Today most Evangelicals have a negative and narrow view of what “Fundamentalism” was, thinking only in terms of its legalistic prohibitions on drinking, smoking, card playing, and movies. And though the movement fell apart for a number of other reasons as well, many Christians don’t realize how deeply indebted we are to those who stood against the assault on the authority of Scripture brought about by higher criticism.

Next to my Mother, the two most influential women in my life growing up were my Grandmother and my Great Aunt Laura. They were born in the late 1800’s, and I adored them both, but they mixed about as well as oil and water. I didn’t realize until many years later that the friction was partly due to the war that had been raging in the Evangelical church since the 1920’s over the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture.

Aunt Laura was a Presbyterian and Grandma belonged to an IFCA (Independent Fundamental Churches of America) Bible Church. I still remember my grandmother fuming—“Oh…that Fosdick!”, upon hearing that Aunt Laura’s church had invited him to speak. This was in the 1950’s and  being  only 6 or 7 years old years old, I had no idea whatsoever who this dreadful man was that she spoke of.

After becoming a Christian and learning a bit of church history, I understood why Grandma had been so upset with this Fosdick guy. Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969) was a key figure in the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy during the 1920’s and 30’s which caused many denominational splits over liberal theology.  Modernism had been increasing ever since the Age of Reason/Enlightenment (1685-1815) when the whole ambitious realm of science and invention exploded. The church was completely blindsided by this force and theologians like Friedrich Schleiermacher  (1768-1884) known as “The Father of Modern Liberal Theology” became casualties in the war between naturalism and supernaturalism. Scientific discoveries beguiled some theologians into rejecting a literal hermeneutic and denying anything of a supernatural nature in the Scriptures, including the virgin birth and the deity and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

By the early part of the 20^th century conservative theologians in every denomination began revolting. Leading the charge among the Presbyterians were men like  J. Gresham Machen, a professor at Princeton from 1906 to 1929. Machen broke away to help found Westminster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania in 1929, and in 1936 the conservative Orthodox Presbyterian Church of America (the OPC) was born, returning a segment of Presbyterians to their  roots.

Elsewhere, other theologians were also responding to liberalism and were leaving their denominations to form alliances. In the early 1900’s numerous Bible Conferences were held in the eastern United States and out of these discussions the Fundamentalist movement came into being.

Read More