Looking for Two Biographies...

[Zach]

Since I've begun worshipping at an OPC Church and am studying history I'd like to read a good biography on J. Gresham Machen. We had an interesting sermon preached on worship two Lord's Days ago and the speaker briefly touched on Machen and the 1933 Hymnal controversy. It piqued my interest in reading about Machen and the founding of the OPC. Also, I'm interested in a good biography on Herman Bavinck as I'm considering reading some of his Reformed Dogmatics. What are your recommendations?

 

[Pilgrim]

The Stonehouse and Hart biographies of Machen come to mind. There may be another notable one but it escapes me at the moment. Stonehouse's can be obtained from the OPC office of the historian, which can be accessed on the OPC website.

There are other books about OPC history there too, although some will be quick to point out that some of them (perhaps Hart & Muether in particular) are written from a certain point of view. Regardless, it does give you a good idea of how the OPC came to be what it is today. Unfortunately Hart & Muether's book contains no documentation. I found that surprising even if it is supposed to be a popular level overview.

 

[py3ak]

As far as Machen goes, Chris is correct to identify Stonehouse and Hart as the sources. I think both are helpful, and there is surprisingly little overlap between them. Hart focusses more on Machen's failings than Stonehouse does, though Stonehouse goes into far more detail about Machen's regrettable passion for baseball.

As far as Bavinck, I'm not aware of any biographies in English except for the recent one by Ron Gleason.

 

[Hamalas]

For Bavinck I would recommend checking this out: Westminster Bookstore - Reformed Books - Low Prices - Flat Fee UPS Shipping - Herman Bavinck: Pastor, Churchman, Statesman, and Theologian (Paperback) Gleason, Ron 9781596380806 (If you scroll partway down the page you should see a few audio links that will whet your appetite for the book!)

 

[Wayne]

The OPC Bookstore - Orthodox Presbyterian Church - has the Stonehouse bio for $10.

 

[PaulCLawton]

I'll second the recommendations of Hart and Stonehouse, but just add that as an introduction, John Piper does a reasonably good job in Contending for Our All (also available as a free PDF here) though I think Hart would say Piper does not see Machen as the Presbyterian and churchman that he was.