and reflections shared with an elite group of evangelicals seeking to solve world problems.

This article focuses on a topic that dominated the attention of Cold-War evangelicals and permeated Henry’s Hilltopper...