James Montgomery Boice, pastor of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church, died June 15. He was 61. A leading voice for the Presbyterian Church in America, Boice was diagnosed with liver cancer in the spring. The disease claimed his life eight weeks later.”No one can possibly measure the loss that this represents to those who survive him,” theologian R. C. Sproul said at Boice’s memorial service. “Here we had a valiant warrior for the church militant in our age.”During his lifetime, Boice wrote or contributed to more than 60 books regarding the Bible or theology. He was a graduate of Harvard University and Princeton Theological Seminary, and he received his doctorate in theology from the University of Basel in Switzerland.Boice worked as an assistant editor at Christianity Today before becoming pastor of Tenth Presbyterian in 1968. During his 32 years at the church, attendance grew from 350 to 1200. He regularly taught on two different radio programs.The pastor founded the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. He was also president of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, an organization encouraging Christians to rediscover their Protestant Reformation roots.Boice is survived by his wife, three daughters, three grandchildren, and his mother. Tenth Presbyterian’s four associate pastors are currently sharing pastoral duties.
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