Watertown, Wis.—Carl F.H. Henry, a noted evangelical theologian of the 20th century and the founding editor of Christianity Today, died Dec. 7. He was 90.

Henry helped shape evangelical thought during the middle of the 20th century by arguing that fundamentalism and its belief in separation from culture was ineffective. Evangelicals, he asserted, must engage the culture.

In the later half of the century, he defended the doctrine of biblical inerrancy, asserting that heresy is rooted in an improper understanding of God’s revelation.

Henry, a member of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., was named by Time magazine in 1977 as the leading theologian of American evangelicalism. He was president of the Evangelical Theological Society (1967-70) and the American Theological Society (1979-80).

Often called “the thinking man’s Billy Graham,” Henry was the author of more than 25 books.

“At mid-century, Carl Henry gave enormous gifts of time and talent to America’s neo-evangelical movement,” said David Neff, editor of Christianity Today. “Whereas Billy Graham was the movement’s goodwill ambassador and welcoming spirit, Carl Henry was one of its most brilliant minds,”

Henry’s extensive writings, the most famous of which is the six-volume “God, Revelation and Authority,” consistently emphasize the themes of biblical theism, objective revelation, the authority and inerrancy of Scripture and the rational, apologetic defense of Christianity.

“The mission of the church is to embrace both evangelism and cultural impact,” Henry said in a 2001 interview. “To neglect either is catastrophic. This is the lesson of both Protestant liberalism and fundamentalism.”

David Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn., said Henry’s death leaves “a huge void” in American Christianity.

“No Christian thinker in this country has done more to advance orthodox theology and full-orbed Christian worldview thinking than Carl F.H. Henry,” Dockery said.

Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, said Henry “stood at the center of virtually every major development in evangelical life, combining tenacity with restlessness.” He said Henry “devoted his long and illustrious career as a theologian to building and defending the ‘intellectual struts’ of evangelical theology.”

Today, Southern Seminary has a Carl F.H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement and Union University has the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Christian Leadership.

Born Jan. 22, 1913, to immigrant parents in New York City, Henry grew up under a Roman Catholic mother and a Lutheran father. But in 1933—“by the grace” of God he would write later—he made a personal profession of faith in Jesus Christ at the age of 20.

“That very day, had the risen Redeemer commanded, I would have gone to China or to any of the uttermost parts,” he wrote in 1958.

Instead, Henry felt a calling to attend Wheaton College, where he became friends with classmates Billy Graham and Harold Lindsell, author of “The Battle for the Bible.” Henry earned degrees at Wheaton; Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Ill; and Boston University.

He met his wife, Helga Bender, at Wheaton. They were married in 1940 and were the parents of two children.

Henry went into teaching, serving first at Northern Seminary and later at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. While at Northern Seminary, Henry wrote “The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism” in which he critiqued the fundamentalism of the day and argued that evangelicalism must engage the culture intellectually.

In 1956, Henry became the first editor of Christianity Today, a publication conceived by Graham and Nelson Bell as an evangelical alternative to the Christian Century. Under Henry’s guidance, Christianity Today became the leading journalistic mouthpiece for neo-evangelicalism and gave the movement intellectual respectability.

He resigned from Christianity Today in 1968 and later became professor of theology at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.

Henry considered himself a Baptist for the last 50-plus years of his life. He spoke at the 1987 SBC Pastors’ Conference and in 1994 was given the title by Southern Seminary of senior research professor of Christian theology.

In 2000, Henry joined more than 80 other Christian leaders from numerous denominations who signed the “Chicago Declaration on Religious Freedom: Sharing Jesus Christ in a Pluralistic Society.” The document’s preamble stated that evangelistic efforts did not undermine a peaceful, pluralistic society, and that such efforts were constitutionally protected.

Throughout his life, Henry stressed the importance of intellectual engagement. Two years before his death, he said he was concerned about the future of evangelical scholarship.

“I am very worried about the loss of the priority of the mind among evangelicals,” he said. “This is a matter of great importance in the struggle for evangelical fidelity. It must not be forgotten.”

Based on reporting by Baptist Press, Associated Baptist Press and Religion News Service