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Benjamin Breckinridge WarfieldBenjamin Breckinridge (B.B.) Warfield (November 5, 1851 - February 16, 1921) was the principal of Princeton Seminary from 1887 to 1921. Some conservative Presbyterians consider him the last great Princeton theologian before the great split in 1929 that formed Westminster Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Warfield was born near Lexington, Kentucky on November 5, 1851. His parents were William and Mary Cabell (Breckinridge) Warfield. His maternal grandfather was the Presbyterian preacher Robert Jefferson Breckinridge (1800-1871). He graduated from Princeton University in 1871 and Princeton Theological Seminary in 1876. For a short time he preached in Presbyterian churches in Concord, Kentucky and Dayton, Ohio. In August of 1876 Warfield married Annie Pierce Kinkead. Soon afterward they moved to Germany where Warfield studied under Ernst Luthardt and Franz Delitzsch. Warfield was the assistant pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland for a short time. Then he became an instructor at Western Theological Seminary, which is now called Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He was ordained on April 26, 1879. In 1881 Warfield wrote a joint article with A. A. Hodge on the inspiration of the Bible. It drew attention because of its scholarly and forceful defense of the inerrancy of the Bible. Warfield continued to write books and articles, which are still widely read. Warfield attempted to demonstrate that the doctrine of the Biblical inerrancy of the Bible was simply orthodox Christian teaching, and not merely a concept invented in the nineteenth century. His passion was to refute the liberal element within Presbyterianism and within Christianity at large. In 1887 Warfield was appointed to the Charles Hodge Chair at Princeton Theological Seminary. He succeeded Hodges son A. A. Hodge. Warfield remained there until his death. During his tenure, the primary thrust of the seminary was an authoritative view of the Bible. This view was held in contrast to the emotionalism of the revival movements, the rationalism of higher criticism, and the heresies of the various cults that were emerging. The seminary held fast to the Reformed confessional tradition -- that is, it faithfully followed the confessions of faith of Calvinism. Warfield had a unique view of Darwinism for his day. Unlike most people who believe that the Bible was inerrant, he was willing to accept that Darwins theory was true, provided that one believe that God was the one who guided the process of natural selection in order to create the various species. He was thus trying to bridge the gap between Christian faith and secular science. B. B. Warfield died on February 16, 1921. References - Cousar, R. W., Benjamin Warfield: His Christology and Soteriology, PhD thesis, Edinburgh University, 1954.
- McClanahan, James S., Benjamin B. Warfield: Historian of Doctrine in Defense of Orthodoxy, 1881-1921, PhD thesis, Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, 1988.
- Warfield Commemoration Issue, 1921-1971, Banner of Truth, no. 89 (Feb. 1971).
Essays and Sermons by B.B. Warfield Warfield, Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, Benjamin Breckinridge
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