Harold Lindsell dies at 84; authored Battle for the Bible

                                                                                                                                                                     Vol. XI, No. 2, February 1998

Harold Lindsell, a former editor of Christianity Today magazine whose 1976 book, The Battle for the Bible, told of a coming upheaval over the issue of biblical authority, died Jan. 15 at a retirement village in Laguna Hills, CA. He was 84. In the preface to the Zondervan-published Battle for the Bible, Lindsell wrote, "I regard the subject of this book, biblical inerrancy, to be the most important theological topic of this age. A great battle rages about it among people called evangelicals. I did not start the battle and wish it were not essential to discuss it. The only way to avoid it would be to remain silent. And silence on this matter would be a grave sin." Evangelist Billy Graham, in a letter to Lindsell's wife, Marion, wrote that Lindsell's "stand on the authority of Scripture is one of his lasting legacies. His writings will be used of God for many years to come to help hold the church to the Scriptures." Lindsell was Christianity Today's editor from 1968-78 and had authored more than 20 books, including another volume on the issue of biblical authority, The Bible in the Balance, 1979, and several study Bibles.

One of the chapters in Lindsell's "Battle for the Bible" was devoted to the Southern Baptist Convention, which, he wrote, "has numbers of people in it who deny biblical infallibility. They are challenging the historic position of the denomination and constitute a threat to its future. Not only so, but it will be shown that some who have abandoned biblical inerrancy have also abandoned other cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith so that in any historic sense they have ceased to be Baptists as understood traditionally." [BP]

[Editorial Comment: Harold Lindsell was very influential in rousing Bible-believing Christians to action. A copy of his Battle for the Bible is on a bookshelf behind me as I prepare this article. It is still pertinent, and I recommend it to all. Only 211 pages, it is an “easy read.” We can look forward to thanking Dr. Lindsell when we go home. TCP]