Allan MacRae - 1

Allan Alexander MacRae A.B. M.A. Th.B. M.A. Ph.D. born 02/11/02 in Calumet Michigan was ushered into the presence of the King of Kings 09/27/97 from the retirement home in Quarryville PA. Excelling in academic preparation for a teaching ministry Dr. MacRae earned the A.B. and M.A. degrees from Occidental College in 1922 and 1923 respectively. After studying during the academic years of 1923-1924 at the feet of the Rev. Reuben Archer Torrey D.D. at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles he proceeded to earn a Th.B. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1927 simultaneously earning an additional M.A. from Princeton University that year. Dr. MacRae was ordained by the Presbytery of Los Angeles PCUSA June 28 1927. Being awarded a fellowship to study Semitics at the University of Berlin in 1927 Allan MacRae industriously undertook studies in Babylonian Cuneiform Egyptian Hieroglyphics Arabic and Syriac and pursued extensive hiking and climbing in the Tyrol the Black Forrest the Swiss Alps and the Austrian Alps. During his second year at the University of Berlin he studied for four months in Palestine at the American Schools of Oriental Research under Dr. William F. Albright participating in the discovery of the Biblical city of Ham mentioned in Genesis 14. During the years of his pursuit of the Ph.D. degree in Semitics from the University of Pennsylvania under Dr. Ephraim A. Speiser Dr. Robert Dick Wilson invited Allan MacRae to be an instructor of Semitic Philology at Westminster Theological Seminary for the academic year of 1929-1930. With the death of Dr. Robert Dick Wilson he became a full Assistant Professor at Westminster 1930-1937 the institution recognizing his invaluable assistance to Dr. Robert Dick Wilson. Dr. MacRae completed his Ph.D. dissertation in 1936 which was entitled "Semitic Personal Names at Nuzi." Indeed Dr. MacRae was an embodiment of the protestant work ethic whose exacting scholarship was only excelled by his purity of heart. Association with men of good conscience caused Dr. Allan A. MacRae to join in being a Constituting Member of the First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of America (OPC) June 11 1936. It was Dr. MacRae's conscientious belief in Premillennialism coupled with the Reformed Faith which motivated him to join with Carl Mclntire Roy Brumbaugh Harold Samuel Laird and Frederick Paist in the summer of 1937 to start Faith Theological Seminary of which he was invited to become its first president. The distinctives which launched Faith Theological Seminary into existence became the reasons Dr. MacRae labored in organizing a committee which developed the Bible Presbyterian Synod September 6-8 1038. He served as Moderator of the third General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church in Chester PA 1940. Dr. MacRae served as Moderator of the Philadelphia Area Presbytery of the Bible Presbyterian Church (Collingswood Synod) for three consecutive years from 1956-1958. Under Dr. MacRae's capable leadership Faith Seminary grew in First Independent Church of Wilmington Delaware. It was during 1944 on the honeymoon of Dr. MacRae and Mrs. Grace (Sanderson) MacRae that the good conscience of Dr. MacRae impelled him to help in the search of three army flyers who had parachuted out of a bomber which crashed in the Grand Canyon of Arizona Dr. MacRae assisted in the recovery of the flyers and the story was recounted in Time magazine among many other newspapers and magazines. Dr. MacRae took advantage of the notoriety to proclaim the gospel to thousands of man and women in various organizations. He enhanced the Seminary and after the war frugally developed its library with a wise investment of a few thousand dollars in 1947 with a trip to Europe purchasing rare books at discount prices. Dr. MacRae superintended the move of the Seminary in 1952 to the Widener Estate in Elkins Park Pennsylvania the student body reaching it watermark in 1952-1953 when it numbered 156. After a major disruption in 1956 Dr. MacRae spent the next few years patiently rebuilding the faculty to maintain his educational emphasis. In 1971 Dr. MacRae joined with Dr. Jack W. Murray with the sponsorship of Bible Evangelism Inc. in starting Biblical School of Theology (renamed Biblical Theological Seminary in 1977). During Dr. MacRae's tenure at Faith Theological Seminary he served on a General Synod Committee in 1944-1945 which authored the Harvey Cedars Resolutions I and II on Personal and Ecclesiastical Separation. He became a member of Covenant Presbytery (Unaffiliated) from 1972-1986 and in 1983 became the Chancellor of Biblical Theological Seminary. Dr. MacRae along with other members of the Covenant Presbytery were again received into the General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church in what was to become the North Atlantic Presbytery in 1986. His faith impelled him in the area of Christian scholarship to encourage scholarship. He mentored many. Dr. MacRae's legacy is evidenced by those trained under him. Men of the caliber of Francis A. Schaeffer Joseph T. Bayly Vernon C. Grounds Kenneth Kantzer G. Douglas Young Samuel J. Schultz Wilbur Wallis Elmer Smick R. Laird Harris W. Harold Mare R. Allan Killen Timothy Tow J. Robert Vannoy Thomas V. Taylor John Battle Howard Carlson Dr. Gary Cohen etc. A published bibliography of Dr. MacRae appears in Interpretation & History — Essays in Honor ofAllan A MacRae Christian Life Publishing Singapore 1986. He worked on the New Scofield Reference Bible and The New International version Bible. He served as vice-president and president of the Evangelical Theological Society vice-president and honorary fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation and contributed to Bible Commentaries dictionaries and encyclopedias. Dr. MacRae authored The Gospel of Isaiah The Prophecies of Daniel and a compendium of letters edited by Dr. Swee-Hwa Quek entitled Biblical Christianity besides numerous booklets and pamphlets like: "Why We Reject the RSV" "The JEDP Theory" "The Premillennial Coming of Christ" etc. There may still be forthcoming further released manuscripts of previously unpublished material by Dr. MacRae. He would not release a work until it meticulously magnified the Lord Jesus Christ at whose feet all of Dr. MacRae's accomplishments have been cast. "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea saith the Spirt that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them." Revelation 14:13

Adopted by the 62nd General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church meeting in Lakeland FL August 6-11 1998. From www.bpc.org