Park Street Prophet: A Life of Harold John Ockenga

by Harold Lindsell

Harold Lindsell (1913-98) was an evangelical author and scholar. He taught at Columbia Bible College, Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Fuller Theological Seminary. He served as President of the Evangelical Theological Society in 1971, as well as editor of Christianity Today from 1968 to 1978. He authored more than twenty books, including The Battle for the Bible (1976).

182 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

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[Joey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This biography of Harold John Ockenga was written by his contemporary, friend, and employee Harold Lindsell. At the time of the writing (1951), Ockenga was only 45 years old, was president of Fuller Theological Seminary, pastor of Park Street Church in Boston, and also had recently been the first president of the National Association of Evangelicals. Lindsell was a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary. Ockenga was also closely associated with Billy Graham and had organized Graham's crusades in Boston and other areas of New England in the late 1940's.

Historian Joel A. Carpenter included this little biography in a series of re-issued early writings on "Fundamentalism in American Religion 1880-1950." Carpenter explains that "a major purpose for this biography was to publicize the new evangelicalism." Ockenga was one of the leaders, along with Carl F.H. Henry and Graham, of a "new evangelicalism" that would hold to the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith but would not hold to the separatism of the militant fundamentalists. It seems that this book had the double purpose of giving the public some insight into the man Harold Ockenga, but also to introduce people to the "new evangelical" movement and promote some of the areas where God had blessed the movement - i.e. the founding of Fuller Seminary, the formation of the National Association of Evangelicals, the restoration of the mass revival movement under Billy Graham and Youth for Christ.