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On February 16, 1921, B.B. Warfield, one of the most respected and prolific Reformed theologians in history, passed away in Princeton, New Jersey — an event witnessed personally by J.G. Vos, son of Geerhardus Vos — after previously experiencing angina pectoris.
Dr. C.W. Hodge, Jr. (who would go to assist in the publication of Warfield Works) wrote soon after:
In the death of Dr. Warfield on Feb. 16 Princeton University has lost one of its most distinguished alumni, and Princeton Theological Seminary has suffered an irreparable loss. Dr. Warfield not only occupies a place with the greatest men who have taught in Princeton Seminary, he was probably the greatest living theologian holding the Reformed Faith. With the late Dr. Kuyper of Amsterdam and Dr. Kuyper’s successor, Dr. Bavinck, Dr. Warfield was recognized as a leading expounder and defender of Calvinistic or Augustinian theology. The whole Christian Church will mourn his loss as one of the great leaders in religious thought.
Dr. Francis Landey Patton, in his memorial address for Warfield, said:
Princeton Theological Seminary is walking today in the shadow of an eclipse which in various degrees of visibility has been observed, I doubt not, throughout the greater part of the Christian world. Men may agree with Dr. Warfield or they may differ from him, but they must recognize his unswerving fidelity to what he believed to be the truth. Students of theology in whatever Christian communions they may be found must recognize him as an earnest coworker in defending the authority and contents of the New Testament and in vindicating the central doctrines of our common Christianity. Nothing but ignorance of his exact scholarship, wide learning, varied writings, and the masterly way in which he did his work should prevent them from uniting with us today in the statement that a prince and a great man has fallen in Israel.
Well may it be said that today we remember “a prince and a great man in Israel” who entered glory exactly one century ago. The life and legacy of B.B. Warfield have had a profoundly enduring impact on the Christian Church. We continue to add to his page, with over 200 of his published writings available to read at Log College Press. We invited you to take time to reflect on the life of this great theologian, and learn more about him, here.
