 http://already-not-yet.blogspot.com/2006/04/walter-rauschenbuschs-version-of.html
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Occupy until I Come: A. T. Pierson and the Evangelization of the World. By Dana L. Robert. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003, 322 pp., $32.00. The Kingdom Is Always but Coming: A Life of Walter Rauschenbusch. By Christopher C. Evans. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004, 348 pp., $25.00.
These latest volumes in the Library of Religious Biography offer a vivid comparison and contrast between two of America’s most influential Christian leaders during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Arthur Tappan Pierson, recognized as the “Father of Fundamentalism,” was a successful pastor and missionary promoter whose concern for souls and strong social consciousness led him to minister both evangelistically and practically to the urban poor. Likewise, Walter Rauschenbusch, later dubbed the “Father of the Social Gospel,” had a similar two-fold approach to ministry. Both men, native New Yorkers, traced their theological roots to Puritanism and Pietism, wrote gospel hymns, served inner-city pastorates, befriended the wealthy, and focused the latter half of their ministries on bringing in the Kingdom.
In time, their theological perspectives changed. Pierson abandoned postmillennialism to become a leading spokesman for the nascent fundamentalist movement. Rauschenbusch, while continuing to affirm the need for individual conversion, picked up the gauntlet of liberalism and became its leading proponent in North America. Rauschenbusch was a lifelong Baptist; whereas, Pierson, a lifelong Presbyterian, submitted to believer’s baptism at the age of fifty-eight.
Occupy until I Come is a well-researched and thorough treatment of the life and ministry of A. T. Pierson. It traces his life from his days as a student at Union Theological Seminary to his writing of five articles for The Fundamentals, conservatism’s answer to higher criticism. Dana Robert, Professor of World Mission at Boston University, demonstrates her familiarity with Pierson’s fifty books and thousands of articles, and draws from them often to piece together Pierson’s illustrious career as a pastor, apologist, missionary strategist, prolific writer, and conference speaker. By the end of the book, the reader comes away with a profound respect for both Pierson and Robert.
Pierson was reared in New York City in a family with strong Christian and abolitionist roots. As a postmillennialist, Pierson initially believed that the church could bring in the Kingdom of God by aggressively Christianizing the world. His views changed, however, when the famous British man of faith George Mueller sat him down and explained that the Bible predicted perilous times and apostasy for the last days; a far cry from ushering in the Kingdom. Pierson became an avid premillennialist (although he never embraced a belief in a pre-tribulation rapture).
Robert points out that this was just one of several theological crises in Pierson’s life. Others included his receiving a “baptism in the Spirit” (not of the speaking in tongues variety) during the 1857-58 Businessmen’s Prayer Movement. Another came at the age of forty, while serving as pastor of the largest church in Detroit. After attending a series of evangelistic messages, Pierson realized he was prideful and greedy, and had sought the approval of the rich. As a result, he started living by faith, depending on the Lord to meet his needs. Then came his revelation in 1885, based on Matthew 24:14 and 2 Peter 3:12 that the coming of the Kingdom could be hastened by aggressive evangelism. He resigned his pastorate and took to the road as a missionary conference speaker calling for “the evangelization of the world in this generation.” Another crisis, but certainly not the last, came when he chose to be baptized by immersion. This led to his expulsion from the Philadelphia Presbytery. Each crisis led Pierson to more fully dedicate his life to the Lord’s service.
Through Robert’s meticulous research and clear explanations, the modern reader gains much insight into many nineteenth century American church customs, movements and practices, such as the pew rental system, the Women’s Temperance Movement, the influence of dispensationalism on missions, and the sense that industrialization was driving a wedge between management and labor. Many evangelicals, including Pierson, were social activists who believed that the rich had a moral responsibility for the welfare of the poor.
As a missionary speaker A. T. Pierson influenced Robert Speer, Samuel Zwemer, and John R. Mott to give their lives to missions. He was also the keynote speaker at the Mount Hermon conference of 1886, where 100 young men answered the call to missions. The Student Volunteer Movement traces its beginning to this meeting.
Besides his contributions to missions, Pierson’s most notable legacy was his commitment to orthodoxy. When liberalism began sweeping through the mainline denominations, Pierson joined other concerned Christian leaders in publishing The Fundamentals, a series of booklets designed to “contend for the faith” and answer the critics of Christianity. Because of his prolific pen and apologetic abilities, Pierson was invited to write five of the major articles. Each booklet was distributed free to pastors throughout America. This marked the beginning of the Modernist-Fundamentalist split in American churches. In time, the booklets were combined into a twelve volume set of books, which are still available today in a five volume set. Because of his contribution to the cause, Pierson was often called the “Father of Fundamentalism.” Unfortunately, Robert devotes only two pages (282-283) to this major event. She could have introduced the reader to R. A. Torrey and the other stalwarts who contributed to The Fundamentals and explained how, if any, they interacted on the project.
On two occasions Pierson successfully served as pastor of Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle. He spent the final two decades of his life “on the road,” the last ten devoted to teaching believers how to live victoriously. He was a favorite speaker at the Keswick conferences in England.
Robert has written a superb book. It should be read by all who wish to understand the contribution A. T. Pierson made to the cause of Christ.
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Alan Streett
My passion is the Kingdom of God. I am completing a dissertation on Ecclesiology and Evangelism from a Kingdom Perspective for a second doctorate (University of Wales). My supervisor is Dr. Bill Campbell. I serve as the W.A. Criswell Chair of Expository Preaching at Criswell College and as the Editor of the Criswell Theological Review (CTR). I teach the Presidents' Class at First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, a Sunday morning Bible study with 250 members. I go verse-by-verse through the Scriptures.
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