Harold Ockenga

Harold John Ockenga (July 6, 1905 – February 8, 1985) was a leading figure of mid-20th-century American Evangelicalism, part of the reform movement known as "Neo-Evangelicalism". A Congregational minister, Ockenga served for many years as pastor of Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also a prolific author on biblical, theological, and devotional topics. Ockenga helped to found Fuller Theological Seminary and Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary, as well as the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).

Early life and education Ockenga was born on July 6, 1905, and raised in Chicago, the only son of Angie and Herman Ockenga. Ockenga's father had German ancestry; the name Ockenga is East Frisian. Harold Ockenga was baptized at Austin Presbyterian Church, and his mother later brought him to Olivet Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he became a member at age eleven. As a teenager, he had a strong sense of God calling him to pastoral ministry. He began his undergraduate education at Taylor University, a then-Methodist institution in Indiana in 1923.

After graduating from Taylor in 1927, Ockenga enrolled as a student at Princeton Theological Seminary but did not complete his theological studies there. In the midst of the "fundamentalist–modernist controversy" facing Christianity in the 1920s, he and many conservative classmates followed those members of the faculty – such as J. Gresham Machen, Robert Dick Wilson and Cornelius Van Til – who withdrew from Princeton to establish the Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1929. He was awarded the PhD degree in 1939. During his studies at Pittsburgh he met Audrey Williamson, had a whirlwind courtship, and married in 1935.

In 1937, at the death of Park Street's longtime pastor, Arcturus Z. Conrad, Ockenga was appointed his successor. He continued in that post until 1969. During his pastoral career at Park Street, Ockenga delivered many sermons that later formed the substance of various books he wrote. In all he wrote a dozen books dealing with biblical themes, and pastoral commentaries on biblical texts and Bible characters. His congregation thrived during much of his pastorate as he exercised considerable talents as a preacher, evangelist, leader and organizer.

In 1950, Park Street Church hosted Billy Graham's (first mid-century transcontinental) evangelistic crusade, which was regarded as highly successful. On the strength of that event, both Graham and Ockenga then conducted an evangelistic tour of New England. Ockenga later assisted Graham, Nelson Bell and Carl F. H. Henry in organizing the evangelical periodical Christianity Today. He served as chairman of the board of the magazine until 1981. The term may or may not have been coined by Ockenga, but in 1948 at the Civic Auditorium in Pasadena his speech gave birth to the movement.

In the foreword to The Battle For the Bible by Harold Lindsell, Ockenga further defined the term neo-evangelicalism:

Neo-evangelicalism was born in 1948 in connection with a convocation address which I gave in the Civic Auditorium in Pasadena. While reaffirming the theological view of fundamentalism, this address repudiated its ecclesiology and its social theory. The ringing call for a repudiation of separatism and the summons to social involvement received a hearty response from many Evangelicals. ... It differed from fundamentalism in its repudiation of separatism and its determination to engage itself in the theological dialogue of the day. It had a new emphasis upon the application of the gospel to the sociological, political, and economic areas of life.

Later career The first sixteen years of work at Fuller Theological Seminary witnessed the development of two views among staff and students: conservative and progressive evangelicalism. Among the conservatives, such as Ockenga, Henry, Lindsell and Smith, there was some concern that others such as David Hubbard, Paul Jewett and Daniel Fuller held to a different view of biblical inerrancy.

Legacy At Ockenga's funeral service on Monday, February 11, 1985, was an old friend: Billy Graham. "He was a giant among giants," Graham reflected. "Nobody outside of my family influenced me more than he did. I never made a major decision without first calling and asking his advice and counsel. I thank God for his friendship and his life."

Ockenga was an American evangelical pastor and educator associated with the development of post–World War II evangelicalism. In 1947, he coined the term new evangelicalism which became associated with a movement that sought greater engagement with American culture and intellectual life. Ockenga helped establish several evangelical institutions, including the National Association of Evangelicals, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he held leadership positions. He served as pastor of Park Street Church in Boston from 1936 to 1969 and was active in evangelical missions and educational initiatives. Ockenga also participated in the founding of Christianity Today and served as chairman of its board for 25 years. He maintained a close association with evangelist Billy Graham and influenced a number of evangelical leaders through his pastoral, educational, and organizational work.

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