July 2022 Archives

Phil Johnson: The Beechers and the Poisoning of American Evangelicalism

Phil Johnson's history lecture on Lyman Beecher and his most famous son, Henry Ward Beecher, and their malign influence on American Christianity. "Many of Henry Ward Beecher's sermons were published and are still available online and in print. For the most part, they aren't grossly unorthodox; just insipid. They are flowery and mostly wholesome moralistic thoughts rather than biblical "[doctrine], reproof ... correction, [or] training in righteousness." Beecher's moral lectures often have the thinnest possible connection to Scripture. He wasn't a preacher of God's Word; he was a pulpiteer, a pious lecturer, and a promoter." You can watch/listen to Johnson's lecture on the Beecher family on YouTube.