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The Reading Room - History

Presbyterianism in America - The 20th Century

By: Dr. John A. Battle (Professor of New Testament and Theology - WRS)

Introduction • Works Cited
The Presbyterian Church moves to a new gospel (1900-1934)
The Presbyterian Church divides and adjusts (1934-1967)
The Presbyterian Church realigns itself (1967-2006)
The Challenge of the Future

Works Cited

  1. Charles Augustus Briggs, Whither? A Theological Question for the Times (New York: Scribners, 1889), 223.
  2. WCF 22:3; 25:6; and 16:7, respectively.
  3. Dealing with WCF 3 and 10:3, respectively.
  4. B. B. Warfield, Revision or Reaffirmation (Princeton, 1900), pp. 1-4 (quoted in Lefferts A. Loetscher, The Broadening Church: A Study of Theological Issues in the Presbyterian Church Since 1869 [Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1957], 83).
  5. “The Proposed Amendments and Additions to the Text of the Confession,” PTR 1:3 (July 1903), 282-284.
  6. “The Alleged Legalism in Paul’s Doctrine of Justification,” PTR 1:2 (April 1903), 161-179.
  7. B. B. Warfield, The Confession of Faith as Revised in 1903 (Richmond, 1904; reprinted as Chapter 24 in Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. Warfield, ed. by John E. Meeter [Nutley, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1973], 2:370-410).
  8. E.g., see two articles in the 1904 PTR: Edward B. Hodge, “The Story of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,” PTR 2:2 (April 1904), 283-294; Benjamin B. Warfield, “The Proposed Union with the Cumberland Presbyterians,” PTR (April 1904), 295-316.
  9. The development of modernism and the subsequent modernist-fundamentalist conflict are very well documented by a vast literature. Some of this documentation is noted in earlier issues of the WRS Journal (A Frank Critique of the Modern Ecumenical Movement, 4:1 [February 1997]; Social Action vs. Social Gospel, 6:1 [February 1999]).
  10. The Fundamentals are still in print (4 vols.; reprinted; Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996).
  11. Cf. Loetscher, The Broadening Church, 74-82.
  12. The historical information in this and the following sections has been well documented and can be found in various sources. To save space, I do not footnote each detail; questions about specific documentation may be sent to the author. Here are some secondary sources with documentation: Edwin H. Rian, The Presbyterian Conflict (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1940; reprinted, Philadelphia: The Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1992); Ned B. Stonehouse, J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1954); Lefferts A. Loetscher, The Broadening Church: A Study of Theological Issues in the Presbyterian Church Since 1869 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1957); A Brief History of the Bible Presbyterian Church and Its Agencies, compiled by Margaret G. Harden (n.p. [Collingswood, New Jersey: Christian Beacon Press], n.d. [ca. 1966]); George P. Hutchinson, The History Behind the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (Cherry Hill, New Jersey: Mack Publishing Company, 1974); Pressing Toward the Mark: Essays Commemorating Fifty Years of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, ed. by Charles G. Dennison and Richard C. Gamble (Philadelphia: The Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1986); Robert K. Churchill, Lest We Forget: A Personal Reflection on the Formation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (2nd ed.; [Philadelphia]: The Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1987); Bradley J. Longfield, The Presbyterian Controversy: Fundamentalists, Modernists, and Moderates (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991); D. G. Hart, Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994); David B. Calhoun, Princeton Seminary, Volume 2: The Majestic Testimony 1869-1929 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1996).
  13. The Broadening Church, 93.
  14. The first woman minister in the PCUSA was ordained in 1956, and the first woman minister in the PCUS was ordained in 1965.
  15. J. Gresham Machen, Modernism and the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (self published, 1933).
  16. Christianity Today 4 (June 1933), 13 (quoted in Rian, The Presbyterian Conflict, 100).
  17. Published in the Minutes of the 146th G. A. of the PCUSA (1934), 69-116.
  18. Ibid., 96.
  19. Ibid., 110.
  20. Ibid., 113.
  21. Ibid., 115-116.
  22. J. Gresham Machen, Statement to the Special Committee of the Presbytery of New Brunswick . . . (self published, 1934), 14-15. This 98-page booklet summarizes Machen’s position regarding the Mandate, including correspondence related to his case.
  23. These events are mentioned only briefly in this article. For details and documentation of the newly separated church and its division in 1937, see articles in The Bible Presbyterian Church: Foundations and Opportunities: Part 1, WRS Journal 11:1 (February 2004), and Part 2, WRS Journal 11:2 (August 2004).
  24. For some details about this history of the BPC, see John Battle, “Eschatology in the Bible Presbyterian Church,” WRS Journal 11:2 (August 2004), 12-27.
  25. There was one exception: the new church did not restore the statement that the pope was the Antichrist.
  26. The Broadening Church, 155.
  27. Der Romerbrief. Barth issued six editions of this commentary by 1928. The sixth edition has been translated into English by Edwyn C. Hoskyns, The Epistle to the Romans (London: Oxford University Press, 1933; often reprinted).
  28. Barth published the work over a long period, 1932-1968. English translation by G. W. Bromily and T. F. Torrance (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1936-1969).
  29. In 1963 the Southern church, the PCUS, adopted a similar curriculum, the Covenant Life Curriculum, for its churches.
  30. This and other interesting details are given by William B. Kennedy, “Neo-orthodoxy Goes to Sunday School: The Christian Faith and Life Curriculum,” Journal of Presbyterian History 58:4 (Winter, 1980), 326-39.
  31. Carl McIntire, The Death of a Church (Collingswood, N.J.: Christian Beacon Press, 1967). This book contains the new confession and vows, the parallel sections of the Westminster Confession, a good discussion of the differences, and the history surrounding these events. After the assembly, Dr. McIntire sponsored a nationwide trip by three Bible Presbyterians in a hearse to distribute the book. I remember as a student at Highland College in Pasadena, California, helping to wash and wax the hearse for an in-studio appearance on a popular television talk show that night. Studio workers had to spray the hearse with a dull goo because it was too shiny for the cameras!
  32. Some of these groups employed terrorism, and the murder of innocent Christians, even missionaries; e.g., see “ WCC Grant in 1978 Caused Dismay Even Among Liberals,” The Presbyterian Layman (October-November, 1978), on the internet: http://www.layman.org/layman/news/news-around-church/wcc-1978reprint.htm.
  33. Angela Davis was an African-American Communist professor at the University of California and active in the Black Panther Party.
  34. His Twentieth Century Reformation Hour at its peak was broadcast daily over 600 radio stations in America. He was a pioneer in the modern talk radio phenomenon. But, unlike modern talk show hosts, he was not commercially sponsored; instead, he raised offerings to buy time on these stations. His Christian Beacon Press also produced a weekly newspaper, the Christian Beacon, and many scrapbooks, booklets, and pamphlets exposing the activities of the liberal leaders in the UPCUSA and in the National and World Councils of Churches. These were distributed through his broadcast by the thousands to laypeople across the country.
  35. As in the Readers Digest (October 1971); and “Going Beyond Charity: Should Christian Cash Be Given to Terrorists?” Time Magazine (October 2, 1978).
  36. Yearly losses are listed in John Battle, Ten Years of the Confession of 1967 (Collingswood, N.J.: Christian Beacon Press, 1977), 3.
  37. Carl McIntire sometimes complained, “I’ve shaken the apples off the tree, but someone else is picking them up!”
  38. African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Church-Disciples of Christ, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, International Council of Community Churches, United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church.
  39. The formation and early history of the PCA is described in detail by Frank Joseph Smith, The History of the Presbyterian Church in America: The Continuing Church Movement (Manassas, Virginia: Reformation Educational Foundation, 1985).
  40. For an illuminating chart showing the decline in membership in the mainline churches, and contrasting it with the growth in some conservative churches, see this website of the Institute on Religion and Democracy: http://www.irdrenew.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=fvKVLfMVIsG&b=470745&ct=1571507.
  41. E.g., the Mississippi Presbytery and the churches associated with New Wineskins (The Layman Online [July 14 and July 20, 2006]).
  42. See the accompanying article by Dennis W. Jowers in this issue of the WRS Journal, “The Present State of American Presbyterianism.”
  43. Such as the members of the new accrediting agency, the Association of Reformed Theological Seminaries (ARTS), founded in 1999: American University of Biblical Studies, Birmingham Theological Seminary, FAREL Reformed Theological Seminary, Geneva Reformed Seminary, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, New Geneva Theological Seminary, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Sangre de Cristo Seminary, and Western Reformed Seminary.
  44. See Gary G. Cohen, “The Bible Presbyterian Position on Ecclesiastical Separation,” WRS Journal 11:2 (August 2004) 5-12.

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