Nathaniel Parker April 11, 2017

Church History II
Biographical Sketch 2

B.B. Warfield (1851-1921)

Key Designations:
American Presbyterian Theologian.1
Professor of Didactic and Polemical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.2
Greatest theologian of his time.3

Key Background Information:

Born November 5, 1851, to William Warfield and Mary Cabell Breckinridge in
Lexington, Kentucky.4
The Civil War broke out while Warfield was a teenager, his parents’ town house serving
as headquarters for the Union side of the family.5
Briefly served as the editor for Farmer’s Home Journal.6
Married Annie Pearce Kinkead in 1876 after graduating from seminary. Studied biblical
criticism in Europe shortly afterwards.7
Died February 16, 1921.8

Key Events:
Entered Princeton College in 1868. Planned to go into a career in science. While visiting
Europe, decided to enter the ministry instead.9
Entered Princeton Seminary in 1873 studying under Charles Hodge.10
Taught New Testament at Western Theological Seminary near Pittsburgh beginning in
1878 after briefly preaching in Baltimore and Dayton.11

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1
Timothy Larsen, D. W. Bebbington, and Mark A. Noll, Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals
(Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 698.
2
Ibid.
3
Sharon Rusten and E. Michael, The Complete Book of When and Where in the Bible and
Throughout History (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005), 396.
4
Larsen, Bebbington, and Noll, 698.
5
Ibid.
6
Walter A. Elwell, ed., Handbook of Evangelical Theologians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book
House, 1998), 27.
7
Larsen, Bebbington, and Noll, 698.
8
Ibid., 699.
9
Ibid., 698.
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid.
Key Ideas:
Wrote from a Calvinist standpoint much as did Charles Hodge and A.A. Hodge.12
Strongly affirmed biblical inerrancy and rejected higher criticism.13
Defended the authority of the Bible.14
Unfortunately adhered to theistic evolution.15
Emphasized the role of reason in apologetics.16

Key Works:
“Inspiration” (1881).17
An Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament (1886).18
Edited and wrote for Princeton’s theological journals, two he founded himself: the
Presbyterian and Reformed Review (1890–1902) and the Princeton Theological Review (1903–
1929).19
Also worked with William M. McPheeters in editing The Bible Student (1900–1903).
Works (1927–1932): a collection of his writings.20
————————————
12
Larsen, Bebbington, and Noll, 698.
13
Ibid., 699.
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
16
Elwell, 26.
17
Larsen, Bebbington, and Noll, 699.
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid.
20
Ibid.