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Theologian, journalist, and evangelical leader Carl F.H. Henry died Sunday, December 7, at age 90 in his longtime home of Watertown, Wisconsin. Henry made it his life's work to present biblical Christianity as intellectually credible and historically true. On the battlefields of modern theological thought, spanning seminaries, denominations, and media, Henry shaped the defenses of evangelicalism with two goals in mind: preserving truth and attracting nonbelievers.

Born January 22, 1913, to German immigrants in New York City, Henry received no religious instruction at home. Growing up on Long Island, he attended an Episcopal Sunday School and graduated from high school on the eve of the Great Depression in 1929.

His first introduction to personal faith in a living God came as he worked at a weekly newspaper office, proofreading galleys with a middle-aged woman, Mildred Christy. When Henry used the Lord's name as an expletive, Christy commented, "Carl, I'd rather you slap my face than take the name of my best Friend in vain."

In 1932, at age 19, Henry became editor of The Smithtown Star and later a stringer for The New York Times. A career in journalism seemed assured. At age 20, he canceled three Saturday appointments in a row with the young man, Gene Bedford, who eventually led him to Christ. After a chance meeting, they again arranged a time to get together. They spoke for three hours about spiritual matters, and then prayed The Lord's Prayer together. When they were done praying, Henry remembered, "I had inner assurance hitherto unknown of sins forgiven, that Jesus was my Savior, that I was on speaking terms with God as my Friend. A floodtide of peace and joy swept over me. My life's future, I was confident, was now anchored in and charted by another world, the truly real world."

Henry became convinced that he should go to college to prepare for a life of Christian service, and Dr. Frank E. Gaebelein, then headmaster of The Stony Book School, gave him a Wheaton College catalogue. After hearing a talk by Wheaton president J. Oliver Buswell, Henry concluded that "faith without reason is not worth much, and that reason is not an enemy but an ally of genuine faith, and moreover that the resurrection of Jesus is an historical event." He entered Wheaton in the fall of 1935, attending classes and teaching typing and journalism. His Wheaton classmates included many who later came into evangelical leadership: Billy Graham, Harold Lindsell, Ken Taylor, and Richard Halverson. Henry met his wife, Helga Bender, at Wheaton.

Once, in a journalism class he taught, Henry orchestrated an unusual final exam. He had Halverson, who would later serve for 15 years as chaplain of the U.S. Senate, burst into the room posing as a masked gunman, demanding Henry's wallet. "After the gunman escaped," Henry recalled, "I told the class to write the story."

Henry pursued graduate studies simultaneously at Wheaton, earning a M.A., and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, where Henry earned his Th.D. after being ordained a Baptist minister. While still at Northern, Henry endorsed the launch of the National Association of Evangelicals in 1942, served on its Board of Administration, and was book editor of NAE's magazine, United Evangelical Action. Henry eventually taught theology at Northern while pursuing his second doctorate, a Ph.D. from Boston University, which he earned in 1949. Henry also served as visiting professor of theology at Gordon Divinity School and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In 1947, Henry's first of many major books was published. The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism emphasized the Christian's dual citizenship, challenging the withdrawal of fundamentalists from society. The same year, evangelical leaders approached Henry about their starting a new seminary on the West Coast. In the fall of 1947, Henry arrived in Pasadena to become Fuller Seminary's first acting dean.

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December (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47