The History of Presbyterianism in the United States
The History of Presbyterianism in the United States Part 5: The Fundamental Religion A – The Rise of Fundamentalism
Harold Camping, 1921 -2013
Master Timeline United States • • • • • 1620 – Mayflower lands • 1730 s-1743 – 1 st Great Awakening • 1776 -1783 – American Rev. 1790 -1840 – 2 nd Great Awakening • 1830 – Book of Mormon • 1850 -1900 – 3 rd Great Awakening • 1861 -1865 – American Civil War • 1870 – Scottish Common Sense • 1889 – Moody Bible Institute • 1891 – Briggs’ address • 1909 – Scofield Reference Bible 1910 – Pres. G. A. : 5 Fundamentals 1914 -1919 – World War I 1922 – “Shall Fund. s Win? ” 1923 – The Auburn Affirmation 1925 – The Scopes Trial 1929 – Westminster Theo. Seminary 1936 – Orthodox Presbyterian Ch. 1936 – John Mackay, Princeton Sem. Europe 1643 – Westminster Confession of Faith 1650 -1800 – Age of European Enlightenment & of Scottish Common Sense Philosophy 1770 s-1900 – Rise of German Higher Criticism 1789 -1799 – French Revolution 1827 – Plymouth Brethren begin meeting 1833 – Slavery Abolition Act of England 1859 - Charles Darwin – Origin of Species 1862 -77 – Darby travels to the United States 1919 – Rise of Neo-Orthodoxy United States (cont. ) 1937 – Death of J. Gresham Machen - Bible Presbyterian Ch. (Mc. Intyre) 1966 – RTS, Jackson, MI 1967 – Confession of ‘ 67, Book of Confessions 1973 – PCA 1983 – Union of UPCUSA & PCUS
War Between the States, 1861 -65 PCUSA – Old School PCUS – New School PCUSA – New School PCUS – Old School
After the War In the years following the Presbyterian reunion in the North, the former differences between the Old and New Schools declined. Disputes over moral depravity, limited atonement, and baptism gave way to outward Sabbath desecration, intemperance and inattention to the Christian home. H&M
After the War Protestants of all kinds were invigorated and a new sense of cooperation across denominational lines developed – especially against their combined enemy: the Roman Catholic Pope. Preserving a Protestant America helped to lay the seeds of the social gospel. “Practical” results rather than teaching/maintaining doctrinal standards became the measurement of churches. The New School was prevailing over the Old School. H&M
The “Second Wave of Immigration” into the United States Between 1836 -1914: 30 million Europeans
The “Second Immigration” – 1812 -1924 • Ellis Island – 1892 -1954 • Statue of Liberty - 1888 • Immigration Act – 1924
James Mc. Cosh, President College of New Jersey, 1868 -1888 “The motivation behind the Presbyterian and Evangelical Alliances was for what James Mc. Cosh, another Scottish Presbyterian minister summoned to America to preside over the College of New Jersey, called ‘the moral improvement of mankind. ’ These motives only intensified during the decades after the Civil War, when industrialization and urbanization seemed to threaten the social and religious order that Protestants had previously helped to establish before the war. ” H&M
After the War Protestants of all kinds were invigorated and a new sense of cooperation across denominational lines developed – especially against their combined enemy: the Roman Catholic Pope. Preserving a Protestant America helped to lay the seeds of the social gospel. “Practical” results rather than teaching/maintaining doctrinal standards became the measurement of churches. The New School was prevailing over the Old School. H&M
It was the Presbyterians to the South who disapproved. “There is little difference between a pope in the singular and in the plural number. The essential doctrines of popery will appear. ” R. L. Dabney “Southern Presbyterian dissent registered an important point, namely, that the inclusive spirit which so often motivated Protestant ecumenism usually carried with it intolerance of those who dissented …” H&M
It was the Presbyterians to the South who disapproved. 1. Doctrinal indifferentism – the broader the basis of union, the more lax and imperfect becomes the system of discipline and of doctrine. 2. Erosion of the witness of the church – doctrinal neglect for the sake of cooperation would render the church faithless. H&M
Master Timeline United States • • • • • 1620 – Mayflower lands • 1730 s-1743 – 1 st Great Awakening • 1776 -1783 – American Rev. 1790 -1840 – 2 nd Great Awakening • 1830 – Book of Mormon • 1850 -1900 – 3 rd Great Awakening • 1861 -1865 – American Civil War • 1870 – Scottish Common Sense • 1889 – Moody Bible Institute • 1891 – Briggs’ address • 1909 – Scofield Reference Bible 1910 – Pres. G. A. : 5 Fundamentals 1914 -1919 – World War I 1922 – “Shall Fund. s Win? ” 1923 – The Auburn Affirmation 1925 – The Scopes Trial 1929 – Westminster Theo. Seminary 1936 – Orthodox Presbyterian Ch. 1936 – John Mackay, Princeton Sem. Europe 1643 – Westminster Confession of Faith 1650 -1800 – Age of European Enlightenment & of Scottish Common Sense Philosophy 1770 s-1900 – Rise of German Higher Criticism 1789 -1799 – French Revolution 1827 – Plymouth Brethren begin meeting 1833 – Slavery Abolition Act of England 1859 - Charles Darwin – Origin of Species 1862 -77 – Darby travels to the United States 1919 – Rise of Neo-Orthodoxy United States (cont. ) 1937 – Death of J. Gresham Machen - Bible Presbyterian Ch. (Mc. Intyre) 1966 – RTS, Jackson, MI 1967 – Confession of ‘ 67, Book of Confessions 1973 – PCA 1983 – Union of UPCUSA & PCUS
Northern Presbyterians were becoming attracted to progress. “We cannot see how theory of evolution can be reconciled with the declarations of Scripture. ” “This is atheism. ” Charles Hodge Prof. , Princeton Seminary “There is a wonderful correspondence or parallelism between Genesis and genealogy, between the written record and the record in stone. ” “This is providence. ” James Mc. Cosh Pres. , Princeton University
John Witherspoon, 1723 -1794 • President of College of New Jersey – 1768 -1794. • Introduced Scottish Common Sense Realism James Mc. Cosh, 1811 -1894 • President of Princeton University, 1868 -1888. • Prominent Philosopher of the Scottish Common Sense Realism School
Hodge’s successors at Princeton Seminary were his son, A. A. Hodge and B. B. Warfield. They both warmed up to evolutionary theory by defending a providential account of it. “Under the spell of Darwinism, Presbyterianism became synonymous with progress, and Presbyterian adjustment to the new science became a matter of denominational pride. ” H&M
Strategic Theological Compromises Within Conservative Presbyterianism • Adopting Act of 1729 • Scottish Common Sense Realism
Master Timeline United States • • • • • 1620 – Mayflower lands • 1730 s-1743 – 1 st Great Awakening • 1776 -1783 – American Rev. 1790 -1840 – 2 nd Great Awakening • 1830 – Book of Mormon • 1850 -1900 – 3 rd Great Awakening • 1861 -1865 – American Civil War • 1870 – Scottish Common Sense • 1889 – Moody Bible Institute • 1891 – Briggs’ address • 1909 – Scofield Reference Bible 1910 – Pres. G. A. : 5 Fundamentals 1914 -1919 – World War I 1922 – “Shall Fund. s Win? ” 1923 – The Auburn Affirmation 1925 – The Scopes Trial 1929 – Westminster Theo. Seminary 1936 – Orthodox Presbyterian Ch. 1936 – John Mackay, Princeton Sem. Europe 1643 – Westminster Confession of Faith 1650 -1800 – Age of European Enlightenment & of Scottish Common Sense Philosophy 1770 s-1900 – Rise of German Higher Criticism 1789 -1799 – French Revolution 1827 – Plymouth Brethren begin meeting 1833 – Slavery Abolition Act of England 1859 - Charles Darwin – Origin of Species 1862 -77 – Darby travels to the United States 1919 – Rise of Neo-Orthodoxy United States (cont. ) 1937 – Death of J. Gresham Machen - Bible Presbyterian Ch. (Mc. Intyre) 1966 – RTS, Jackson, MI 1967 – Confession of ‘ 67, Book of Confessions 1973 – PCA 1983 – Union of UPCUSA & PCUS
Charles Augustus Briggs 1841 -1913 • Professor of Hebrew and cognate languages in Union Theological Seminary from 1874 to 1891 • Actively promoted both ecumenical union and scientific progress. “Progress in religion, in doctrine, and in life, is demanded of our age of the world more than any other age. ”
Charles Augustus Briggs 1841 -1913 Whither? A Theological Question for the Times, 1889 • He attacked the ‘orthodoxism” coming from Princeton Seminary. • He called for a softening of Presbyterian rigidity characterized by the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination.
Charles Augustus Briggs 1841 -1913 “The Authority of Scripture”, 1891 “I shall venture to affirm that, so far as I can see, there are errors in the Scriptures that no one has been able to explain away; and theory that they are not in the original text is a sheer assumption. ”
Charles Augustus Briggs • Most of the students in the audience reportedly responded favorably. • Other Union faculty supported Briggs. • 1891 - Presbytery trial on charges of heresy ▫ was turned into a forum on the new theology. ▫ Briggs was acquitted. • 1893 – Presbyterian Church GA suspended Briggs. • Union Seminary separated from the Pres. Ch. • 1899 – Ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Ch.
Henry Van Dyke, 1852 -1933 A major supporter of Briggs • 1901 – Chaired a 25 man committee to revise the WCF, primarily to remove the doctrine of election and universalize the gospel. “[T]he Remonstrants of the Synod of Dort … finally won recognition” in Presbyterianism. Historian Lefferts Loetscher • 1906 – Cumberland Presbyterian Church reunited with the northern PCUSA
The formulation of Fundamentalism: • 1910 – Presbyterian Church G. A. adopts a 5 point declaration that all candidates must affirm: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The inerrancy of the Bible The Virgin Birth of Christ’s substitutionary atonement Christ’s bodily resurrection The authenticity of Christ’s mighty miracles
The formulation of Fundamentalism: • 1910 – Presbyterian Church G. A. adopts a 5 point declaration that all candidates must affirm. • 1920 s – These 5 points become the “ 5 fundamentals”, sometimes adding: ▫ The deity of Christ ▫ Christ’s premillennial second coming • C. L. Laws, Baptist Watchman-Examiner: “Fundamentalist”
A Definition of Fundamentalism: “It was militantly anti-modernist Protestant evangelicalism. … Militant opposition to modernism was what most clearly set off fundamentalism from a number of closely related traditions, such as evangelicalism, revivalism, pietism, the holiness movements, millenarianism, Reformed confessionalism, Baptist traditionalism, and other denominational orthodoxies. ” (Marsden, p. 4)
A Definition of Fundamentalism: “Fundamentalism was a ‘movement’ in the sense of a tendency or development in Christian thought that gradually took on its own identity as a patchwork coalition of representatives of other movements. … Fundamentalism was a loose, diverse, and changing federation of cobelligerents united by their fierce opposition to modernist attempts to bring Christianity into line with modern thought. ” (Marsden, p. 4)
The formulation of Fundamentalism: “This was especially true for the growing movement of independent Bible conferences, Bible schools, and independent churches influenced by Dispensationalism. This movement majored in literalistic, futuristic interpretation of biblial prophecy which announced Christ’s imminent return following a very specific and complex timetable of attendant events. Dispensationalists also taught that all the traditional institutional churches had grown worldly and denied fundamental doctrinal beliefs. ” Presbyterian Creeds, J. Rogers
The Fundamentals Published from 1910 -1915 Lyman Stewart U. S. Businessman & Philanthropist envisioned a “great testimony to the Truth” & financed publication and broad distribution. They were meant to build a conservative coalition against rising liberalism.
Billy Sunday, 1862 -1935 • Professional Baseball (1883 -1890) • Converted/Ordained by the Presbyterian Church • Wife, Nell, ran the Campaign organization • Preached a wild, vaudeville-type Fundamentalism: “If you have done your part, God has done HIS part. ”
Billy Sunday, 1862 -1935
William Jennings Bryan • Active career Democratic politician • Elder in the Presbyterian Church • Essentially Fundamentalist, a Nationalist and a Pragmatist
J. Gresham Machen, 1881 -1937 • born in Baltimore, MD • studied at Johns Hopkins, Marburg, Gottingen and Princeton. • taught at Princeton Seminary, 1906 -1928. • often embraced by Fundamentalists where they agreed on essential doctrines, but was separate from them in other ways (ex. : prohibition).
J. Gresham Machen, 1881 -1937 The tremendous crisis of the church “lies chiefly in the intellectual sphere. … What is today matter of academic speculation begins tomorrow to move armies and pull down empires. ” “Culture and Christianity” 1912
J. Gresham Machen, 1881 -1937 Two major disasters the church is currently involved with: 1) those who say “Christianity may be subordinated to culture. ” (Liberals – “Counterfeit Christianity”) 2) those who seem to seek to destroy, or at least ignore, culture in order to maintain Christian purity. (Fundamentals – “illogical, unbiblical, and impossible to maintain”) “Culture and Christianity”, 1912
J. Gresham Machen, 1881 -1937 “The Church is perishing today through the lack of thinking, not through an excess of it. ” “Culture and Christianity”, 1912
New Covenant Presbyterian Church Preaching God’s Sovereign Grace to a World of Need 128 St. Mary’s Church Rd. , Abingdon, MD 21009 410 -569 -0289 www. ncpres. org www. ephesians 515. com
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