D. G. Hart

D. G. Hart
Born	circa 1950s
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Temple University Johns Hopkins University Harvard Divinity School Westminster Theological Seminary
Occupation	American Religious Historian
Known for	Biography of John Gresham Machen

Darryl G. Hart is a religious and social historian. Hart is Distinguished Visiting Professor of History at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan. He previously served as dean of academic affairs at Westminster Seminary California from 2000 to 2003, taught church history and served as librarian at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, directed the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College, and was Director of Partnered Projects, Academic Programs, and Faculty Development at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Wilmington, Delaware. He is an elder in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

In a Wall Street Journal review of Hart's 2013 book, Calvinism: A History; Barton Swaim describes him as, "a cantankerous conservative, a stalwart Presbyterian and a talented polemicist with a delightfully perverse sense of humor."

Stephen J. Nichols states that, like many other theologians, Hart is of the opinion that "theology, like nature, abhors a vacuum," in that theologizing is influenced by culture.

Hart follows in the tradition of J. Gresham Machen (to whom he dedicated his book Secular Faith) in espousing an approach to politics that engages at the level of the individual rather than that of the church. Hart makes the observation that "[e]fforts to use Christianity for public or political ends fundamentally distort the Christian religion." In Secular Faith Hart argues for the church to follow its mission by standing apart as a witness, suggesting that the nature of Christianity is "otherwordly", and criticizing those who "have tried to use their faith for political engagement".

In 1998 Christianity Today described him as "the prolific writer-librarian at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia". He is also co-editor (along with John Muether) of the Nicotine Theological Journal.

Works

• From Billy Graham to Sarah Palin: Evangelicals and the Betrayal of American Conservatism (2011, ISBN 978-0802866288)
• Between the Times: The Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Transition, 1945–1990 (2011)
• A Secular Faith: Why Christianity Favors the Separation of Church and State (2006, ISBN 978-1-56663-576-9)
• John Williamson Nevin: High Church Calvinist (New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed, 2005)
• Deconstructing Evangelicalism: Conservative Protestantism in the Age of Billy Graham (2005)
• The Lost Soul of American Protestantism. Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.
• Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America (2003)
• Recovering Mother Kirk: A Case for Liturgy in the Reformed Tradition (2003)
• That Old Time Religion (2002)

External links

• Old Life Theological Society
• posts at Front Porch Republic
• articles at Touchstone Journal
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Deconstructing Evangelicalism (audio released under Creative commons)