NASHVILLE, Tenn.  Carl F.H. Henry, a noted 20th century theologian and founding editor of Christianity Today, died Dec. 7. He was 90.
Baptist Press reported that Henry was known as dean of evangelical theologians by some and helped shape evangelical thought during the middle of the 20th century by arguing that fundamentalism and its belief in separation from culture was ineffective. Instead, he maintained evangelicals must engage the culture.
Henry was a staunch defender of biblical inerrancy and said heresy is rooted in an improper understanding of God's revelation. His six-volume "God, Revelation and Authority," released from 1976 to 1982, served as a guide to the centrality of the doctrine of revelation.
Henry died in his sleep in Watertown, Wis.
"The mission of the church is to embrace both evangelism and cultural impact," he said in a 2001 interview with Southern Seminary Magazine. "To neglect either is catastrophic. This is the lesson of both Protestant liberalism and fundamentalism."
R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said Henry's death presents a challenge to the next generation of evangelicals.
"The torch has now been passed to a new generation," Mohler wrote on his Crosswalk.com weblog. "The real question is now this: Will the present generation of evangelicals run the race - or run from the challenge?"
Henry attended Wheaton College, where he became friends with classmates Billy Graham and Harold Lindsell, author of "The Battle for the Bible."
In 1956, he became the first editor of Christianity Today, which was the brainchild of Graham and was started as an evangelical alternative to the more liberal Christian Century, the news service reported.
He left the magazine in 1968 and went to Cambridge, England, to study. He later returned to the United States to teach at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.
David Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn., said Henry's death leaves "a huge void" in American Christianity.
"No Christian thinker in this country has done more to advance orthodox theology and full-orbed Christian worldview thinking than Carl F.J. Henry," Dockery said. "Evangelicals across this country and the entire world stand in debt to Dr. Henry for his years of service and leadership across the evangelical world."
