The Rev. Ned Bernard Stonehouse, Th. D., Professor of New Testament and Dean of the Faculty in Westminster Theological Seminary, Chestnut Hill, died suddenly at his home, 333 Cherry Lane, Glenside, PA, on Sunday, November 18, following an extended illness, during most of which, however, he had been able to carry on his duties at Westminster. He was sixty years of age.
Dr. Stonehouse was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He graduated from Calvin College in 1924, and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1927, where he received the Th.M. degree. He received the Th. D. degree from Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1929, after studying at the University of Tubingen, Germany, and in the Netherlands. In 1927 he married Winigrace Bylsma, who died in 1958.
When Westminster Theological Seminary was founded in Philadelphia in 1929, Dr. Stonehouse was appointed Instructor in New Testament, and thus became became a member of the original faculty of the institution, along with the Rev. Dr. J. Gresham Machen, the Rev. Dr. Cornelius Van Til, and others. He was appointed Professor of the New Testament in 1937, following the death of Dr. Machen. He has been Dean of the Faculty since 1955. In 1949 he was Special Lecturer at the Free Church College, Edinburgh; and in 1959–60 he was Fullbright Lecturer in New Testament at the Free University of Amsterdam. He was a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, the Evangelical Theological Society, Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, and Vereeniging voor Calvinistische Wijsbegeerte.
Dr. Stonehouse was ordained to the gospel ministry in the Presbyterian Church in 1932, and since 1936 has been a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1946. He has been a member of the Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for many years, as well as of several special committees of the church. He served as delegate to the Reformed Ecumenical Synod, Amsterdam, 1949; Edinburgh, 1953; and Potchefstroom, 1959.
Dr. Stonehouse was the author of The Apocalypse in the Ancient Church, printed dissertation, 1929; The Witness of Matthew and Mark to Christ, 1944, 2nd ed., 1959; The Witness of Luke to Christ, 1951; J. Gresham Machen, A Biographical Memoir, 1954; Paul before the Areopagus and Other New Testament Studies, 1957. He was editor of God Transcendent and Other Sermons by J. Gresham Machen, 1949; What is Christianity and Other Addresses by J. Gresham Machen. 1951; The New International Commentary on the New Testament (7 vols.), 1951–; and was co·editor of The Infallible Word, 1946, new 00., 1953; and was editor of The Presbyterian Guardian from 1936–37, 1945–48, 1956–59. and the Westminster Theological Journal, 1954..sB. In March 1962 he delivered the Payton Lectures at Fuller Theological Seminary, shortly to be published under the title Some Basic Questions concerning the Origins of the Synoptic Gospels.
Dr. Stonehouse is survived by his wife, Margaret S. (nee Robinson), whom he married in 1959, and by three children, Marilyn Helen (Mrs. John R. Wierenga). Lafayette, Ind.; Elsie Mae (Mrs. William A. Peterson), Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Bernard J., a graduate student at Westminster Seminary. Funeral services were held at Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Willow Grove Ave. and Church Road, Glenside, on Wednesday, November 21, at 10:00 a.m., and on Friday, November 23, at the Zaagman Funeral Home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Interment was in Grand Rapids.
The members of the Reformed Fellowship Inc. extend their heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved widow and children . Dr. Stonehouse (ought the good fight and kept the faith. His instruction, books, and articles will continue to witness to the inspiration, infallibility, and divine content of the Holy Scriptures.
H. J. K.