c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Harold Lindsell, a former editor of the evangelical magazine Christianity Today and author of the 1976 book “The Battle for the Bible,” died Jan. 15 in Lake Forest, Calif., after a long illness. He was 84.

His book, which argued the so-called”inerrantist”approach to biblical interpretation _ that the Bible is without error even in matters of history and science _ became a catalyst in the successful conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention from biblical moderates.

A stalwart voice for conservative evangelicalism, Lindsell left the vice presidency of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., in 1964 to become the associate editor of Christianity Today. He was editor of the magazine from 1968 until his retirement in 1978, presiding over the periodical during the turbulent years of the counter-culture, Vietnam, and Watergate.

Between 1944 to 1991, the prolific Lindsell wrote more than 20 books and contributed material to a number of study Bibles. In addition to”The Battle for the Bible”(1976) he also wrote”The Bible in the Balance”(1979), where he continued his fight on behalf of the Bible’s inerrancy, attacking scholars _ even those in evangelical circles _ who said the Bible may contain errors. The two books contained scathing attacks against Fuller Theological Seminary, where Lindsell held a number of teaching and administrative positions from 1947 to 1964.

Tom Nettles, a professor of historical theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, recalled the influence of”The Battle for the Bible”in Southern Baptist circles.”In the best sense of the word, he stirred up quite a controversy,”said Nettles.”The basic theological contention that he was setting forth was that without a fully, trustworthy, inerrant revelation from God in the final analysis, we cannot affirm anything about God to be absolutely true.” Nettles said some Southern Baptist critics believed Lindsell’s discussion of inerrancy relating to their denomination was”simplistic,”but others saw it as”a warning against theological decline that begins with a loss of confidence in the full integrity of Scripture.” In 1979, three years after”The Battle for the Bible”was published, conservatives used the inerrantist issue to take the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention from moderates, setting the stage for their eventual takeover of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

The Rev. Billy Graham, in a letter written to Lindsell’s widow, Marion, praised the prolific writer’s contributions.”His stand on the authority of Scripture is one of his lasting legacies,”said Graham, in a letter read at Lindsell’s memorial service on Sunday (Jan. 18) in Newport Beach, Calif.”His writings will be used of God for many years to come to help hold the church to the Scriptures.” Harold Myra, president of Christianity Today Inc., recalled Lindsell’s”lively working relationship”with the publication, which continued even after his retirement.”He was a man of prayer who not only wrote about the subject but lived it out personally,”said Myra.

Born in New York City on Dec. 22, 1913, Lindsell graduated from Wheaton (Ill.) College in 1938, during an era when the school turned out a number of notable evangelicals, including Graham. He earned his doctorate in history from New York University in 1942.

A Presbyterian who was alarmed at the denomination’s embrace of modernism, Lindsell was ordained a Southern Baptist minister in 1944. After teaching at Columbia (S.C.) Bible College and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (Chicago), Lindsell became registrar and, along with Carl F.H. Henry, one of the first four faculty members of Fuller Theological Seminary.

Lindsell, who became dean of the faculty before advancing to vice president, championed a literal, inerrant view of the Bible that was rapidly falling out of favor, even in some evangelical seminaries like Fuller. According to religious historian George Marsden in his 1987 history of Fuller, Lindsell sympathized with the”separatists”_ those theological conservatives who were leaving their denominations to form independent churches _ while rejecting separatism himself.

Succeeding his former Fuller colleague Henry as editor of Christianity Today in 1968, Lindsell was a conservative voice during a time of”deep polarization”in American life, according to Marsden.

After retiring as editor, Lindsell and his wife continued to live in Wheaton, Ill., where the magazine is published, until 1982, when they moved back to California.

Besides his wife, Lindsell is survived by three daughters, a son, 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

DEA END RNS