What do you think?
Rate this book
The Hand and the Road: The Life and Times of John A. MacKay
This is the first English language biography of John A. Mackay (1889-1983), an important Presbyterian leader, missionary, and professor who served as president of Princeton Theological Seminary from 1936 to 1959. As president, he rebuilt the seminary faculty after the split in 1927. His ecumenical vision opened Princeton to a wider ecumenical stance and, under his leadership, the seminary prospered as a leading Protestant theological institution. Mackay was a leading ecumenist for much of the twentieth century and helped establish the World Council of Churches. He also founded Theology Today and is recognized as a major figure in both the Presbyterian Church and in theological education.
This biography is made all the more compelling by the fact that it was authored by Mackay's grandson, John Metzger, son of the late Princeton Seminary professor, Dr. Bruce M. Metzger.
This biography is made all the more compelling by the fact that it was authored by Mackay's grandson, John Metzger, son of the late Princeton Seminary professor, Dr. Bruce M. Metzger.
560 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2009
1 person is currently reading
8 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 21, 2019
A very complete biography of Dr. John MacKay who we knew at Princeton Seminary in 1958. This book made me appreciate all that he had accomplished early in his life as a missionary with his wife to South America. His years at the Seminary helped the school move through a tough transition period.
January 15, 2019
John Alexander Mackay's life and thought instruct and inspire me. His fascination with and influence in Latin America resonate with me. John Mackay Metzger, the subject's grandson, understands the thinking and motivation of his grandfather and it makes the connection with my longtime hero even stronger as I read. The last chapter holds valuable insights into how we arrived at this point in the mainline churches. Excellent read!!
May 7, 2020
For a review of the late 19th through the 1970s, a fascinating trove of the challenges of the world and how the Presbyterian ethos generally responded ...
MacKay's faith begins in the conservative Free Church of Scotland ... through mission in South America, moves to a more nuanced faith sensitive to social needs and Western imperialism, to his years as President of Princeton Seminary, bringing that school to national and international prominence, his leadership in all missionary and ecumenical work around the world, to his years of retirement, where the world and church he so profoundly shaped began to move in other directions he found inimical to his faith.
Writing and speaking vigorously in retirement to maintain what he believed to be the true church, and raising hard questions about the trends of "secularism" impacting the church, wherein evangelism and conversion no longer have the place of prominence, replaced by social studies and political engagement, MacKay remained ever the missionary.
MacKay was a remarkable man ... gone much of the time, relying upon his wife, Jane, to manage the home and take care of the children. The book takes her role for granted, I fear, but as I read, I wondered about the ease with with MacKay took to the road, for months at a time, while leaving his wife to fend for herself - did she ever object? Was this ever a point of contention? What did his children think?
The author, MacKay's grandson, is clearly sympathetic to his grandfather's lament as the church and world turned upon new pathways. The author draws some conclusions which do not impress me at all, but reflect a more typical "evangelical" complaint that no one and anything is every quite "christian" enough. Fortunately, such editorializing is limited.
MacKay's missionary work in Peru and throughout South America, his devotion to education, as a missionary and then as a seminary president, his ecumenical efforts, all made stellar contributions to the century. Yet time moves on, and so it should.
Much thanks to God Almighty for MacKay's life and witness, yet the world has changed, and so has the church, and I, for one, am grateful for the changes. MacKay's world was one of confident answers, answers about Christ, conversion, piety, church and world.
Such answers that now seem, at least to me (and I'm 75) outdated.
A previous generation's accomplishments are but the foundation for further building ... and sometimes the building and rebuilding require demolition, too.
In all this, I affirm MacKay's central notion of the unique gift of Reformed Theology: the Sovereignty of God, and with that, I say, thanks be to God for John A. MacKay, his amazing wife, Jane, and their work together, for the glory of God and the welfare of God's amazing world.
MacKay's faith begins in the conservative Free Church of Scotland ... through mission in South America, moves to a more nuanced faith sensitive to social needs and Western imperialism, to his years as President of Princeton Seminary, bringing that school to national and international prominence, his leadership in all missionary and ecumenical work around the world, to his years of retirement, where the world and church he so profoundly shaped began to move in other directions he found inimical to his faith.
Writing and speaking vigorously in retirement to maintain what he believed to be the true church, and raising hard questions about the trends of "secularism" impacting the church, wherein evangelism and conversion no longer have the place of prominence, replaced by social studies and political engagement, MacKay remained ever the missionary.
MacKay was a remarkable man ... gone much of the time, relying upon his wife, Jane, to manage the home and take care of the children. The book takes her role for granted, I fear, but as I read, I wondered about the ease with with MacKay took to the road, for months at a time, while leaving his wife to fend for herself - did she ever object? Was this ever a point of contention? What did his children think?
The author, MacKay's grandson, is clearly sympathetic to his grandfather's lament as the church and world turned upon new pathways. The author draws some conclusions which do not impress me at all, but reflect a more typical "evangelical" complaint that no one and anything is every quite "christian" enough. Fortunately, such editorializing is limited.
MacKay's missionary work in Peru and throughout South America, his devotion to education, as a missionary and then as a seminary president, his ecumenical efforts, all made stellar contributions to the century. Yet time moves on, and so it should.
Much thanks to God Almighty for MacKay's life and witness, yet the world has changed, and so has the church, and I, for one, am grateful for the changes. MacKay's world was one of confident answers, answers about Christ, conversion, piety, church and world.
Such answers that now seem, at least to me (and I'm 75) outdated.
A previous generation's accomplishments are but the foundation for further building ... and sometimes the building and rebuilding require demolition, too.
In all this, I affirm MacKay's central notion of the unique gift of Reformed Theology: the Sovereignty of God, and with that, I say, thanks be to God for John A. MacKay, his amazing wife, Jane, and their work together, for the glory of God and the welfare of God's amazing world.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews