Guide to the works of J. Gresham Machen (1881–1937). Scholar. Preacher. Founder of Westminster Theological Seminary. Leader in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
Guide to pronouncing 'Gresham' correctly
Camden Busey: Hi, everyone. This is Camden Busey. I’m here with a very important Reformed and Presbyterian psa. That’s a public service announcement. You may have seen we just had a recent episode with Darrell Hart come out in which we talked about Jay Gresham Machen’s book Christianity and Liberalism, that was on Christ the Center and on our other program, Theology Simply Profound, or one of our other programs, Bob Tarullo has begun reading chapters or selections from Machen’s work, Christianity and Liberalism.
But I’m here with that PSA again, so we’re going to talk about something important today real quick, a little bit of an issue, kind of a help that’ll help you in your Presbyterian and Reformed life. I want to read to you a selection from this wonderful biography written by Ned Stonehouse, a biography of Machen. In the back, in the Notes references section of chapter one, referring to page 17 of this early edition, he writes the name J. Gresham Machen, and especially the maternal family name Gresham is frequently mispronounced.
At the request of the publisher of the Literary Digest, Machen wrote at some length on the subject and carried the following key over the name of the lexicographer Frank H. Vizatelli Gresham not Gresham, Machen not Macon. The chief pitfall in the pronouncing of the name, as Machen said, is in the drawing of the s and h together. In Gresham, the h is silent, as in Markham or Badam.
So you see here J. Green Gresham Machen. This looks like Gresham. And if you’re from Oregon, you’re going to have Gresham, Oregon. It’s not pronounced that way in the Presbyterian circles. You want to get this right because this is something like a Reformed and Presbyterian shibboleth. You know that story from the Bible where the Hebrews could not a certain type of Hebrews in the tribe could not pronounce the word correctly. And it was a bit of a tell because they couldn’t pronounce it correctly. They were found out somewhat imposters.
The same is true for Presbyterians who might say they’re orthodox Presbyterians and very committed to Machen’s cause and whatnot. But yet they say Gresham. It’s kind of like if you were a Packer fan and you pronounced it Brett Favor or Brett Favre. It’s Brett Favre. Now, that makes no sense. But again, these are Packe. Does that look like Favre to you? VR well, if you’re from Green Bay, it is.
Or if you’re a systematic theologian and you’re swimming around in academic circles. You know. Carl barth. No, it’s not barth. It’s karl bart. It’s german karl bart. Well, here we have j. Gresham machen. Don’t be a packer fan who says favor. Don’t be a theologian who says barth. Be a presbyterian who says j. Gresham machen.