Clarence E. Macartney (1879-1957)

Clarence Edward Noble Macartney was born in Pennsylvania, USA in 1879. His father, John, was a pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Clarence went to the university of Denver (1897-1901) and majored in English Literature. He spent a year in Europe visiting England, Scotland and France. He enrolled at Yale Divinity School but after a term moved on to Princeton Theological Seminary. he graduated in 1905 and opted to seek ordination in the Presbyterian Church USA. He became the pastor at Paterson, New Jersey (1905-1914). In this struggling downtown congregation he breathed new life.

He next became the pastor at Arch Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia (1914-1927). He soon began to broadcast his sermons on the radio and eventually became Philadelphia’s foremost preacher. He also began to give a weekly lecture on homiletics ( creating and delivering sermons) at his former college.

In 1919 Clarence crossed swords with Harry Emerson Fosdick over how the soldiers, when they returned from war, would not be able to accept traditional doctrine Clarence argued that Christian truth was unchanging.
A more famous exchange happened in 1922 between Clarence and Fosdick.
Fosdick preached and published * Shall the Fundamentalists Win?* Clarence responded with Shall Unbelief Win? ( Read relevant paragraph (1914-17))

He next became pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh (1927-1953). Here here the congregation was regularly 1200-1600 in the morning, 900 in the evening on the Sunday, plus a Wednesday evening service. Clarence regularly preached five times weekly. His sermons were turned into books -
Things Most Surley Believed -1930 and *What Jesus Really Taught - 1958.

He wrote a vast number of books -see bibliography.

Clarence was a frequent preacher on college campuses and delivered a number of important lectures. His sermons were painstakingly prepared and delivered with directness and evangelical fervor. He was noted for his imaginative illustrations and his keen insights into the human heart. He was committed to preaching without notes.

Clarence died on 19th February, 1957 at Geneva College.

Michael Duduit refers to Clarence as being a * true homiletical giant .
It is little wonder he puts Clarence in his top 10 of the greatest preachers of the 20th century.

Sources used
wikipedia
The 10 Greatest Preachers of the 20th century. Michael Duduit - The Preacher