Catch the vision 1

With others I have been re-reading John J Murray's Catch the Vision recently. I am leading a discussion at the John Owen Centre on Moday June 8. These are the questions I have raised to help our study (part 2 to follow).

1. Losing the vision 1900-1950 (15-25)
Why the word vision? Is that the best choice? Does it need more explanation? (Cf p 144)
The rise of liberalism in the 19th Century Was the story of the 19th Century so very different to the 18th Century as far as downgrade in the churches is concerned?
The influence of liberalism in the universities and colleges Was the lack of conservative evangelicals teaching in the universities really a new thing?
Effect of liberalism in the churches JJM says that “the people in the pews did not apprehend the dangers”. Is it not more accurate to say that they were kept in ignorance? He says Reformers and Puritans were practically forgotten – why? Why (if so) was there more and more man-centredness?
Scarcity of evangelical literature Is the rise of C S Lewis and his writings genuinely significant in the recovery of the Reformed faith?
Resistance to liberalism Why was the story of resistance in the USA so different to the story here?Should the Welsh revival of 1904 (see p 153) have been mentioned in this first chapter? Are there other events or people who should have been mentioned?

2. Recovering the vision: the forerunners (27-44)
The year 1919 and the IVF In what way is what we read here of the Keswick men significant in the recovery of the Reformed faith?
E J Poole-Connor and contending for the faithfully What happened to others who heard both Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones? Is the founding of FIEC and BEC important in the history of recovering the Reformed faith?
A W Pink and Studies in the Scriptures Is it correct to see A W Pink as an early influence given that Search the Scriptures always had a very small circulation?
Jay Green and the Sovereign Grace Book Club Why has Jay Green and the SGU been forgotten? Does it matter?
Ernie Reisinger and Carlisle USA/W J Grier and the Evangelical bookshop, Belfast Was there anyone else who heard both Machen and Lloyd-Jones? What is the significance of the fact that something similar was happening both in Ireland and the USA?
Other influences Are there other things that should have been mentioned? (eg The Bible League Trust, Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony, the denominational revival fellowships, changes among SBs, area Bible rallies [though see p 71], etc) Should there be more about I C Herendeen and shouldn't he have been highlighted in his own right?

3. D Martyn Lloyd-Jones: the recovery of the vision I: Preparation of the man (47-56)
Are the statements on p 48 correct that God often raises up individuals to forward his work and that Lloyd-Jones was almost alone as 'a champion of true biblical faith' in the fifties?
Introduction to Calvinistic Methodism What can we do to keep the history of the Reformed faith alive? What does this section tell us about the power of Christian biography?
Discovering the English Puritans Is there such a thing as a call to the ministry that precedes conversion? Why would God do that? How is it that Baxter is so often the most prominent of the Puritans despite his unorthodoxies? What might have happened if Lloyd-Jones had studied for the ministry in Bala?
Discovering Edwards and Warfield What does the doctrine of providence have to teach us about books and when they are read? Was Lloyd-Jones' move to Westminster the 20th Century's 'most far-reaching and consequential development ... in the history of the evangelical cause in Britain'?
A link with A W Pink What do we make of Lloyd-Jones's experience? Did the word glory have to come from a book by Pink or would a copy of Tambourines to glory by Langston Hughes serve the purpose just as well? Is the experience really important in the recovery of the Reformed faith?