Review: Crossed Fingers (North)


This book is very difficult to review for two reasons. One, it is truly massive—over 1,100 pages, much of it extremely detailed and dry about the Presbyterian conflict. It is, on the other hand, fairly easy to read. It is also remarkably prescient because, given the fact that it was written in the 1990s, it maps out almost perfectly the kind of capitulations that are occurring in Evangelicalism at large.

The charged writing is both the books greatest strength and its greatest weakness. It is written by Gary North, after all, who has an agenda. Far from a neutral or impartial account of the history, North is clearly on the side of Machen and his allies—though thinks Machen ultimately failed in his primary goals. On the other hand, North tends to belabor his points over and over and over again, to the point where I thought the book could probably have been several hundred pages shorter. North’s appendix on immunizing Presbyterianism, while containing some truly odd suggestions, also contains much material well worth considering—it may have been my favorite part of the book.


This book is very difficult to review for two reasons. One, it is truly massive—over 1,100 pages, much of it extremely detailed and dry about the Presbyterian conflict. It is, on the other hand, fairly easy to read. It is also remarkably prescient because, given the fact that it was written in the 1990s, it maps out almost perfectly the kind of capitulations that are occurring in Evangelicalism at large.

The charged writing is both the books greatest strength and its greatest weakness. It is written by Gary North, after all, who has an agenda. Far from a neutral or impartial account of the history, North is clearly on the side of Machen and his allies—though thinks Machen ultimately failed in his primary goals. On the other hand, North tends to belabor his points over and over and over again, to the point where I thought the book could probably have been several hundred pages shorter. North’s appendix on immunizing Presbyterianism, while containing some truly odd suggestions, also contains much material well worth considering—it may have been my favorite part of the book.

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